PDE student
Manufactured Landscapes
Sustainable Development
In my view, documentaries mainly describing social phenomena have two essential elements: one is recording, and the other is a comment. From the perspective of pure recording, directors commonly use the ‘third eye’ to maintain the neutrality of opinions and the objectivity of arguments. Thus, the director, as the eye of the audience, leads everyone to observe, feel, and experience through the lens. ‘Manufactured Landscape’ by Canadian director Jennifer Baichwal is basically a ‘third eye’ documentary. In the beginning, a seven-minute moving shot presents the huge factory building of Cankun Electronics Factory in Fujian, China. There was no narration, no voice-over, and even no background music for a long time. What the audience saw was a seemingly endless scene and mechanism: young workers in bright yellow uniforms are working continuously, and various electronic accessories are assembled from here. One picture follows another, which is coherent and compact, thereby having a strong visual impact.
Personally speaking, ‘Manufactured Landscape’ has been relatively successful in maintaining its neutrality. At least a micro-analysis of every detail is the best way to convey a neutral message through the extensive use of long lenses and large depth-of-field lenses. Yet, this film does not follow the ‘third eye’ expression method completely, such as the layout that connects the shipbuilding industry of China and that of Bangladesh, and the comparative layout of the bustling alleys in Shanghai and the luxury mansion of businessmen. The message that the director wants to convey is obvious but there's nothing wrong with doing this. And it just shows that even the most objective ‘third eye’ still cannot be separated from the director's personal political opinions. The director does not express his views directly through language or through the dialogue of the characters, which does not mean that he has not expressed his own views, which is exactly the subtlety of the ‘third eye’. The background music is used to fully guide the audience's emotions, and meanwhile, the screen layout and the before and after editing of the film clips are carefully arranged. In this way, the director's point of view can not only be fully conveyed to the audience but also make the audience feel that it's their own opinion, which makes the views of the director more convincing.
