I wont forget the time Yianni said “That’s it, now the moment is gone” and I thought ‘why is he saying that, we are filming again soon and we will get that shot’. When I read Cunningham’s quote, Yianni’s comment made more than just sense – it raised the issue of capture and editing; ‘a documentary film editor’s challenge is bridging the gap between the often subtle, nuanced story that unfolds as the crew shoots a scene, and what the camera and microphone succeed in capturing” (Cunningham 277).
Well sometimes it does succeed, sometimes not. It is up to the editor and the director and what they want to show and tell versus what the footage is saying. It becomes the kind of story that could be told from the material.
The story is what we try to capture with the material, based upon the director’s concept of the documentary. For us that are editing portraits (telling someone’s life story) getting the story right is the largest responsibility and requires a careful balance. Through viewing the subject’s life, Yianni’s life artifacts, us as editors like Heredia, gets to know the person intimately. However, according to Cunningham, great editing always requires distance. With every cut, an editor makes, will raise the question: what will the subject think of this portrayal. It is up to our selection of the material that will answer this question and show our audience Yianni’s life journey in filmmaking.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Yianni – reflection of trust
Reflecting on interviewing skills when looking through the captures of Yiannis’s tapes, the build up of our relationship with Yianni was changed. When we all were on the film-set, Yianni was aware of us as doco makers being there. However, when the director did it alone, we could clearly see that he was more relaxed and less aware of the camera. More or less careless I would say and I believe this is because of the trust he has to the director as a friend in comparison to me and Diane.
Just to cross this over to the course TV Journalism, creating the trusty and honest relationship with an interviewee was something I managed to do successfully with a girl called Meenakshi Balan. On the first encounter, she was quiet, nervous and thought it was strange to talk about being an overseas student, representing a South Pacific student network. And this was just radio. But as time went she opened up and wanted to talk and share information – after 10 weeks of emails, phone calls and encounters, Balan was more than happy to be interviewed and appear on Television. Developing trust is not impossible – it takes time.
In terms of Yianni, when the director filmed, it was less acting and more the actual portrait of our subject. To mention one example, is when the Brunswick bicycling filmmaker is in the studio with his brother, engaging with the world, his brother, his filmmaking and the cameraperson “look at that, she still filming how annoying is that!” and then he laughs.
But I would not say that the other tapes have been spilt at all. After Robin gave us feedback on the filmed subject and the expectations he had as a tutor, I knew what he looked for and what we had to improve – we needed more Yianni than ‘La-Ra’s flat-mate. Robin was not 100 % convinced but after comparing the shots we had did so far and showing them, both we and Robin could see the developing relationship with Yianni and that we were close to get there – the moment of capturing the Brunswick filmmaker was coming into action.
Chatting with the group about it, we compared the materials we had gathered so far and what to do next. We have enough material for a rough-cut wit stills, sounds, interview, observational interview, and generic footage. Now were putting it together and in terms of group collaboration, varying between individual and group tasks works well for us. We think that the amount of work will be equally done in the end of the day as we shift between filming, sound design, production and post-production and editing.
Just to cross this over to the course TV Journalism, creating the trusty and honest relationship with an interviewee was something I managed to do successfully with a girl called Meenakshi Balan. On the first encounter, she was quiet, nervous and thought it was strange to talk about being an overseas student, representing a South Pacific student network. And this was just radio. But as time went she opened up and wanted to talk and share information – after 10 weeks of emails, phone calls and encounters, Balan was more than happy to be interviewed and appear on Television. Developing trust is not impossible – it takes time.
In terms of Yianni, when the director filmed, it was less acting and more the actual portrait of our subject. To mention one example, is when the Brunswick bicycling filmmaker is in the studio with his brother, engaging with the world, his brother, his filmmaking and the cameraperson “look at that, she still filming how annoying is that!” and then he laughs.
But I would not say that the other tapes have been spilt at all. After Robin gave us feedback on the filmed subject and the expectations he had as a tutor, I knew what he looked for and what we had to improve – we needed more Yianni than ‘La-Ra’s flat-mate. Robin was not 100 % convinced but after comparing the shots we had did so far and showing them, both we and Robin could see the developing relationship with Yianni and that we were close to get there – the moment of capturing the Brunswick filmmaker was coming into action.
Chatting with the group about it, we compared the materials we had gathered so far and what to do next. We have enough material for a rough-cut wit stills, sounds, interview, observational interview, and generic footage. Now were putting it together and in terms of group collaboration, varying between individual and group tasks works well for us. We think that the amount of work will be equally done in the end of the day as we shift between filming, sound design, production and post-production and editing.
Steve Thomas – The process of documentary production.
This amazing guest lecture by Steve Thomas broke down the journey of a story in filmmaking. I was really inspired by Thomas when he went into details of the restricted parameters in short film, his experience about it and what we could learn of it. For narratives and film requirement, Thomas related this to 3 key aspects of the journey:
- Journey of the story (mostly the participant’s journey, often from the past)
- Participant’s journey in making the film (wanting to make a film by interess).
- Filmmaker’s journey in making the film (use of a story teller).
