AMY WINEHOUSE CASE STUDY:

Amy Winehouse was an English singer-songwriter known for her wide variety of genres such as rhythm and blues, soul, and jazz. She has two studio albums, 14 singles and 15 music videos. Since her death on 23 July 2011, Amy had sold over 1.75 million singles and over 3.98 million albums in the UK. She had collaborated with many artists such as Mark Ronson on the song 'Valerie' as the main vocalist. In 2015, the documentary film, 'Amy' was released that told the life and death of Amy Winehouse.

We went to Sheffield to watch the Amy Winehouse documentary 'Amy' (2015) that was showing at the cinema. I feel that the documentary helped me to understand more about Amy Winehouse and what led her down the wrong path, as well as making me feel very sympathetic towards her situation. The documentary made effective use of various editing techniques in order to engage the audience, making them feel compassionate towards Amy and her situation. For example, the 'flashing lights' effect when Amy is being inundated by the press and photographers was very effective, as it shows the audience what it feels like to be surrounded by strangers who are constantly photographing and reporting on you.

The use of archived footage allowed the audience to gain a unique understanding and insight into the life of Amy Winehouse. It gave details about how Amy became famous in the first place, which gave us an understanding about how fame affected Amy and how she went from being a bright, bubbly and happy young woman to being broken, weak and depressed. We see how she was pushed to her limits over and over again, eventually leading to her becoming addicted to drugs.