Banksy in 'Exit ThroughThe Gift Shop 'Film Essay

Banksy in hold out ThroughThe Gift Shop Film - Essay ExampleMaybe Thierry became a bit arrogant when his hero Banksy suggests to him to commission on his own art and leave the flick for him to finish. I think Banksy said that to gain jibe over the documentary as he valued to make it into a real film, and not just a picture collage like Thierrys effort Life Remote Control was. just Banksy didnt foresee that Thierry would get crazy with his own ambitions and organised a massive exhibition with work he didnt produce himself, but qualification a lot of m 1y with it nevertheless. Its ironic how this fateful event gave the documentary itself a new direction, or story to tell. But documentaries are some real life and life is unpredictable. This means a documentary can turn out differently than the filmmaker initially imagined it to be. I think this is what happened to Banksy. He seemed to be annoyed of Thierry making money, and pretending to be an artist, which is understandable, es pecially as Banksy is a great and innovative artist himself, who worked hard for his success and therefore deserves it. However, he also evinces sympathy for Thierry (by explaining that his compulsive filming relates to him losing his mother as a child). I believe that Banksy didnt mean to destroy Thierrys reputation, but to show that our society accepts art too easily as art, without questioning the artist and his real motivation. By doing this, Banksy also introduced a new style to documentary filmmaking-the intention becoming directly involved in the filmmaking exercise. It will be interesting to see if other artists (including musicians, actors, filmmakers etc) who are subjects of documentary films will take a more than active part in the filmmaking processes in the future. Banksys Exit Through The Gift Shop The Directors Role in a Participatory Documentary Film Exit Through The Gift Shop is a story full of irony and role reversals between amateur documentary filmmaker Thie rry Guetta and acclaimed street artist Banksy who during the filmmaking process discloses Guetta to be an obsessive copycat artist. The films narrative starts with portraying street artists and Banksy at work. The focus shifts onto Thierrys mission to become a successful artist himself when Banksy consciously initiates a role reversal from being the subject of the documentary to becoming its director. Film theorist Bill Nichols explores the influence documentary films can have Documentaries of social theatricalare intended to have an impact on the historical world itself and to do so must persuade or convince us that one point of view or approach is preferable to others (3). Banksys move to take the camera from Thierry and turn it on him is therefore clever and calculated. By taking control over the filmmaking process, Banksy could fulfil his own agendas regarding the messages he wanted to convey to an audience. To achieve this, Banksy successfully combined several documentary filmm aking techniques as defined by film theorist Bill Nichols (33) the participatory mode (director being part of the action), the expository mode (using so-called voice-of-God narration) and the reflexive mode (revealing and reflecting on documentary film-making practises that are commonly hidden from an audience).1 I identified Banksys four main agendas / messages he aimed to convey