Breaking down on how to view the participant and the journey, this taught me on how the journey, is more than a story of a character – it can be an own thought, a drama, a product if not more. This was shown through the linear versus non-linear construction of a doco and what unfolds in someone’s lives. Paul briefly mentioned on how we had constructed news, was quite similar to doco production – overlay, overlay, overlay, interview/grab, overlay,overlay and so on. This is the classic structure of equilibrium, the journey of the hero, where the character finds a way.
In editing Yianni, what Steve Thomas and Paul talked about in this lecture, is what I will implement into our doco, because “truth is stronger than fiction”. The refugee story ‘Hope’ touched on this together with the relationship formed with the filmmaker. It’s a survival story with beautiful framings, background music and the Yarra River as the Tigrees River. But the most important point of this type of filmmaking here is: ‘it is rather than doing something on a subject, it is with a subject, with challenges, taking the audience into the journey too”.
New words taught: challenging, voyaging and story telling. Why? Because as filmmakers and doco makers, we must remember that most people viewing this are struggling in the same position, and therefore we must look for the contradiction and the paradoxes of it, in order to demonstrate the human condition and the human nature of the particular story.
- Journey of the story (mostly the participant’s journey, often from the past)
- Participant’s journey in making the film (wanting to make a film by interess).
- Filmmaker’s journey in making the film (use of a story teller).
Breaking down on how to view the participant and the journey, this taught me on how the journey, is more than a story of a character – it can be an own thought, a drama, a product if not more. This was shown through the linear versus non-linear construction of a doco and what unfolds in someone’s lives. Paul briefly mentioned on how we had constructed news, was quite similar to doco production – overlay, overlay, overlay, interview/grab, overlay,overlay and so on. This is the classic structure of equilibrium, the journey of the hero, where the character finds a way.
In editing Yianni, what Steve Thomas and Paul talked about in this lecture, is what I will implement into our doco, because “truth is stronger than fiction”. The refugee story ‘Hope’ touched on this together with the relationship formed with the filmmaker. It’s a survival story with beautiful framings, background music and the Yarra River as the Tigrees River. But the most important point of this type of filmmaking here is: ‘it is rather than doing something on a subject, it is with a subject, with challenges, taking the audience into the journey too”.
New words taught: challenging, voyaging and story telling. Why? Because as filmmakers and doco makers, we must remember that most people viewing this are struggling in the same position, and therefore we must look for the contradiction and the paradoxes of it, in order to demonstrate the human condition and the human nature of the particular story.
Conventions of sound in documentary
Jeffrey Rouff likes writing essays about sound in documentary. Intelligibility and fidelity are words the author uses to describe Hollywood cinematography, by saying that these are and interplay od conventions of sound as they aim to ‘clarify’. In simple terms, this means that ‘Hollywood filmmakers use cinematic techniques of image and sound to focus the attention of the spectator on the salient elements that further the narrative action’ (Carrol in Rouff: 1993 pg. 24).
Intelligibility meaning clearness, and fidelity trustworthiness, in this context of doco production, are to remind us what we have to be aware of as documentary makers. Rouff argues in this essay that ‘while documentary films often use narrative forms, they rarely demonstrate the degree of clarity that these writers sees as the standard of classical Hollywood Cinemas ’(Rouff 1993 pg .24). The intelligibility here is how character’s motivations, speech parts and lighting failures often can result into sound spaces, microphones in frame and jump cuts. Historically as Rouff describes, observational filmmakers were not allowed to intrude into their subjects life, ask questions, conduct interviews, stage set ups and influence the event of the camera: the doco makers were meant to be flies on the wall.
While Rouff talks about the history of the conventions of sound in doco production, I think we must distinguish what we want to present. A narrative is often a piece where everything is controlled and nothing is left to change. A documentary is a different relationship with change, with the right attitude we can put our trust into. For the use of Rouff’s article this is a piece that I will go back and forth into, to learn of instructions location sound and sound techniques - it is due to all the historical examples Rouff uses in his essay that makes a sense of the conventions of sound, seen in a historical timeline and different techniques used.
Intelligibility meaning clearness, and fidelity trustworthiness, in this context of doco production, are to remind us what we have to be aware of as documentary makers. Rouff argues in this essay that ‘while documentary films often use narrative forms, they rarely demonstrate the degree of clarity that these writers sees as the standard of classical Hollywood Cinemas ’(Rouff 1993 pg .24). The intelligibility here is how character’s motivations, speech parts and lighting failures often can result into sound spaces, microphones in frame and jump cuts. Historically as Rouff describes, observational filmmakers were not allowed to intrude into their subjects life, ask questions, conduct interviews, stage set ups and influence the event of the camera: the doco makers were meant to be flies on the wall.
While Rouff talks about the history of the conventions of sound in doco production, I think we must distinguish what we want to present. A narrative is often a piece where everything is controlled and nothing is left to change. A documentary is a different relationship with change, with the right attitude we can put our trust into. For the use of Rouff’s article this is a piece that I will go back and forth into, to learn of instructions location sound and sound techniques - it is due to all the historical examples Rouff uses in his essay that makes a sense of the conventions of sound, seen in a historical timeline and different techniques used.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Doco sound design and copyright
Always get copyright.
