Tricked (Netflix Documentary)

Just a warning, this review mentions themes of sex and abuse (the subject matter of the documentary). Don't read if easily offended.

This week I have been watching a documentary on Netflix called Tricked. The basis of the film is to follow the story of a particular woman and her history of prostitution and abuse, pretty heavy stuff, I know. Because of the subject matter, it must be taken as a serious and emotional piece, which is exactly how it presents itself and how it comes across.

The main interviewee, named Danielle, narrates most of the film, adding her own experiences and emotions into the mix. She does a very good job at holding together during the most emotional scenes and seems to be genuine, with very little bias towards those girls still in the business.

There are other interviewees, including one man who admits to paying for sex numerous times, and sees no problem with it, claiming it to be human nature. His viewpoint does seem quite self-centred, but is presented with no bias at all within the edit and so allows his opinions to be expressed without prejudice, meaning you're free to make your own decisions about those ideas.

Overall, the multitude of people interviewed gave a varied dialogue between 'pimps' and 'pimped', while the emotional depth gave the film a very somber yet informative feel, so don't watch it unless you're ready to spend this time watching parent's accounts of their children being forced into what is essentially slavery, or these girls telling their stories and, as expected, getting very upset. It is a very well done documentary and the subject is handled wonderfully and with appropriate sensitivity, while still getting the hard facts into the mix. It is a very interesting watch if you're up for it.

Expired Magenta Monochrome Polaroid 600 Film (Impossible Project)

I recently puchased a three-pack of expired film from the Impossible Project website. My first pack contained film for eight magenta monochrome pictures. Since this was not my first choice of film, I decided it would be a good starting point for a practice project, being the first time I would use a Polaroid camera. Because it was magenta monochrome, it meant that all of my photos were going to be pink and only pink, so a very limited spectrum was to be expected.

My first photo came out great, well exposed and well framed, a great start! However, I found out very fast that in natural light, it is almost impossible to get a well exposed photograph with this film if you cannot adjust the exposure on your camera, which I can't. The pink colour meant that it was naturally going to be quite light anyway, but outside on a cloudy day, photos were almost impossible to take with a decent exposure. This may have been due to the expired film having a lower light tolerance, however being only one or two years out of date it seems unlikely. 

Overall though, playing around with focus and exposure was a great learning experience and seeing that this colour is so niche for a project, I believe it was a good investment, if only for practice. Considering the expired film was so much cheaper than the in-date packs, it was well worth the money to be able to test the camera and the film as a whole, as well as still having two packs to play with from the set!