DARK DAYS

I recently watched a film written and directed by documentarian Marc Singer. The documentary Dark Days, released in 2000, deals with the issues of a certain group of homeless people. Singer reveals an underground community living in an abandoned subway tunnel under Manhattan. The film is shot entirely in black and white and has a very homemade sense about it. These characteristics help illustrate the grungy and gritty conditions this homeless neighborhood lives in. The opening of the film uses a number of pan shots, as well as a very bumpy tracking shot which used the tracks from the old train. These techniques captured their complete environment. The combination of low angle and wide lenses created a deep depth of field which exposed seas of endless garbage. Long lenses shot dozens of rats crawling through these people's make shift homes. The majority of the film is shot with a handheld camera in a voyeuristic documentary style. Singer films the homeless people going about their day to day lives in the tunnel. He used medium shots to capture the person, and the activity they were doing at the time. Extremely dim lighting, shadows, and contrasts are seen throughout the film until the homeless community is forced from their homes to move above ground. Once they were settled into apartments for the homeless, Singer used strong lights to illuminate the ecstatic people and their new homes. This technique shows the people's victory after years of living in the dark tunnel.

The technical choices Singer used made a large impact of the film. With low angles, pan shots, and a list of other techniques he was able to accomplish a very raw and dirty look which reflected the homeless people's conditions. The movie makes constant use of these techniques until the end. The end of the film signifies the end of life in the tunnel. To express this feeling Singer used strong lights and medium close ups of the individuals being interviewed. This shot works well to capture the smiles and expressions of the newly happy people. The low budget amateur style techniques were great decisions made by Singer to expose this issue.