Always test gear before going out.
Always monitor properly: signal to noice ratio and the use of lapelle mic techniques.
Sound design and copyright is one of the crucial pieces in the making of Yanni. What type of sound to use must enhance the character and also follow the laws of copyright. Paul talked about copyright in a political sense: it should use the tiniest amount of time of research, it is there to protect our stuff, property and creativity, to prove that it was written/made at a certain point.
Copyright is used for images and footage to protect their contents and sometimes resources. The actual license is mainly to be used by common sense, and it is good as seen in example of Elvis. The intended use needs to clarify the example and not my or our own intended use; when using music and saturating it, whether or not they used elvis music to aid the documentary, they are taking it into use, as it become a more motive and the portrayed image.
One must always use the common sense within copyright, also beyond music. When using incidental footage, people used in the frame of a shot one must do this by a wide shot but where one cant assert other ones. Except from when asking the people in advance for permission.
Copyright must always be sorted out because if a film is accepted into a festival, one must be assured that no money is made out of it. A rule of ‘8 seconds of music used’, however when asking for permission and emailing these people, should be confirmed by RMIT’s Copyright person - Ann Lennix.
‘Forbidden lies and Survival had bad sound as it either had been badly recorded or had no work done in the post. Lesson: always check the SWITCH on the back and on the front of the camera, signal of noice ration, boom mic techniqies. This will give better sound than a lapelle mice, because this one doesn’t suck in all the sounds around, but it is good on sound with low noices.
Construction and deconstruction:
As the same principles in drama, with editorial and geographical style, we must cover the person and focus poll between when using two persons. We should list all the kinds of cutaways and overlays that are needed in documentary as we have also done in TV journalism. Here, when making news stories, this order often has 8-10 pieces repeatedly being: PTC-overlays-overlay-grab-overlay-ptc-overlay-overlay-grab-ptc end. In TV 2 this is almost the same thing being in most times very formulate.
The Chinese photographer docu was shot with more than one camera and included more than a person talking: it had crash ins and pull outs of the frame and shot with one long tape. This jumped from talking person, mum cutting up fruit, disapoointed dad, frustrated student and also side shots. The same technique goes for ‘Drinking for England’ as the camera crew here used bits of observational shooting when the character goes into the car and also multi cameraes when she has her last drink.
Always test gear before going out.
Always monitor properly: signal to noice ratio and the use of lapelle mic techniques.
Sound design and copyright is one of the crucial pieces in the making of Yanni. What type of sound to use must enhance the character and also follow the laws of copyright. Paul talked about copyright in a political sense: it should use the tiniest amount of time of research, it is there to protect our stuff, property and creativity, to prove that it was written/made at a certain point.
Copyright is used for images and footage to protect their contents and sometimes resources. The actual license is mainly to be used by common sense, and it is good as seen in example of Elvis. The intended use needs to clarify the example and not my or our own intended use; when using music and saturating it, whether or not they used elvis music to aid the documentary, they are taking it into use, as it become a more motive and the portrayed image.
One must always use the common sense within copyright, also beyond music. When using incidental footage, people used in the frame of a shot one must do this by a wide shot but where one cant assert other ones. Except from when asking the people in advance for permission.
Copyright must always be sorted out because if a film is accepted into a festival, one must be assured that no money is made out of it. A rule of ‘8 seconds of music used’, however when asking for permission and emailing these people, should be confirmed by RMIT’s Copyright person - Ann Lennix.
‘Forbidden lies and Survival had bad sound as it either had been badly recorded or had no work done in the post. Lesson: always check the SWITCH on the back and on the front of the camera, signal of noice ration, boom mic techniqies. This will give better sound than a lapelle mice, because this one doesn’t suck in all the sounds around, but it is good on sound with low noices.
Construction and deconstruction:
As the same principles in drama, with editorial and geographical style, we must cover the person and focus poll between when using two persons. We should list all the kinds of cutaways and overlays that are needed in documentary as we have also done in TV journalism. Here, when making news stories, this order often has 8-10 pieces repeatedly being: PTC-overlays-overlay-grab-overlay-ptc-overlay-overlay-grab-ptc end. In TV 2 this is almost the same thing being in most times very formulate.
The Chinese photographer docu was shot with more than one camera and included more than a person talking: it had crash ins and pull outs of the frame and shot with one long tape. This jumped from talking person, mum cutting up fruit, disapoointed dad, frustrated student and also side shots. The same technique goes for ‘Drinking for England’ as the camera crew here used bits of observational shooting when the character goes into the car and also multi cameraes when she has her last drink.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Rabiger and Cunningham: effective interviewing
The most important aspect of effective interviewing, is communication. By this I mean that the director or the interviewer that is interviewing the character, must not be interrupted and when we interview Yanni, I think that neither the camera operator or the sound person should talk until after the interview is finished. It can damage the flow of the interview, and also the developing relationship.
