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  • Essay / What is Bowling For Columbine Documentary Techniques

    Only one light is on, making it appear dull and lifeless, as if the room goes on forever. Using the handheld camera gives shakes to the scene, completing the shake. voices are heard. The camera then continues to travel through the school. As the archived emergency call turns into a panicked teacher, so do the images. We now see what the CCTV surveillance cameras captured, once again reinforcing the authenticity of the event. The use of stock footage has a significant impact on the emotional state of the audience as we witness the realism of the event. The black and white video monitor presents a very sharp contrast to what we had previously seen while stalking the halls of the school. Before, the scene was still dull and lifeless, but we could still see color in the building, but now we can see the cold, black and white reality of the crisis. The color changes describe the haunting experience symbolically. Students dive under tables, crawling for safety, hoping not to be victimized. The audience gains a natural maternal instinct wanting to help, but knowing they can't, they feel hopeless. This is reinforced by the voiceover of the teacher shouting “under the tables children, heads under the tables”. A small bomb is then thrown by the two killers, Moore uses sound to further capture the viewer's attention. Like the