Pockets

Above: Pockets

Pockets by James Lees is a 3 minute documentary exploring what Londoners have in their pockets and the stories or reasoning behind the items. The concept is very simple and accessible and the execution of the idea is great.

The main thread of the documentary is the underlying music, which brings together all the different stories and people from different walks of life. I think that the documentary is successful because it focuses on the items and the faces of the people carrying them in all cases, it has a clear compositional structure and keeps the answers short and concise which keeps the viewer interested in the items.

The depth of field in the film is used to great effect, focusing on the items being held forward and the faces of those carrying them, using this establishes the voice-overs context and allows the director to bring in the voice over at different points, due to displaying images that relate to the interview but aren't sync-sounded - this gives the piece it's pace and dynamics.

Pockets achieves a well-balanced view of all walks of life and establishes it's concept early but changes so regularly and so diversely between stories that the viewer does not get bored of the idea. I think that it has been very successful in creating a sense of story within three minutes and is well self contained.