‘When watching documentaries, we are just as involved in narrative and character as we are when watching fictional films.” How far is this true?

Planning the Walk scene - 38:25

● Throughout this scene we are presented with Philippe recreating the towers by measuring the dimensions in wire on a large open field.

● The scene is narrated by mainly Philippe, with some help from Mark ‘The Australian’ and Annie

● We are first introduced to Mark ‘The Australian’ at the beginning of the scene as he provides a voiceover of real footage shot during the planning. Phillipe can be seen constructing miniature recreations of the towers “I caught up with Philippe and he showed me this sort of extraordinary diagram and this photograph of this building that was being built…”

● “You know I looked at this huge tower, or towers, and Phillipe was so enthusiastic about doing this, so I became, I guess, one of the first members of the group.” - Mark.

● Philipe’s passion and determination seems to aid his recruitment of the team, audiences seem to be put into the same experience as Mark during this scene, you can’t help but admire his work.

● We learn of Phillipe’s extreme dedication to this project, much like the dentist flashback scene, Philippe seems to be driven by his dreams as he is meticulously planning this wire walk between two building that weren't even completed yet - As a spectator you admire his dedication to the cause and it allows the audience to understand just how much planning was needed to carry this mission out, putting the experience into perspective.

● We see the team working together to first create and the test out their recreation, Philippe is eager to recreate the conditions so the group jump up and down on the wires to create a realistic simulation of the wind when he is up at such a height.

● One can also infer that at this point Phillipe was willing to pay more money in order to fully prepare for the experience, he explains his use of good quality wire and used it to recreate the outline to the tower’s exact dimensions.

● “He wanted to set up a wire to correspond exactly to the distance of the two towers and to practice on it as much as he could.” - Annie

● The use of their own video footage allows audiences to experience the ambience of the group and to fully capture how they went about preparing for such a dangerous task. It is clear throughout the scene that the group’s moral is led by Philippe as he instructs and assists his team to recreate his vision.

● “I guess it was a bit of a boot camp or a training camp, essentially we spent time there conceiving, designing, trying to work out how to make this thing work from every aspect.” - Mark.

● The audience are positioned to feel like they are part of the team working in the field, the moral is high and Phillipe's dream is shown as being one step closer to achieving his dream - The audience seems to forget that wire walking across the towers is illegal as they are siding with Philippe as the narrator, an anti-hero figure.