Documentary Unit - Documentary Filmmaker (Michael Moore)

• Michael Moore 
• Age: 63
• American Resident 
• Directed 18 Documentaries 
• His most famous documentaries include "Fahrenheit 9/11" & "The Awful Truth" series and the infamous "Bowling for Columbine"
• He's a writer/director/producers/presenter in most of his shows which is very unique.
• He is a controversial figure who likes to make sure he finds the truth of what happened.  

The reason why I wanted to research into Michael Moore is that he makes interesting pieces and also is involved in most parts of the production process, a lot like ourselves. Whilst we made the decision  to hire an actor and not present the show ourselves his work is still interesting as we are doing the rest of the project ourselves.

Whilst I have watched numerous Michael Moore documentaries, I have not seen one in a while so I decided to re-watch Fahrenheit 9/11.

What inspires me about Michael Moore's documentaries is that he is a presence in his own documentaries - He appears on screen as pieces to camera as well as doing a lot of voice over commentary work, I like this as it makes the documentary very personal to him and it also shows he cares deeply about the subjects he talks about otherwise he would not put his face to it.

Something that Moore does which is a inspiration to me is that he really makes you think, should you really be doing this or that? When talking in Fahrenheit 9/11 he says a lot about the conspiracies that go on, and that it is very hard to believe everything that you are told. I think a good documentary can be defined on how much it makes you think - in Moore's Documentaries he does a fair job at explaining why he thinks a certain way. In the most part he has an agenda in which he is trying to prove, but he does sometimes look at the opposing view to see what others are thinking.

In Fahrenheit 9/11 Moore does not appear on screen that much, however when it does it is powerful and interesting. It in a way, is cementing what has been said in voice over with a face that is trying to prove the truth.

He does also add comedy when it's needed. He hired an ice cream van to drive around with the loud speaker blaring facts to prove what he is saying.

The way Moore speaks is always in a curious way, he is always leaving it slightly open to the imagination of the viewer, even though he may have a preconceived idea on what he wants to say.

Moore's work inspired me because of the way he comes across, it always feels real and that he wants the viewer to uncover facts that have been hidden from us. It's similar to what we are doing with our documentary, we want to try and show the audience that the world around them is possibly twisting the truth around body image. I think that I will take a lot of the points that Moore uses in his films into ours because I find all of his shows interesting to watch.