Documentary - Mockumentary

What We Do In The Shadows (2014) Directed by: Taikia Watiti and

Jemaine Clement

Fig 1. What We Do In The Shadows Movie Poster

2014 was the year the truth about vampires was revealed to the world in What We
Do In The Shadows. A camera crew were permitted to document the lives of
vampires about their night to night lives in this comedy mockumentary starring
housemates Viago, Vladislav, Deacon, Petyr with newly turned vampire Nick and his
best friend Stu.

The purpose of this film is to entertain and humour an audience, it presents this
fictional life style as real via the methods of documentary making. A documentary is
a genre of movie making that is commonly nonfictional, the purpose being to inform
an audience of either social, political, criminal, environmental/natural, cultural,
historical or supernatural facts by following, investigating and recording information
on camera. This review focuses on what makes What We Do In The Shadows a
documentary.

This type of documentary is known as a mockumentary which takes the form of a

serious documentary, (by following the rules of the genre such as using a camera to
follow the subject) in order to satirise its focus in this case being the vampires and
all the expectations that go with it. This mockumentary begins with written

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information explaining what the documentary is about - members of a secret society
and in the lead up to the unholy masquerade film crew were allowed to film and
were granted protection whilst doing so. After that follows meeting one the subjects
- Viago and following him around the house meeting the others, their names and
age appear on the screen near them, (see fig 2).

Fig 2. Meeting the subjects.

From the start we are constantly being presented with facts about vampires in a
humourous way starting with the struggle to rise from the con rather than getting
up, the idea that they share a flat and need to have a house meeting about chores.
Progressing onto joining them in their night to night antics, their hunt for food -
laying down newspaper so they dont ruin the floor and furniture with human blood,
their run-ins with werewolves, gallivanting the streets etc. By accident Petyr
changes Nick into a vampire which is caught on camera (see figs 3 and 4), the film
crew document what life is like going from human to vampire, being part of the
supernatural society, the pros and cons that come with the gift of immortality such
as flying, turning into a bat, being burned by daylight, vampire hunters, not being
able to see your reflections etc. Some vampires use their gift to manipulate people
into being their assistant in exchange for the transformational bite.

Fig 3. Soon to be a vampire. Fig 4. Nick gets attacked by Petyr.

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Rather than having a narrator, social commentary is the main method for informing
an audience of what is happening either when characters talk to one another about
what is happening, also when characters talk rhetorically to the camera. When Stu
becomes a werewolf, to inform the audience of what happened and to fill in the
blanks that the audience dont know but vampires do, they use black and white re-
enactment (see fig 5) with Stu explaining as a voice over.

Fig 5. Re-enactment.

Bibliography

Illustration List

Figure 1. What We Do In The Shadows Movie Poster. (2014). [Poster] At: http://
chriscrespo.com/review-what-we-do-in-the-shadows/ (Accessed on 24 November
2017).

Figure 2. Meeting The Subjects. (2014). [Film Still] At: http://www.blu-ray.com/

movies/What-We-Do-in-the-Shadows-Blu-ray/126041/ (Accessed on 24 November
2017).

Figure 3. Soon to be a vampire. (2014). [Film Still] At: https://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=L05cJ5G6T9A (Accessed on 24 November 2017).

Figure 4. Nick gets attacked by Petyr. (2014). [Film Still] At: https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=L05cJ5G6T9A (Accessed on 24 November 2017).

Figure 5. Re-enactment. (2014). [Film Still] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=DUYaGj7RBfk (Accessed on 24 November 2017).