In developing skills of interviewing, Rabiger and Cunningham’s article talk about how to treat the talent and effective interviewing. What I learned from these articles and applied into the practice of interviewing was done in a work placement and then into the course TV Journalism. Here are the key points from the articles:
-how to negotiate the information from the interviewed object.
-building a semi relationship to them.
-framing of the object and editing.
-how to conclude an interview.
-setting people at ease, framing questions
-Editing out the interviewers voice
-Take and giving
Where Rabiger talks about editing in and out the voice of the interviewer and how to negotiate the information, I did this in two rounds. In the pieces for ABC Radio National, I did the whole interview first. I had prepared 3-5 questions, but in terms of framing my question, I would make lead sentences of the question. That resulted into a conversational style with the object, and also sometimes a ‘ talk like a waterfall’, which gave plenty of material to work with. It was this negotiation of information that started a relationship with the interviews and in most cases I would let the interviewed object just talk freely about him or her as a background portrait for the interview. In this way it was easier to ask direct and open question about the specific issues and get opinions and facts as well.
In the editing process I selected the main grabs followed by creating a new track for the particular interview. After that, I then voice recorded the voice of the interviewer.
In TV Journalism we were asked to do a vox pop assessment and I thought about how I was going to frame both the interviewed objects and me and my partner Amelia’s pieces to camera. Vox Pop’s for Rabiger ‘consists of asking a range of people the same question and then stringing the replies together in a rapid sequence‘(Rabiger 2004 p. 333).
In some occasions, it Rabiger’s example of making people talk together worked out well here. There were a couple of times during the practice of street interviews, that people coming in groups wanted to be interviewed and they talked more freely and open than others, most possibly because they were communicating amongst themselves. After looking at a couple of examples of news reporters we figured out that we would put them all in the right corner of the frame, just because a communication theory from Cinema Studies pointed out that the eye line from the audience and also the viewer, has a tendency do drop first to the centre, and then a little bit to the right. We also thought in doing so, if we had to put an object into the left side, we would flop the film segment in Final Cut Pro.
In terms of manipulation, I think that both as a filmmaker and a journalist, that I must never make an assumption of a particular grab or a comment. Manipulation works for me, when the story angle is set and I can fairly and honestly produce the story into the angle that it was meant to be.
In developing skills of interviewing, Rabiger and Cunningham’s article talk about how to treat the talent and effective interviewing. What I learned from these articles and applied into the practice of interviewing was done in a work placement and then into the course TV Journalism. Here are the key points from the articles:
-how to negotiate the information from the interviewed object.
-building a semi relationship to them.
-framing of the object and editing.
-how to conclude an interview.
-setting people at ease, framing questions
-Editing out the interviewers voice
-Take and giving
Where Rabiger talks about editing in and out the voice of the interviewer and how to negotiate the information, I did this in two rounds. In the pieces for ABC Radio National, I did the whole interview first. I had prepared 3-5 questions, but in terms of framing my question, I would make lead sentences of the question. That resulted into a conversational style with the object, and also sometimes a ‘ talk like a waterfall’, which gave plenty of material to work with. It was this negotiation of information that started a relationship with the interviews and in most cases I would let the interviewed object just talk freely about him or her as a background portrait for the interview. In this way it was easier to ask direct and open question about the specific issues and get opinions and facts as well.
In the editing process I selected the main grabs followed by creating a new track for the particular interview. After that, I then voice recorded the voice of the interviewer.
In TV Journalism we were asked to do a vox pop assessment and I thought about how I was going to frame both the interviewed objects and me and my partner Amelia’s pieces to camera. Vox Pop’s for Rabiger ‘consists of asking a range of people the same question and then stringing the replies together in a rapid sequence‘(Rabiger 2004 p. 333).
In some occasions, it Rabiger’s example of making people talk together worked out well here. There were a couple of times during the practice of street interviews, that people coming in groups wanted to be interviewed and they talked more freely and open than others, most possibly because they were communicating amongst themselves. After looking at a couple of examples of news reporters we figured out that we would put them all in the right corner of the frame, just because a communication theory from Cinema Studies pointed out that the eye line from the audience and also the viewer, has a tendency do drop first to the centre, and then a little bit to the right. We also thought in doing so, if we had to put an object into the left side, we would flop the film segment in Final Cut Pro.
In terms of manipulation, I think that both as a filmmaker and a journalist, that I must never make an assumption of a particular grab or a comment. Manipulation works for me, when the story angle is set and I can fairly and honestly produce the story into the angle that it was meant to be.
Observational exercise
Reflecting back on the exercise of observational interview, this way of documenting was like stalking an object. What I learned from this exercise was to not interact with the object but filming ‘like eyes watching and observing’.
See this:
http://antisocialparty.blogspot.com/search/label/Film%20and%20TV%202
There were couple of technical issues here than are now discussed and learned of, and these were focus, exposure and lighting. Robin introduced the use of a Kino light and this light can be dimmed and also light cylinder regulated. I think it will be a good thing to use a Kino light because it recreates the soft light coming from outside, and even though the light is dimmed, it can be edited on final cut pro. In most cases, this is not necessary as the camera wont change the focus on the color balance while shooting. Another thing we discussed in this tute was the relationship with the characters. The portrait should be a happy content that is negotiated and its relationship to the film. It is how we plan to negotiate with Yanni that will create a great result, and for this we can show him the film and ask him if he wants to have a look at it before we hand it in. Just because this will give the character peace in mind and also benefit us as filmmakers.
