Speaking of incorporating yourself into your own documentary, Werner Herzog is one of the view that know how to do so successfully. In Grizzly Man (2005) he doesn’t act condescending or try to conceal any kind of truth, but instead curbs our curiosity through his and humanises Timothy Treadwell and the ones who are close to him.

This particular scene in the film presents 2 different tones within the film; factual and emotional. The coroner staring at the barrel of the camera made the scene quite scripted while detailing Timothy and Amie’s death and the jump cuts enhances the impact of the death through his description.

Timothy’s close friend Jewel Palovak appears after the coroner and suddenly the pace and tone changes. As Herzog listens to the audio of Timothy and Amie, the camera lingers onto Jewel’s traumatised face as Herzog appears to be overwhelmed and extremely uncomfortable while listening to them. We as the viewer are emotionally driven and realise that the tragedy of it all is that Timothy was murdered by the ones who he tried to save and love the most.    

Read more about Grizzly Man on my previous blog post.