BBC Stories . (2017). 'I've not moved on' - Rio Ferdinand shares his struggle with grief. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg3hN4pAKmw. Last accessed 18th January 2018.
Rio Ferdinand was a talented, professional football player. He is also a father and was a husband too. This short documentary by the BBC focuses on Rio's struggle with grief and how he copes post event.
The film begins with the focus on Rio's personal experience with grief, along with accompanying words on screen, filling out what happened to his wife. This first segment of the film is autobiographical, as it has Rio talking about his story. There is an apparent lack of voice over from a narrator in the documentary. This is perhaps because the BBC felt that using an outside narrative voice would distract attention from the men in the film. There are also frequent uses of either medium to close up or close up shot s of Rio's face. This is done to attract the audience gaze onto his face, as the most important visual is of his facial expressions when reflecting on traumatic past events. Some low angle shots are present that show the camera looking up, through vegetation, up to a source of light. These shots act as abstract imagery and symbolises the feeling of being trapped in a dark pit, which mirrors what Rio is feeling with grief. Abstract imagery is a generic convention of Poetic documentaries, as it's purpose is to invoke emotion from the viewer via tone and mood of visuals.
The dynamics of the film change half way through, when the audience is introduced to Ben Brooks- Dutton, who is also a widower. He had set up a blog, which "turned into a private group". These group meetings allow Rio to share his struggles with other whom have experienced the same type of grief. Now, Rio isn't the sole dialogue in the scene. Multiple group members talk about how removing their wedding rings has helped them to move on. Introducing other voices into the scene makes Rio's circumstances feel normal, as by bringing other voice into the fold, suggests that no one person is worse off from each other in the group. This hopefully acts as a realisation for Rio that grief is a common, everyday thing. The colour scheme of this scene contrasts with the darly lit house that Rio started the film in, with a brightly white kitchen. This connotes a shift in tone from being in a depressed state, to manifesting into one surrounded with hope. Rule of thirds framing is used for the members of the group. This helped to composite them against the bright setting and also prevents anyone of them being a main focus.
The film ends with Rio travelling home in the car, with a voice over from him, reflecting on what he has learnt from the group meeting in the earlier scene. He contemplates on how other widowers get rid of physical reminders of their spouses to help them move in in life. He sees this as a potential method for dealing with his struggle with grief. This therefore shows that Rio has progressed as a person in the film. This is evident by the desperate state of mind he started in, going on to gain advice from others and then to take on knowledge that will hopefully improve his value in life. The visuals also connote this sense of journey, as the car drive symbolises this idea of moving through life. Again, Rule of thirds and are used for composition of him in the car. In this scene however, extreme close ups of his eyes are present in clips. The audience focus on his facial expressions here, and therefore, will assume that Rio is in a deep state of thought.
Overall the Documentary takes on the form of a narrative, which shows the initial struggles Rio has with grief, his enlightenment from others along the way, and a realisation at the end which will alter his character in the future. The documentary is constructed through borrowing aspects such as abstract imagery from poetic documentaries and using Rio as an involved narrator of some sorts, being taken from participatory documentaries. Close ups of people's faces are used to convey emotion via expressions and rule of third framing composites the men in the film, to suggest their problems with grief is very normal.
My documentary on grief will borrow some aspects of note. Alterations in lighting could help to convey the contrast of positive and negative effects of grief. Close ups of peoples' faces and low angle abstract shots could be effective at connoting tone and emotion. Just like this film, I have also considered using my self in a self auto-biographical way, to introduce the subject matter.
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