The camera being used in the Manka sequence is clearly so unnoticeable, unobtrusive and compact that even the child, Manka, doesn’t seem to notice it. The cheaper, affordable digital cameras allow for more to be bought, so a multiple camera set up allows for more footage to be captured. Extended takes can record more footage since the camera cannot run out of film.
A more lightweight camera means that Kim Longinotto can move and react quickly to events happening without her control, and also reduces the need for editing since she can simply face her camera towards whatever is most important in that moment. The long takes also prove to the audience that all they are seeing is real, untampered with through editing, and everything that they are seeing actually happened with the filmmakers adapting to film it, adding to the documentary’s authenticity.
Filming more allows for Longinotto to select the best footage and include it in the final film, leaving out what she doesn’t like. Her equipment is high quality enough to pick out details of the small scars on Manka’s back even without out artificial lighting. The way that the prosecutor loses her temper towards the end of the scene shows that she has forgotten Longinotto is there filming, or at least to enough of an extent that she may break her composure and give her most authentic reaction to the aunt’s actions.
Finley Cairns A-Level Film Studies Blog 