See this:
http://antisocialparty.blogspot.com/search/label/Film%20and%20TV%202
There were couple of technical issues here than are now discussed and learned of, and these were focus, exposure and lighting. Robin introduced the use of a Kino light and this light can be dimmed and also light cylinder regulated. I think it will be a good thing to use a Kino light because it recreates the soft light coming from outside, and even though the light is dimmed, it can be edited on final cut pro. In most cases, this is not necessary as the camera wont change the focus on the color balance while shooting. Another thing we discussed in this tute was the relationship with the characters. The portrait should be a happy content that is negotiated and its relationship to the film. It is how we plan to negotiate with Yanni that will create a great result, and for this we can show him the film and ask him if he wants to have a look at it before we hand it in. Just because this will give the character peace in mind and also benefit us as filmmakers.
More research on Yanni.Fin.
After having one shooting segment with Yanni, I am still curious about who he is, both as a filmmaker, artist and as a person. Due to the development and trust with Yanni, the group has decided that when interviewing him, it is best to do it two on two, for the sake of the character not to change behavior.
Haven not met Yanni but being part of the production process, I cant wait to be able to see the creativity and the quirkiness, the character and the relationship with his brother. For sound designing, I think in this research after meeting them both, the suggestions I have for abstract background music and atmos might be slightly different and also more concise. It would be like being an audience and if there are moments where he, the character doesn’t speak, these could be moments where silence will speak, mixed with background atmos. We have gathered some material, but these were without good sound, which needs to be worked on and developed. I think this will only progress as we go on and build up the relationship with Yanni and also by observing him as an audience. The ‘Brunswick artist’ may appear different the second time we film him than the first time and here we can play around with this Melbourne character. Yanni as a filmmaker and being into documentary will also afflict us abit, as he has more knowledge of filmmaking and his consciousness to editing techniques and creating a narrative can impact on the process of the production. It will be interesting to see how he feels about making a docu about himself and how he will take to not being behind the camera and in charge of his own image. Here we will explore the truth and the reality by capturing this character.
Haven not met Yanni but being part of the production process, I cant wait to be able to see the creativity and the quirkiness, the character and the relationship with his brother. For sound designing, I think in this research after meeting them both, the suggestions I have for abstract background music and atmos might be slightly different and also more concise. It would be like being an audience and if there are moments where he, the character doesn’t speak, these could be moments where silence will speak, mixed with background atmos. We have gathered some material, but these were without good sound, which needs to be worked on and developed. I think this will only progress as we go on and build up the relationship with Yanni and also by observing him as an audience. The ‘Brunswick artist’ may appear different the second time we film him than the first time and here we can play around with this Melbourne character. Yanni as a filmmaker and being into documentary will also afflict us abit, as he has more knowledge of filmmaking and his consciousness to editing techniques and creating a narrative can impact on the process of the production. It will be interesting to see how he feels about making a docu about himself and how he will take to not being behind the camera and in charge of his own image. Here we will explore the truth and the reality by capturing this character.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Maxine Baker and ‘Beyond explanation’
Evita Peron’s, Don’t cry for me Argentina (1978) is one of the most known movies and musicals ever made. In ‘Lessons for life’ Maxine Baker talks about what she has learned about making documentaries. Starting off going to the cinema and becoming a doco maker Baker thinks it is more behind the production of it:
“Documentary is sometimes about seeing that there might be another side to any published story” (Baker 2006 p. 256).
What I can learn from Baker’s lessons is how to improve as a journalist and as a filmmaker. Baker talks about the importance of keeping on to the child curiousity and always ask questions figure out everything not just the facts and the background, but the details and what underlies within them. Another important learning lesson Baker mentions is that one learns more from mistakes than the right: because one never does them again.
In ‘Don’t cry for me Argentina’ (1978), Argentina’s political situation is explored through the romance of Evita and Peron. The Peronists were considered to be the biggest threat and mentioning the name Evita was politically dangerous. This because Peron had been in exile for years and he was returning back to his wife Evita in Argentina, where she was going to run for president. Baker, as an investigative inexperienced filmmaker in 1971 had to sneak in to the documents and pictures about Evita and Peron after closing time and travel with the rolls of unprocessed film stock in her handbag. It was the timeline, not much talking and taking no risk that for Baker worked, and she left Argentina shortly before the military coup of dictatorship began.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Spy3Nd2D6w
In terms of investigative, undercover or otherwise researching in dangerous location, one must be aware of own risks and be careful. What sounds like a gifted investigator as Lisbeth Salander (The Girl with the Dragon tattoo) is simply Maxine Baker:
-Not being afraid to ask stupid questions.
-Protecting her character.
-Knowing the Media Law in the selected documented field.
-And sometimes getting release forms signed and approved.
