Spellbound: Humanizing

1. Why does the director of the Documentary Spellbound spend so much time at the beginning of the Documentary introducing the 8 competitors that will be participating in the National Spelling Bee.
For the same reason in the Olympics they play the 'Behind the Athlete' or 'Athlete's Moms' specials. It's to humanize the people who we're supposed to feel something for. It makes a boring subject relatable if not interesting. Most look at spelling and acedemics and immediately change the channel or find something else to do.You get to know their families, their motives and their personalities; choose a favourite and root for them in your mind as you watch the documentary.
2.   Describe the ways different people in the Documentary behaved, or the kinds of values and beliefs they displayed.
Most, as in usual circumstances, showed a must desire to win, they've spent their entire educational career working towards this with either pressure on themselves or pressure on them from their parents (or both) while some, mostly in a rarer situation with Spelling Bees in the US, just have a natural talent for it and want to do it for fun, but also have that motive to win as all should and do. 
3.  How much do you agree or disagree with the ways in which they behaved, or the kinds of values and beliefs they displayed? Explain your feelings and point of view.
I agree with the one mother who said it was a form of child abuse. It's the same with sports too, academics and anything that involves competition in my opinion. In a way for America, this is the 'nerdy pagent show' I've heard that nick name loosely associated with Spelling Bees a number of times.
Coming from a sports perspective, I've seen families in a variety of different views on competition. Some families, lik mine, are oblivious to how the sport works so allt hey can do is cheer me on. Others like one girl I played against last year in a tournament, had parents who pressured her and her teammates and her coach to win so they could put a new trophy on the mantel. The question posed now is, who would you root for? And that's also another reason why the students were introduced at the beginning of the documentary.

4.   Was there anything about the Documentary that was biased or omitted? If there was, why do you think things may have been left out?
I think the last part, when the spelling bee had reached the top 8 and they announced the other boy who'd come 4th the year before was a bit of a surprise, seeing as he wasn'tmentioned once before. I thin it was left out simply to show the suspence of a competition like this and all the twists it can hold.

5. How did things like music, lighting, editing, testimonials  (characters directly addressing the camera) and the various conventions of documentary affect your opinion of what you were viewing?
The music made the atmophere a little more lighter, like the theme of jepordy in a way. The lighting created a sense of realism that came when it was the individual interviews; almost like they were talking into a webcam while the lighting for the participants while on the stage in the National Spelling Bee was more dramatic and intimidating, which showed the viewers just how alone you can be up there.
Over all, they affected my opinion of the viewing by once again making it more real. There wasn't the high tech lighting and editing like in the Hollywood block busters that immediately come across as cinematic but instead Spellbound had a 'homey' charm to it that really grounded the viewer.