Documentary: Pockets

Pockets is a short documentary created by James Lees in 2008. It was based around the stories of objects that people carried around with them in their pockets; sometimes the object was a keepsake, other times it was something randomly left there.

Pockets - Short Film (Channel 4) from James Lees on Vimeo.

This documentary is very cleverly put together. The shots are very well edited together in correspondence to the sound bites. This documentary uses interview sound bites and cutaways of the objects the interviewees were talking about, intertwining the two cleverly to show you the character behind the object.

For example: I like the cuts between these two:

Whilst the man talks about the object (which I assume is a form of food), we’re shown a shot of his mouth while he talks about the object, whilst chewing some at the same time – there are a variety of these shots, for example when the woman shows her compact mirror for her makeup, you’re shown her entire face – to make the audience automatically examine her face for product, as well as (below) the shots of the boys playing with their toys and then showing them in their hands – showing their interaction and importance of these objects to these people.

The sound edit also plays quite a nice part to the film. The music itself is quite light-hearted but noticeable. It creates an atmosphere for the audiences, just as to the setting of the work – where these people are, just out on a street. The background atmos track is plain and simple, this doesn’t distract the view from the main purpose of the film, which is what each person in the shot presents.

In the edit, I noticed that throughout, the interviews don’t always show a full face, but focus on a particular feature of that person (if it’s important) sometimes it would jump cut from a standard documentary set up and then only show the side of a face. I like the idea of using these shots, it makes listening to the dialogue more interesting, and also makes each person they interview different from the previous one, it almost gives the audience a surprise as the styles of shots change. It keeps the film interesting throughout and also promotes people’s individuality.

I really enjoy this documentary and the editing style. The simple topic is explored in a very creative way, and I find the range of shots and styles interesting.