Another example is ‘Beyond Explanation’, the talent talks about the upbringing through the winds of politics, war and the Auswitch deport. It is a very strong and very well made doco in terms of the selection of grabs, images and sound design. The dramatical past of the talent is seen in the deep absolute truth from the war times.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D536CLOVWII
The vulnerable points are touched on and the talent speaks the about the truth of the past with the topics of keeping on to the inner strength, identity and rising above the humiliation: ‘This is to pass bad things into good things to others, and it is a proof of living’. This together with the use of overhead and linking a cinema to his past becomes the successful result of a production, about reconstructing a war thorn society and survival, into a documentary.
“Documentary is sometimes about seeing that there might be another side to any published story” (Baker 2006 p. 256).
What I can learn from Baker’s lessons is how to improve as a journalist and as a filmmaker. Baker talks about the importance of keeping on to the child curiousity and always ask questions figure out everything not just the facts and the background, but the details and what underlies within them. Another important learning lesson Baker mentions is that one learns more from mistakes than the right: because one never does them again.
In ‘Don’t cry for me Argentina’ (1978), Argentina’s political situation is explored through the romance of Evita and Peron. The Peronists were considered to be the biggest threat and mentioning the name Evita was politically dangerous. This because Peron had been in exile for years and he was returning back to his wife Evita in Argentina, where she was going to run for president. Baker, as an investigative inexperienced filmmaker in 1971 had to sneak in to the documents and pictures about Evita and Peron after closing time and travel with the rolls of unprocessed film stock in her handbag. It was the timeline, not much talking and taking no risk that for Baker worked, and she left Argentina shortly before the military coup of dictatorship began.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Spy3Nd2D6w
In terms of investigative, undercover or otherwise researching in dangerous location, one must be aware of own risks and be careful. What sounds like a gifted investigator as Lisbeth Salander (The Girl with the Dragon tattoo) is simply Maxine Baker:
-Not being afraid to ask stupid questions.
-Protecting her character.
-Knowing the Media Law in the selected documented field.
-And sometimes getting release forms signed and approved.
Another example is ‘Beyond Explanation’, the talent talks about the upbringing through the winds of politics, war and the Auswitch deport. It is a very strong and very well made doco in terms of the selection of grabs, images and sound design. The dramatical past of the talent is seen in the deep absolute truth from the war times.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D536CLOVWII
The vulnerable points are touched on and the talent speaks the about the truth of the past with the topics of keeping on to the inner strength, identity and rising above the humiliation: ‘This is to pass bad things into good things to others, and it is a proof of living’. This together with the use of overhead and linking a cinema to his past becomes the successful result of a production, about reconstructing a war thorn society and survival, into a documentary.
Kuta Cowboys
Cowboys in Paradise Bali show one way of how entertaining documentaries are mediated. The filmmaker here uncovers how Bali’s Kuta Cowboys have made Bali one world leading tourist destination for romance.
http://www.melbournefilmfestival.com.au/films/view?film_id=104058
What Virmani as a filmmaker succeeds to do for making the talents speak the truth, is maintaining the presence of camera and including ethical risk factors. In relation to the topic of interview, this is what I can learn if Virmani and include into the production of Yanni.Fin.
1 Presence – The camera always alter what is being filmed. It can chang the way people behave and people do change behaviour as they are being filmed, by talking fake, and then maybe not convey the things and the truth I was looking for. The solution here is to have reflexive style; filmmakers can be quite explicit about the camera being there and that is a part of production.
2 Exclusion – The view of the documentary is always partial, not impartial, as the filmmakers chose to speak to certain characters and not others, and also by excluding some events. Every time I button the camera on and off, it will exclude reality. Always set a plan of how long to film and also prepare what is meant to be in the frame. The frame includes things in it but it also excludes things out of it – for whatever reason, always decide to exclude some things and not others.
3 Manipulation - The things we film in film is also manipulate the way he or she sees the world. Editing constructs the reality of the film and the interview, not just capturing somebody speaking.
Lastly, the moral ethical risks in documentary filmmaking are the adverse issue of representation (as seen in the glorifying of German Nazis), the issue of news camera people (do they intervene into the car crash environment when people start crying or do they keep on filming?), and the release form.
The release form is what the talents are actually agreeing to and so are the negotiated informal rights of subject – the unwritten contract.
http://www.melbournefilmfestival.com.au/films/view?film_id=104058
What Virmani as a filmmaker succeeds to do for making the talents speak the truth, is maintaining the presence of camera and including ethical risk factors. In relation to the topic of interview, this is what I can learn if Virmani and include into the production of Yanni.Fin.
1 Presence – The camera always alter what is being filmed. It can chang the way people behave and people do change behaviour as they are being filmed, by talking fake, and then maybe not convey the things and the truth I was looking for. The solution here is to have reflexive style; filmmakers can be quite explicit about the camera being there and that is a part of production.
2 Exclusion – The view of the documentary is always partial, not impartial, as the filmmakers chose to speak to certain characters and not others, and also by excluding some events. Every time I button the camera on and off, it will exclude reality. Always set a plan of how long to film and also prepare what is meant to be in the frame. The frame includes things in it but it also excludes things out of it – for whatever reason, always decide to exclude some things and not others.
