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Evaluation Essay

As per the film, a gay man travelled for eight months and covered 3600 miles to highlight

the rights of the gay community in America. The film's title is "The Road Less Travelled BY"

and is directed by A.J Goodrich. He began his journey from Los Angeles to New York, almost

covered 3600 miles, speaking about gay marriage. He covered a long distance to discover the

thoughts of people about gay marriage. However, after his long-distance partner broke up with

A.J. Goodrich, the voyage became a longer and more journey of discovery to grow and develop

and leave his load. In reality, what began as a voyage with a social will form the bottom

eventually turned into deep emotional contemplation about love and loss, relationships and the

globe. They have also met great folks with a range of life views. In the end, the film discusses,

despite differences, the necessity of a human relationship. The documentary "The Road Less

Travelled BY" meets the criteria of a good and advanced documentary. It has a clear purpose, an

unexpected turn in the documentary, reliable interviews, and various focus shots.

The documentary has the explicit purpose of discovering the common perception about

same-sex marriage. It will give the viewers information about what the general public thinks

about gay marriage etc. Sometimes documentaries do not mention the clear purpose and

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highlight the opinion of the general public about gay marriage as directors, etc. They think that

they might face issues when the masses are asked about such a controversial issue. The primary

purpose of any social subject is that what is people's opinion about the topic? The directors focus

on the problem instead of showing other irrelevant things, creating chaos in the documentary.

The documentary covered the primary purpose of highlighting the general public's opinion about

same-sex marriage as they asked relevant questions from them. They allowed everyone to

express their feelings about the controversial subject openly. The evidence shows that

documentary makers meet the criteria of highlighting the fundamental purpose of asking people's

opinions about same-sex marriage. They asked thoughtful, expressive, bold and open-end

questions. They gave every participant enough time to express their views and not interrupt

anyone during the interview (The Road Less Traveled). Many things increased the interest of the

viewers as the documentary had a sad turn.

It is necessary that documentaries increase the interest of the view due to unexpected

opinions and connecting it with local stories. The unexpected turn is essential to be included in

the documentary; otherwise, people will lose their interest. It has been seen that many people

avoid seeing documentaries because they find them monotonous. It is necessary to increase the

involvement of the people as it raises the seriousness of the issue, and it touches the heart of

many people. The unexpected thing in the documentary is that the boyfriend of Goodrich broke

up with him. It enhanced people's interest as they thought about how Goodrich will discover

himself and grow up from such a devastating heartbreak (The Road Less Traveled). The

evidence shows that the documentary met the criteria as people started to relate themselves with

it, and they began to understand the feeling of gay people. Viewers also discover that gay people

are like other ordinary people. Hence, the unexpected situation in the documentary was more

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stimulating, which gave people a sense of realism. It reflected that gay relationships are not like

fairy tales, but they also have heartbreaks.

The interview is a popular tactic of documentation. It enables individuals to be

videotaped to talk directly regarding issues. Discussions in the documentary are necessary to

increase the relevance and authenticity of the subject. It shows that general people have an

opinion about the topic, and then the director fulfils the documentary's primary purpose.

Documentary interview questions give the audience a degree of authenticity that the views of the

documentary filmmaker are reciprocally shared and therefore more accurate by some other

individual source. Director interviewed various people throughout his journey, and these

interviews reflected the perception of people about same-sex marriage. For instance, many

people accepted that they are also gay (The Road Less Traveled). The documentary met the

criteria of reliable interviews as it asked the opinion of specific gay people. Such as some gay

couples' interviews make the documentary more realistic and reliable as the audience comes to

know about the hardships faced by gay people. It showed that all over the country, gay people

face a similar type of resistance. Various focus shots of nature are used in the documentary to

show that gay marriage is as natural as nature.

Focus shots are intended to stimulate powerful, original narration, visual flair, and large-

screen production elements. It aims to allow the creation of documentaries by directors and

producers with creative and innovative expressions and some level of professional expertise.

Focus shots enable producers, crew, and travellers and chance to succeed in a competitive setting

which will raise their knowledge to a better standard and can be viewed by prospective producers

as a possible leap forward. The director used various focus shots, such as in the start many

mountains and natural locations were shown as it reflects that the topic presented is near nature

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(The Road Less Traveled). The focus shot of nature showed that the documentary met the criteria

of a good documentary as it increased the realism of the documentary. Hence, focus shots

created a professional environment for the filmmaker, and they also depicted that same-sex

marriage is as accurate as nature. Thus, the overall documentary covers all the aspects of a good

documentary.

Thus, it is concluded that the documentary met the criteria of a good documentary. It

involves focus shots, relatable interviews, a mind-altering change in the documentary, and a

fundamental purpose. The documentary highlights the purpose of discovering the opinion of

people about same-sex marriage, and it used interviews and focus shots on increasing realism of

the issue. Finally, the unexpected climax of the breakup increased the interest of the audience. I

will recommend the documentary because it highlights one of the most exciting issues, and the

directors used the camera and material very professionally.

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Works cited

The Road Less Traveled by. A.J. Goodrich, performance by A.J Goodrich, 2011, Vimeo,

https://vimeo.com/148575564/.