Good morning to all Members of the Jury, it is my privilege to represent the Members of the Queensland Police Force again in this case before you today.
Members of the Jury, I do not know about you, but I certainly remember the visits police officers used to make to primary schools where they would talk to us then primary school children about their role in the community and advise us on keeping safe. These visits certainly helped to foster in me a respect for the police, a trust that they were in fact the peacekeepers of the community. However; the thought-provoking documentary The Tall Man portrays the Queensland Police in rather an unworthy light. Through the various film aesthetics employed such as editing, camera shots, juxtaposition …show more content…
When presenting viewers with a description of the Palm Island community, the documentary first cuts to the Former Police and Corrective Services Minister, then to Ian Leavers, then to Dr Leahy and finally to Alfred Bonner an Indigenous man – who gives the resonating statement that “Palm Island is a place where blackfellas have grown up under the thumb of the white man.” The interesting point to note about utilising this editing technique is that it first gives us the authoritative, emotionally distant, politically correct descriptions of Palm Island while leaving the viewers with the emotion-filled, poignant and more human description of Palm Island last, enabling us to remember Bonner’s statement the best. This perhaps unconsciously causes us to view the Palm Islanders as oppressed and even regard the police as being their oppressors. Another thing to note is that the figures of authority were placed in their professional setting and were filmed with close-up shots, in contrast with Bonner who was placed in a mid-shot while being interviewed within his own environment. This enabled us to relate more with Bonner than with the authority figures as we felt no emotional connection to them. If we relate more with a person we are more likely to believe or remember what they say. The filmmakers have …show more content…
The hard hitting truth gained from this documentary is that Hurley did act in a corrupt and self-protective manner, but emphasising upon that adding the emotional elements has in fact tainted the reputation of the police force – a negative outcome.
The Tall Man also paints this negative image of the police force through consecutive statements given by the Mayor and Lisa Watson. The Mayor states “Police weren’t forthcoming in terms of publically informing the community like they’d do in any other town, it was all hush hush.”
Then we see a direct cut to Lisa Watson, “I believe a lot of conversations were had amongst the police, which shouldn’t have taken place.”
Not only this journalist Tony Koch and lawyer Andrew Boe both make reference to the police as being corrupted and self-protective. Weaving these comments throughout the documentary build up an image of a corrupted and self-protective police force who only endeavour to save their own skin, instead of upholding
Members of the Jury, I do not know about you, but I certainly remember the visits police officers used to make to primary schools where they would talk to us then primary school children about their role in the community and advise us on keeping safe. These visits certainly helped to foster in me a respect for the police, a trust that they were in fact the peacekeepers of the community. However; the thought-provoking documentary The Tall Man portrays the Queensland Police in rather an unworthy light. Through the various film aesthetics employed such as editing, camera shots, juxtaposition …show more content…
When presenting viewers with a description of the Palm Island community, the documentary first cuts to the Former Police and Corrective Services Minister, then to Ian Leavers, then to Dr Leahy and finally to Alfred Bonner an Indigenous man – who gives the resonating statement that “Palm Island is a place where blackfellas have grown up under the thumb of the white man.” The interesting point to note about utilising this editing technique is that it first gives us the authoritative, emotionally distant, politically correct descriptions of Palm Island while leaving the viewers with the emotion-filled, poignant and more human description of Palm Island last, enabling us to remember Bonner’s statement the best. This perhaps unconsciously causes us to view the Palm Islanders as oppressed and even regard the police as being their oppressors. Another thing to note is that the figures of authority were placed in their professional setting and were filmed with close-up shots, in contrast with Bonner who was placed in a mid-shot while being interviewed within his own environment. This enabled us to relate more with Bonner than with the authority figures as we felt no emotional connection to them. If we relate more with a person we are more likely to believe or remember what they say. The filmmakers have …show more content…
The hard hitting truth gained from this documentary is that Hurley did act in a corrupt and self-protective manner, but emphasising upon that adding the emotional elements has in fact tainted the reputation of the police force – a negative outcome.
The Tall Man also paints this negative image of the police force through consecutive statements given by the Mayor and Lisa Watson. The Mayor states “Police weren’t forthcoming in terms of publically informing the community like they’d do in any other town, it was all hush hush.”
Then we see a direct cut to Lisa Watson, “I believe a lot of conversations were had amongst the police, which shouldn’t have taken place.”
Not only this journalist Tony Koch and lawyer Andrew Boe both make reference to the police as being corrupted and self-protective. Weaving these comments throughout the documentary build up an image of a corrupted and self-protective police force who only endeavour to save their own skin, instead of upholding