3 Manipulation - The things we film in film is also manipulate the way he or she sees the world. Editing constructs the reality of the film and the interview, not just capturing somebody speaking.
Lastly, the moral ethical risks in documentary filmmaking are the adverse issue of representation (as seen in the glorifying of German Nazis), the issue of news camera people (do they intervene into the car crash environment when people start crying or do they keep on filming?), and the release form.
The release form is what the talents are actually agreeing to and so are the negotiated informal rights of subject – the unwritten contract.
Playing with people's lives
Playing with people’s lives, needs to be fairly and honestly done when making a documentary. The lecture upon ethics defined issues in relation to documentary subjects. Liam talked about ethics, manipulation, truth and performance because
‘Ethics are beyond our commonsense. Ethics are embodied in law, antidiscrimination law and not all ethics are captured in law.’
The importance of understanding the murky areas of film must be defined before and during the production, in order to complete a fair, honest and true documentary as a result. But documentaries in reality tend to step outside beyond the framework of ethics, as filmmakers and talents can have different approaches to ethics.
Interview, being the crucial bit in the production, needs to follow the guidelines of the release form and if things change, then premade plans of questionnaire and editing needs to be laid out. In the examples of the indigenous girls in ‘Kalamala’ and the misrepresentation of African women in ‘Stolen’, these documentaries ended up in court, because they were degrading, contained uninformed consent or had the issue of ridicule. Then why had they agreed on the docu in first place? Or had the filmmakers not followed up the rules of ethics? How do I as a filmmaker solve this issues before shooting Yanni.Fin.?
By following up Dennis O’Rourke’s critical thinking, highlighting the understanding of the relationship to participation, sets the principles of why someone wants to participate in a documentary. How we as filmmakers manage this is by developing the relationship: keep the subjects that are participating informed of the documentary. There were at least six reasons why talents had agreed to participate in TV2’s documentary productions:
-A friendly favor
-To get publicity for business
-The spread of an idea, a political issue and social relations.
-Ego
-For the experience of the process, know what its like
-Or maybe as part of the brave garden: the interviewed talents fancy the filmmakers.
In ‘Bangkok Prostitution’, this is an example of how some film have pushed a couple of boundaries. The prostitute talked about her bitterness of family relations, suicide and marriage feelings. For O’Rourke the reason to show this, demonstrated the real world. By keeping on to the sense of objectivity, what was said become something objective. Like Bangkok prostitution, the distance between filmmakers and people they are filming, shows how truth is contested and that documentaries are not unmediated reality. They are instead representation of reality through mediated ways.
‘Ethics are beyond our commonsense. Ethics are embodied in law, antidiscrimination law and not all ethics are captured in law.’
The importance of understanding the murky areas of film must be defined before and during the production, in order to complete a fair, honest and true documentary as a result. But documentaries in reality tend to step outside beyond the framework of ethics, as filmmakers and talents can have different approaches to ethics.
Interview, being the crucial bit in the production, needs to follow the guidelines of the release form and if things change, then premade plans of questionnaire and editing needs to be laid out. In the examples of the indigenous girls in ‘Kalamala’ and the misrepresentation of African women in ‘Stolen’, these documentaries ended up in court, because they were degrading, contained uninformed consent or had the issue of ridicule. Then why had they agreed on the docu in first place? Or had the filmmakers not followed up the rules of ethics? How do I as a filmmaker solve this issues before shooting Yanni.Fin.?
By following up Dennis O’Rourke’s critical thinking, highlighting the understanding of the relationship to participation, sets the principles of why someone wants to participate in a documentary. How we as filmmakers manage this is by developing the relationship: keep the subjects that are participating informed of the documentary. There were at least six reasons why talents had agreed to participate in TV2’s documentary productions:
-A friendly favor
-To get publicity for business
-The spread of an idea, a political issue and social relations.
-Ego
-For the experience of the process, know what its like
-Or maybe as part of the brave garden: the interviewed talents fancy the filmmakers.
In ‘Bangkok Prostitution’, this is an example of how some film have pushed a couple of boundaries. The prostitute talked about her bitterness of family relations, suicide and marriage feelings. For O’Rourke the reason to show this, demonstrated the real world. By keeping on to the sense of objectivity, what was said become something objective. Like Bangkok prostitution, the distance between filmmakers and people they are filming, shows how truth is contested and that documentaries are not unmediated reality. They are instead representation of reality through mediated ways.
ABC, Melbourne and World documentaries
ABC Work Placement and Melbourne International Film Festival gave the chances to see documentaries outside the course and here I discovered how documentaries vary in context and content through time. I have always been a fan of post-war documentaries ranging from Anne Frank to Max Manus and also documentaries about sports, travel and music.
During the placement, I got the opportunity to listen to Bruce Hill’s production ‘Blogs challenge Fiji Military Coup’. This radio documentary introduces the issues of bloggers writing about Fiji’s political situation. The problem of getting the information about this got partly solved as the Fiji bloggers decided to make it electronically available on their site. As these bloggers did not want to reveal own voice or identity, the docu maker and the talents came to the agreement of using the interviewed material as long as they were not identified. In this way the ongoing human rights abuses that occurs, resulted into a true radio documentary about Fiji.
