Exit Through the Gift Shop

Exit Through the Gift Shop – Final Film Analysis

Exit Through the Gift Shop is a nonfiction film about street artists and the work they do. This documentary follows the lives of famous street artists who worked their way to the top, and an amateur film maker who proceeds to “fake it till he made it” and the story behind it all. The film allows the audience to believe in the street artist more as a work of art than a criminal. The audience is given many characteristics to make this a believable documentary, therefore not questioning the authenticity of the film.

The audience is introduced with an omniscient voiceover and textual information giving the people watching a sense of when and where this film is taking place. These elements allow the audience to accept what is given as facts rather than fiction, in the sense that the omniscient voice does literally know everything about this film and the textual information just reiterates when and where the voice has already guided the audience and there is nothing that needs to be questioned.

On another hand this film exhibits real people rather than actors, which just adds to the actuality of the overall feel of the film. In my opinion the fact that some of the people in the film prefer to have their faces pixelated to keep their identities safe just increases the realness. Street art or graffiti is illegal and can result in serious consequences if these disguised artists get caught, and the unknown factor increases the popularity of the artists work. By keeping the mystery of many famous unknown street artists the actuality of the film and what these people do in real life makes the story that much more interesting. These people don’t want to be noticed or picked out in a crowd, they just want to blend in and watch people admire what they do.

Exit Through the Gift Shop also limits its nondiegetic sounds, the audience is able to hear talking, street noise, the sounds of what is happening in the images on screen...