Terminal Bar was a film created by Stefan Nadelman in 2002, which explores 10 years’ worth of raw and truthful photography in New York. The photographs were taken by Nadelman’s father, Sheldon who worked at the bar, which allowed him to have a first-hand insight into what antics happened. The photographs taken were personal as the film was created from a series of stills of photographs and gave outsiders a look at to what kind of characters went into the bar on a day to day basis. The photos taken, were mainly ones Nadelman’s father found the most interesting within his collection. Due to the personal feel from the photos it gave the film a passionate feel as you knew this is what Nadelman’s father loved. A key factor that played into the film was keeping the photos in the right order.
The pace of the film is based on Nadelman’s father narrating over the entirety of the movie, explaining the stories behind his photos whilst it was paired with music and newspaper articles. The effect this has shows how the bar changed over the 10 years and what atmosphere it contained within it as well as it accommodating many different type of men, for example the gay male community. What was most impacting was when there wasn’t any narration; only music and the photographs. I found that giving a documentary a personal feel was interesting as it becomes more appealing and intriguing as well as not actually using any video.