Closed for Storm

Having enjoyed the Bright Sun documentaries on Youtube I was pleasantly surprised to find this full-length feature on Kanopy.

A park is not a person, yet this story personalized the Katrina disaster more than anything else about I've previously seen. "Closed for Storm" focuses the tragedy on a place whose sole purpose was to bring joy. Heartbreaking to see what happened.. Great use is made of vintage footage showing the park in happier times and the interviewees are clearly sad about its demise. Understandably economics precluded the park's development, but New Orleans deserved better...and this film couldn't have made that point more clearly.

Is this film about the rise and fall of the park? Is it about the greater Hurricane Katrina story? Is it about the failure of local politics on New Orleans East? Is it just a cool urban exploration of an abandoned park? The film tries to be all of these things which hurts it over all. The film could have been sharpened it's focus on one or two of these themes and been better served for it. That being said, it still was an interesting documentary and will hopefully spur some action to help the local residents who want something done with the land.

I am a huge fan of Jake, Bright Sun Films, and the Abandoned series he makes on YouTube.

This takes his concept from that Abandoned series to a long-form feature-length medium on all major platforms for the first time.

The documentary itself focuses on the rise and fall of New Orleans first major theme park. Jake does a fantastic job finding people from the community and interviewing them. He digs to the soul behind the abandoned structures. He also does a great job giving us the history of the park before Katrina so we as viewers care about the park as much as the people in the community did.

My biggest nitpick would be I found the last 15 minutes to be a little flat. The producers on the project gambled choosing to follow a few specific people trying to repurpose the land; no one got the ending they wanted. The gamble could have paid off, but even as is, I think there was a missed opportunity to show more of the heartbreak and disappointment this plot of land has been subjected to for the last 15 years. The last few scenes in the documentary are flat because we didn't get a deep emotional pay-off on one of the narratives they set up. Digging in deeper on the heartbreak and frustration of those people that were trying to repurpose the land may have elevated the final moments of this documentary just a touch.

If you are a fan of Abandoned on YouTube, this is a must-watch. If you are just a general fan of documentaries, this holds its own without any knowledge of Jake's previous work. I highly recommend this to anyone interested in Katrina, New Orleans, theme parks, or urban exploration. For a first feature-length documentary this is an amazing achievement and Jake could easily find himself helming more documentaries in the future!

Well done and keep up the great work!

Strengths

• Jake is a fantastic narrator (A+++)

*** His slow and clear cadence works perfectly with the somber abandoned material, sweeping drone footage, and delivery of heartbreaking backstory; this is a skill he seasoned with hours of YouTube narration and he has a gift for narration***

• Interesting and diverse interviews cut well against other footage and peppered throughout
• Great footage. The drone work on the abandoned park is fantastic. They also mine old footage to juxtapose the current dilapidated state of rides against the vibrant footage from the past. Very well cut and one of the strengths of both this documentary and the Abandoned series!

Weaknesses

• At times the score overpowered the narration early; they did seem to dial this down later but I found a few spots in the beginning that the narration was fighting with the score
• The last 15 minutes was a bit of a letdown.

Ultimately it is my hope that a documentary educates me about a topic I know little / nothing about, and makes me care about it. In this sense this documentary succeeds. I didn't know about Six Flags New Orleans, and I care that it was destroyed. Those poor people.

From a technical perspective, there was some ironing out that could have been done. The music is often too loud, and misplaced. The narrator should either narrate less or more, it comes out of nowhere, but some random images I would have liked to know more about them.

The film, when they finally show the post-hurricane park? It's underwhelming, and too many instances of hearing the director exclaim things like "Oh my God!" or "Holy Christ!" Not sure that added anything?

What I liked though, was a lot. It was done on a budget, but made good use of drones to capture footage. Good interviews with relevant people to the story. And again, the story made me feel something, so that's a win in my book.

I am a big fan of Bright Sun Films and have been anticipating this documentary since it's announcement.

However the film was sorta a let down for me and heres why:

1. The Interviewees

I found almost all the interviews to be lacking structure and the story's a bit dull. During the behind the scenes video they did express how difficult it was to find qualified people to interview and I definitely believe that would be a huge challenge on a topic like this.

The interviewees didn't really provide much insight into the actions/decisions made behind closed doors within Six Flags Corp. Ryan Bordenave however, was a fantastic speaker and storyteller of the events that unfolded.

I think the story was too focused on the old fun memories than on the hurricane/abandoned situation itself.

2. The Hurricane

I found the transition into the hurricane itself (president bushes address) super sudden with only the one interviewee mentioning it quickly. It didn't flow too well.

I was expecting most of the documentary to be footage/stories of the hurricane itself. However the footage of the storm only lasted a few mere minutes.

3. The Parks Decay

The lack of close up footage of the park decay and abandoned state really shocked me. There were a lot of fantastic drone shots but it was impossible to really see the overgrown/decay of the rides and buildings from above. There really should have been a lot of close up and jaw dropping B roll shots of the park.

During one part they were exploring a few of the buildings, but that was it. Not much exploring the rides or other areas of the park.

4. Ending Vote

I may not have picked up what was going on during the voting section at the end of the film but I didn't think it was clear what was actually happening. Who were these companies they were voting on? And what was the plan?

5. The Interview Camera Work

(This one is kinda a nitpick)

Being a videographer for many years myself I was really surprised on the style of camera shots they chose for the interviews. The vast majority of the shots had the background in almost clear focus with no depth of field. This may have been a personal choice but it is uncommon to see that shot style in films.

Conclusion

I know I was super harsh here but I really wanted to be honest of my thoughts on the film. This was a major achievement for Bright Sun Films and the team should be super proud! I'd still watch it again and recommend to my friends! Great work!

The score was also incredible! It really gave Toy Story vibes at times.