'One Mile Away' - Penny Woolcock

                         


'One Mile Away' is a documentary that has come about through a film makers decision to try and change something. Penny Woolcock had previously done a documentary based on gangs in London and had gone through an ordeal when she was mugged early one morning as the article states

"The experience would have left many people traumatised, and wary of young people. 'I didn’t want to be the person who has to take taxis because they are too afraid,’ she says. 'So instead of withdrawing, I decided to go towards it." (Williams, 2013, online)

Penny wanted to do this documentary due to something that had happened in her own life experience and she wanted a chance to try and understand what had happened to her. She was very involved in initiating the film and met up with a guy who was part of one of the rival gangs in Birmingham who also wanted to make a difference and try and fight for some sort of truce between the two gangs.

When looking at the different modes of documentary set out in Bill Nichols 'Introduction To Documentary'  This film is a strong example of 'performative' mode. As the definition explains below it is of a very subjective nature, after all without Penny not only would the film not get made but what happens in the film would never have come about. 

Participatory - "Emphasizes the subjective or expressive aspect of the filmmaker's own involvement with a subject; it strives to heighten the audience's responsiveness to this involvement. Rejects notions of objectivity in favour of evocation and affect." (Nichols, 2010, pg 32)

In the film Penny acts as the mediator between the two gangs to try and help them resolve their differences so without her none of this would have been possible so in a sense the subject is forced so it is not something natural that could simply have been observed form an objective point of view. 
Penny is also in every bit of the film as she is always talking to and questioning the people from the gangs and any other contributors. 
Most of the time we just see the gang members on screen and just hear her voice but with certain events in the film. For example there's a part in the film where something has happened and even though they are not involved the police try and question the gang members while they are being filmed and tell Penny and her crew to stop filming. Penny then goes into conflict with the police asking them why they are being questioned when they are just trying to make and film but being treated as if they are guilty of doing something. 
There are other significant parts of the film as well where we will briefly see her and I think what these bits do is intensify and strengthen the fact that she is very much involved and putting herself on the line and also proves how passionate she it. 
As an audience member this is very interesting because it really shows you the risk that's involved and because you know that, you are willing to invest into because the of the effort they have invested in and also the dramatic tension created by the high stakes. 

I also think that like our documentary that this film also has elements of the participatory mode according to Bill Nichols' definition. The film is performative in the way that the film maker is heavily involved and is the reason for the film but also the film maker is not the central for the focus of the film. For example in documentaries like 'Super Size Me' (2004) the film maker Morgan Spurlock is the main focus of the film and he is the one that the film is about because he takes on the challenge to eat McDonald's constantly and then document the effects, this is a truly performative documentary. 
In 'One Mile Away' Penny is involved but ultimately it is about the gang members and their life's not hers so this is where the participatory mode comes in. Penny spends most of her time interacting with her contributors from off screen so she is not taking centre stage. This means she is driving the film forwards and being involved but then it also leaves room for observation.
The observation happens when the gang members are talking with each other and we are just watching them with no interruptions. It is important we are allowed these moments within this film to witness that it is not just Penny forcing them to call a truce but it is actually the gangs themselves that want to to this. If it was all Penny doing all the talking people would probably become disengaged with it because they would feel the film is not staying true to the subject and the people. But rather is forcing her values and opinions onto them and into the film, which are important because ultimately this is one of the reasons the film is being made, but again is not what the film is based upon because it is not her life that is on the line and being observed.

Participatory mode - "Here the filmmaker does interact with his or her subjects rather than unobtrusively observe them. Questions grow into interviews or conversations; involvement grows into a pattern of collaboration or confrontation. What happens in front of the camera becomes an index of the nature of the interaction between filmmaker and subject." (Nichols, 2010, pg 179)


This film is a prime example of how much documentary has evolved and changed since the 'actuality' films that were the very first types of documentary film before the term was actually coined. At the very beginning documentary films were just about observing human nature and capturing every day events and showing it to a wider audience. Many people would argue that is how documentary should be and that today the boundaries have been pushed too far into something else. I think it is a good thing documentaries have come on because now they are more bold and about making statements and trying to change the world for the better so the end goal is more plausible. Not every film has to try to make a huge statement though people still enjoy to watch more observational styles that are simply there to inform but it is nice now that we have more of a choice and can decide what we want to watch.





Sources:

Nichols, Bill (20100 Introduction To Documentary (Second Edition) Indiana University Press; USA

Williams, Sally (2013) Telegraph ([internet] Available online at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/9918593/One-Mile-Away-Birmingham-gangs-give-peace-a-chance.html (Accessed 23/4/2014)