Key Text : AMY (Asif Kapadia 2015)

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Production History 

Gay-Rees was first approached about making a documentary about Amy Winehouse by Winehouse’s record company Universal Records in 2012. In 2013 a press release from Universal announced that there was to be a film about Winehouse to be realised in 2015 and that the team responsible for Senna (2010) will be involved in its production. For Kapadia this meant he was able to work with the same producer (James Gay-Rees) and editor (Chris King) as he had previously worked with on Senna.

Gay-Rees and Kapadia were able to get access to several of Winehouse’s family members, friends, producers and musicians who had worked with the singer. These were combined with both amateur and professional videos and photographs to give a in-depth and candid account of all aspects of Winehouse’s life.

According to Chris King 90% of all the footage used on the film is digital with a considerable amount of that amateur recording in a variety of differing file types. In order to create a unified image King and Kapadia manipulated the digital images by adding layers of effects in order to create something “that felt like a single film, rather than a collection of random clips.” (King BFI online 14^th of July 2015)

                                                           Interview with the director


                                                             

On using found footage

Guardian interview with director

REPRESENTATIONS

The primary representation is of course Amy Winehouse herself. Unlike other investigative documentaries there are no direct commentaries from the director but this is not to suggest that our reading of Amy is not being directed. When looking at representations of Amy in the film try to be aware of any particular direction you feel your reading is being steered in and how.

Blake Fielder-Civil (Amy’s ex-husband) is presented to us almost entirely in a negative light. He is presented very much as the catalyst of Amy’s destruction. Look at the way this individual is presented to us, look at the mechanisms that are used to construct for us his personality. Do you think there is space to form an alternative reading of him?

Other representations in the film feature; past band members, friends, managers, minders all are worthy of note. Also represented in the text is the media itself in particular the music industry (remember the film was partly funded by Universal music so unlikely to present them in a poor light)

The Aesthetics of Amy

As with Asif Kapadia’s only other feature length documentary Senna the film is composed almost entirely from secondary footage. The interviews with the witnesses are played over carefully selected images with text appearing on screen to introduce them and their relationship to Amy.

The documentary does resemble a compilation documentary (a film edited from previously released or archive footage, but compiled in a new order of appearance.) The main difference between Kapadia’s films and traditional compilation documentaries is the absence of a singular authorial voice, an expert narration that contextualises the film.

The film is a composite of different types of footage both professional and non-professional with moving and still images interspersed. We know from interviews with Chris King that the images were altered in post-production to give the film a more unified feel so that sudden changes in image quality did not create a disorientating effect causing the film to feel disjointed. This works to a certain extent particularly in the concert scenes where we often move easily between professional and fan footage.

These different techniques could be seen as attempts at juxtapositioning. Moving us in and out of subjective and objectives relationships with the individuals depicted, with some of the scenes that feature drugs use  taking on an almost voyeuristic quality.

Not surprisingly in a film about a musician that music should feature so strongly in the text. The films musical soundtrack is a combination of Winehouse’s music and Antonio Pinto’s film score. What is interesting in terms of how it contributes to the overall aesthetic of the film is it relationship to the way the film is edited and the films use of graphics. The combination of these elements (having specific song performed at certain points in the narrative coupled with the use of script depicting  the song lyrics) adds to our sense of identification and pathos. 

REACTIONS

The film was released simultaneously in New York, Los Angles and London on the 03/07/2015 and worldwide on the 10/07/2015. The film was a phenomenal success for a documentary taking over $24 Million in box office sales.

Critically the film was also well received. Peter Bradshaw from The Guardian gave the film five out of five, describing it as "a tragic masterpiece" The New York Times described it as “an Intimate Diary of Amy Winehouse’s rise and destruction” Manohla Dargis NYT 02/07/2015

The film was nominated for fifty nine different wards and collected thirty of these including the Academy ward and BFTA for best documentary.

Mitch Winehouse who became familiar with Kapadia’s work through his film Senna was initially supportive of the project. Kapadia and Gay-Rees asked permission from the Winehouse’s before they approached Amy’s Ex-husband Blake Fielder-Civil and everything seemed to start off well.

But later the family distanced themselves from the film claiming that it “is both misleading and contains some basic untruths”. After the family saw a first cut of the film they involved solicitors and demanded certain scenes be changed which the producers agreed to do.

The main objections the family have with the final film is that through a process of selective editing the film misrepresents Amy’s father Mitch.  The family were also disappointed that as a post script no mention of any of the charitable work carried out by the Winehouse foundation was mentioned.

This dispute does raise questions about the nature of editing, the ethics of documentary and whole process of audience positioning.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

Amy’s early career and childhood : how is this period in Amy’s life presented to us?

What techniques are used to make us align ourselves with Amy?

What elements of Amy’s psyche / personal history are focused on and why do you think this is ? 

What would you say is the plot of Amy?

 How is the narrative of the film structured?

 What is the overall effect of the film’s structure?

 What are the key sequences/scenes that stand out for you? Give reasons for your choices?


 How far do you feel that Kapadia’s description of his filmmaking style as ‘true fiction’ compares with what you have seen in Amy?