Capturing The Friedmans-Documentary

Capturing The Friedmans-Documentary

Pre Production Process:

       Arranging Interviews and conducting extensive research to help make the Documentary reach its full potential. The research of film footage and of old newsreports which were published durring the time of the Friedman Case are good Pre-Production material. Making and getting contacts which will help this documentary are vital in the pre-production process. These interviews, would obviosuly want to be all related with the case and the victims of this "crime." This means contacting Law enforcement officers which were incharge of the case at that time and obviously every body else that was in the law enforcement that took part of the case. Also, the parents and the kids which were victims of this crime were also contacted and interviews were arranged. The family members were obviously contacted, although Seth (one brother in the Friedman Family, leaves and goes west in the midst of the case. He didnt want to be involved nor did he wanted to be interviewed.)  

Film-Footage:

  

    The Friedmans durring the case and before, were always filming what was going on in the house. This means everything from fights/arguments all the way to family time and when they were having fun together as a family which was hardly ever. The raw, old film material was used a lot and was important to show how durring the case the family went separating. This raw material involved the Friedman family and especially Arnold and Jesse Friedman. They would always be trying to back up their father and not face the reality of that Arnold really did it. They were filmed at their house and also at the Court House, Jesse was the one who mainly appeared in the Court House filmations. There film footage that was filmed live at that momento was obviously in the court house and the fights that occured at the house, the Interviews were filmed by the film crew/company that made this documentary.

Post-Production:

     In the post prodcution process, this is when all the editing is done. Grabbing all the filmed footage and other recourses that they have and cutting and shortening film footage to what they want and then putting it in the documentary. The edditing process of voice overs that are talking when other clips are being shown and not the interviewer. Also, i believe that the film-makers did not use a narrator throughout the documentary because they had the interviewers tell you the story. This in the end gave out a better effect to the viewer and made it overall better to watch. By not using a narrator it gives you the ability to sence and pay more attention to what the interviewers are saying so you can fully understand what the documentary is about.

Messages:

     For me, the film makers wanted to leave an important message to the public and show what are the consequences once these assumptions or actions that are made about young children and how the public reacts. I feel that the Film-Makers left the message and showed how when these assumptions came out about Arnold Friedman (and then later Jesse Friedman) and how he had Child Pornography, the public was terrified. As the Investigators dug deeper into the fact that he was in this child buisness and found out about his classes they started to interview and pressure the children to come to "confession" although there are some kids who never were under abuse at all. But with the police being pressured by the public for an answer, they made the kids confess eventhough it might of been a lie. Later in the documentary, a x-student of Arnold confesses to of lied becuase of police pressure. Also the film makers show how mass Hysteria creates people to make and do actions that can be wrong or not true but they still do it becasue of how the public and the people around them are acting.