Sisters In Law “Opening Sequence” (Digital Technology)

In the establishing shot of the opening sequence, the camera is filming from inside a moving car window, recording their entrance into the village. The digital camera is steady and stable, remaining portable but also with good camera quality. The camera is also able to film in low-light conditions, as there is clearly no artificial light around, but the footage is of high quality, and this long, uninterrupted take is made possible due to near unlimited storage space.

The background and foreground of the pan shot of the village are both in focus, which shows that digital cameras do not require professional photographers to be operated properly and efficiently. The clip of the man parking his bike has been left in the film spot-production, and it was taken in the first place since Kim Longinotto can make long takes due to such large storage spaces. There is also not much space for movement in the reception room, so the small and compact digital cameras allows for unobstrusive filming methods that keeps the filmmakers out of people’s ways. There is also no artificial lighting indoors, but the digital camera quality is still high since it does not need artificial light conditions to shoot in. There is also no boom pole needed since the camera being used has a built in, good quality microphone, so the film crew remain unobstrusive, taking up less space, having less equipment to buy, and can fit in smaller, more confined spaces.

There are also multiple cameras being used, which we can tell from the fact that the footage of someone in one shot is overlayed with audio taken by another one. This shows that digital cameras are more affordable and accessible than film cameras, so more people can get into the industry and create their own work. The small, compact camera also means less people notice and are distracted by it. Kim Longinotto also does not know what is going to happen while filming. Many important events may occur or nothing at all, so having near limitless storage allows for her to film for as long as she wants and choose the best footage post production, and also does not have to stop recording or time recording carefully and risk losing valuable footage because the film camera was off or taking a while to set up.

Digital cameras can also zoom, so Kim Longinotto does not have to move around to fill the frame with certain people, which she does often here, as seen in how she zooms in, from the corner of the room, on the wife who is explaining the story of how her child was kidnapped by her husband. When the camera pans to the right to show the prosecutor, we can see it quickly an sharply refocus on her face, which shows that digital cameras do not need professional camera operators to be used. There is also a non-directional microphone in the camera, so it does not need to be aimed at someone too pick up audio, which is useful for when multiple people are talking at once and it does not take up much attention. The fact that Kim Longinotto is able to record so much footage is what allows for these accidentally revealing moments, like when the prosecutor shouts at the husband, losing her temper and yelling “That’s what you men do!”.