Standard operating procedure

standard operating procedure

Standard operating procedure is a crime/war documentary made in 2008 and directed by Erroll Morris. This documentary explains the criminal activity used by the military and the procedures of the military police in an American prison in Iraq called Abu Ghraib. throughout the documentary several guards and interrogators in the prison were interviewed and there was a montage of pictures used showing and explaining a deeper understanding of the going on inside the prison; including reconstructed flashbacks/events of specific occurrences giving the audience a deeper understanding of what happened.

cinematography is used throughout the film to develop meaning, whether it be during the interviewing or in the re-enactment. during the interviewing a lot of close ups are used to show explicit emotion within the soldiers that lived within Abu Ghraib especially with General Lynndie England, they used specific close ups of certain facial features as in some cases she became intense with emotion. In the reconstructed scenes they also used a lot of close ups of hands or feet, so that the audience don't see an actors face who had nothing to do with the case, or to make sure they don't make accusations as to who did certain acts. however even though we didn't understand who the characters were they still managed to tell the story of what had happened. lighting was also used to good effect for example in the interviews the room was very dimly lit with what seemed to be only one harsh light on the interviewee, giving the affect they were still at Abu Ghraib.

editing was used a lot throughout this film to help explain what went on, for example the in the reconstructed scenes slow motion was used in the edit to make these events seem more dramatic and tense to the audience. also again in the interview with Lynddie England when she raised her voice or became slightly angry they would increase the speed of the cuts to show she was an important woman and to emphasise her emotions. the editing also helped to tell a story from the amount of photos recovered from the prison, for example the way they edited the photos into a story line and linked each photo with the camera it was taken with making it clear when the photos were take, in what order of events it happened in and who took the photo crystal clear to the audience.
 Furthermore editing was also used to show the audience the vast amount of picture evidence taken from Abu Ghraib by crating a black background with loads of pictures flying into the shot and filling the screen.

Mise en scene was used brilliantly in the film to really give an affect that these reconstructed scenes to really give the idea that it was real footage. They did this by adding everything we could see in the photos ,whether it be obvious or in the background, into the scene. for example the close up of the guy in the box's hand with the wire wrapped around it looking identical to the way it was in the picture, the same with the use of the box making it seem like the same box actually used.
in conclusion Standared Operating Procedure does a brilliant job at explainging what went on in Abu Ghraib through the use of Cinematography, using subtle close ups to not give away to much. Also in editing to show emotions and laying out the evidence clearly for the audience to see. alos finally in Mise en Scene being extremely carefull in reconstructed scenes not to ruin continuity.