Beautiful, eloquent, thought provoking. Damn thing made me cry.

Those are just a few of the words that come to mind watching Margaret Cheatham Williams’ photofilm Goodnight Moon (first spotted on the excellent Innovative Interactivity).

There’s been a lot of debate around the use of cinematic techniques to film traumatic events. Dan Chung’s video of the aftermath of the Japanese Earthquake is a classic example (for which I think he was unfairly beaten up).

For me the problem is not the use of cinematography in journalism, it’s that too often that’s all there is in these films. The audio is crap. There is no story, and it doesn’t look like the person making the film is thinking much beyond dollys and shallow depth of field. A sense of authenticity goes out the window and we end up thinking about the person behind the camera more than the person in front of the lens.

Margaret Cheatham Williams’ film is beautiful, but it’s not the grace of her camera work that we are left thinking about (or her choice of music).

Goodnight Moon from Margaret Cheatham Williams on Vimeo.

“First it was her face, and she always had a beautiful face.”

A story of my grandmother, who lost her courageous 13-year battle with Parkinson’s Disease in February.

Special thanks to Chad A Stevens.

April is Parkinson’s Awareness month. I’m in, are you?

Music by Thomas Gamble