At the beginning of the scene, people are shown playing a football game. No one playing football is paying attention to the camera, due to how small and unobtrusive it is. This part of everyday life in the village was also recorded in the first place due to there being near limitless storage in the camera for footage.
Inside the courtroom, the lightweight cameras comes in handy since the filmmakers using them can quickly move out of peoples way as they walk into the room. The room also has no artificial lighting, but the cameras do not need it as they can get good quality footage even in low light conditions. There is also a multi camera set up, as seen from there being shots from in front and behind the woman. These cameras could be used due to them being affordable and easily accessible to the film maker as, and also allows for them to avoid walking around the room during the trial and interrupting events.
The ease of use of digital cameras allows for her and her assistant to both use one for good coverage of the scene. The near infinite storage also allows for both of them to record constantly, picking up lots of footage and avoiding stopping the proceedings to get a new camera or film. The portability of the cameras also allowed for Longinotto to move into a corner of the room to remain outside of events while recording. The portability and lightness of the cameras allows for her to make delicious on the spot, since she has not planned where to stand or film from or what to focus on. Since the camera is so small and unobtrusive, people eventually forget that it is there, which gets an honest reaction out of one of the men, who jokes about the wive’s husband killing her, which was picked up by the cameras that don’t have to stop recording. This causes Longinotto to have to step in to remind the men of her presence to influence the proceedings to gain a more favourable conclusion.
Finley Cairns A-Level Film Studies Blog 