Cheat Neutral is a 13 minute documentary Directed by Beth Stratford in 2007. This satirical documentary follows the creators of a website CheatNeutral that allows people that have cheated on their partners to 'offset' their infidelity to a global network of fidelity. The documentary follows Alex Randall and Christian Hunt as they try to sell the idea of cheat offsetting to a bemused public. From the streets of Cardiff to the Houses of Parliament, they spark an important and timely debate about the inadequacies of carbon offsetting.
This is a quite high profile production as they have footage from one of the creators being interviewed on BBC News. There is also footage from the House of Commons and also features audio of interviews on American Radio Stations.
This doesn't follow the normal style of documentary making. It seems to have a video diary style at some points and also gives the audience the feel that this has been rehearsed at points. However, some very interesting techniques is the used of non-diegetic sound and the speeding up of footage in the post-production stage. When the footage is sped up and the soundtrack is played, it reminds the viewer of a type of silent film, and you expect word screens to pop up at any minute.
The whole website went global reaching Australia and the US, meaning that this documentary/short film was a huge success and is actually featured on the homepage of the website.
It is a very different take on some of the other short films that I have watched, but it is nice to watch something that is very different and actually makes you laugh.
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