Pedal Analysis

1374 Words3 Pages

The film Pedal is an exciting journey that takes the viewer into the world of New York City bicycle messengers. From start to finish I was blown away by how well the film was constructed as a whole. Although many documentary films take themselves too seriously, this one in particular took a lighthearted approach that allowed the audience to fully connect with it. This fast paced film truly kept the audience interested in its content, and remain invested with the people they decided to interview on screen. After initially hearing the description of the film, I was ready to tune it out. But upon watching for the first few minutes, I realized that this film wasn’t exactly what I had been expecting. Pleasantly surprised, I continued watching only …show more content…

Overall, this documentary was not what I expected at all and in turn I was impressed with its storyline and structural elements. The main thing that stuck out to me in this film was the filmmaking. The amount of comprehensive camera work was mindblowing. The filmmaker used a combination of complex and simple filming techniques to truly tell and story and captivate the audience. The creator of this film shot most of it himself; often on a skateboard! This first person view of the world of the bike messengers places the audience front and center for all the action. The filmmaker also took advantage of the fish-eye lens in striking ways. Although not always ideal, the fish-eye lens allowed for the camera to capture a full landscape view of downtown New York City. This was an especially bold choice due to the fact that the lens itself made the tall buildings wrap around themselves in a very illusionary way. Although this made the film stand out, I felt like it was used to an unnecessary extent and often fell short. Also, many times throughout the film the shots were overwhelmingly disorienting. However, this ended up being a small price to pay for …show more content…

For starters, the soundtrack completely blew me away. Many films that I have seen seemingly forget about one of the most important elements of films: sound. However this film had a handcrafted original score that enhanced the film ten-fold. The soundtrack itself is very industrial and mechanical sounding. It fit perfectly with the theme of the movie and takes the audience through a journey. The music backs up the films message displaying the thrill and excitement that being a bike messenger can be. The music helped place an emphasis on the chaos and rush that this world is full of. And as a whole, the music helped to further construct the world this story takes place in while helping to emphasize certain themes the filmmaker created. Another element of this film that made it more move-like was the component of the rivals. About halfway through the film, the filmmaker introduced taxi cab drivers and policemen into this already crazy world. Their sole purpose was to show the fight AGAINST bike messengers as well as how dangerous they can be to public safety. Through interviewing these two groups the film was able to transcend to almost an action-thriller in which the bike messengers were part of some sort of vigilante justice group. Personally, I believe that this portion of the film could be sold to hollywood and adapted into a full length feature film. This good vs. evil part of the

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