MIFF had various documentaries, from all over the world and many of my favorites were Kuta Cowboys (Bali), Bananas (Sweden), Dante’s Inferno (US), 1428 (China), Videocracy (Sweden) and Waste land (Brazil).
Feminism being a word that is strongly loaded, as people do tend approach it differently was explored in a different way in ‘Paradise Cowboys’. This doco clearly takes this into consideration when they present the women coming to Bali, finds the connection to the local guys, easier than with western men. It is the truth and the reality of the tourist women that come here and it is an entertaining documentary.
http://www.melbournefilmfestival.com.au/films/view?film_id=104058
The docu Bananas exploits the social and political issues of banana production. Dole Food Company using a banned pesticide, caused serious health issues and death amongst its workers. This documentary represents the firs time agricultural workers from third world countries were heard in US courts. It is the juxtaposition segments, the shot construction and the choice of talents this docu did that makes it a strong one.
http://www.bananasthemovie.com/
One night as I was watching telly this woman Stacie Currie appeared on screen. She had had her first kid aged 15, and through her experince with her hum, men and the society, she became a young mum helper and fundraiser. I think documentaries like these, that are biographies demonstrates new way of beings. By making documentaries like these, I think both Stacie Currie and Ben Cousins as filmmakers shares the ability to produce documentaries that are not just about themselves, but social issues that occurs in Melbourne and also Australia today that often remains scuffed under the carpet and not talked about.
I think issues like these are those that gain attention, and one last example of this is Stieg Larson’s Millenium Triology. Say if The Girl with the Dragon tattoo (men who hate women) and the two other crime novels as well, were a Swedish documentary on the abuse of women’s rights. Even though the first book’s movie is all what the book is about, imagine what it would be like if the characters were all real and it was made in a documentary interviewing style with the film footages used from the movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlF-hk3IJQE
The scenarios would have been really really great and at the same time some would be absolutely revolting. As the audience would experience it in real time, real life and with the real people, I think this movie would have an even grater impact than that it has already. One would have to see how and why men hate and abuse women.
When looking on documentaries beyond the course I think these documentaries stand out, so much in comparison to what is shown in TV2 basically because their form varies in looseness from one place in the world to another. They are the results of political, economical and social constructed ideas, reflecting on the world today, and they also show the use of newer technology. Together they all show the truth of what is being documented
During the placement, I got the opportunity to listen to Bruce Hill’s production ‘Blogs challenge Fiji Military Coup’. This radio documentary introduces the issues of bloggers writing about Fiji’s political situation. The problem of getting the information about this got partly solved as the Fiji bloggers decided to make it electronically available on their site. As these bloggers did not want to reveal own voice or identity, the docu maker and the talents came to the agreement of using the interviewed material as long as they were not identified. In this way the ongoing human rights abuses that occurs, resulted into a true radio documentary about Fiji.
MIFF had various documentaries, from all over the world and many of my favorites were Kuta Cowboys (Bali), Bananas (Sweden), Dante’s Inferno (US), 1428 (China), Videocracy (Sweden) and Waste land (Brazil).
Feminism being a word that is strongly loaded, as people do tend approach it differently was explored in a different way in ‘Paradise Cowboys’. This doco clearly takes this into consideration when they present the women coming to Bali, finds the connection to the local guys, easier than with western men. It is the truth and the reality of the tourist women that come here and it is an entertaining documentary.
http://www.melbournefilmfestival.com.au/films/view?film_id=104058
The docu Bananas exploits the social and political issues of banana production. Dole Food Company using a banned pesticide, caused serious health issues and death amongst its workers. This documentary represents the firs time agricultural workers from third world countries were heard in US courts. It is the juxtaposition segments, the shot construction and the choice of talents this docu did that makes it a strong one.
http://www.bananasthemovie.com/
One night as I was watching telly this woman Stacie Currie appeared on screen. She had had her first kid aged 15, and through her experince with her hum, men and the society, she became a young mum helper and fundraiser. I think documentaries like these, that are biographies demonstrates new way of beings. By making documentaries like these, I think both Stacie Currie and Ben Cousins as filmmakers shares the ability to produce documentaries that are not just about themselves, but social issues that occurs in Melbourne and also Australia today that often remains scuffed under the carpet and not talked about.
I think issues like these are those that gain attention, and one last example of this is Stieg Larson’s Millenium Triology. Say if The Girl with the Dragon tattoo (men who hate women) and the two other crime novels as well, were a Swedish documentary on the abuse of women’s rights. Even though the first book’s movie is all what the book is about, imagine what it would be like if the characters were all real and it was made in a documentary interviewing style with the film footages used from the movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlF-hk3IJQE
The scenarios would have been really really great and at the same time some would be absolutely revolting. As the audience would experience it in real time, real life and with the real people, I think this movie would have an even grater impact than that it has already. One would have to see how and why men hate and abuse women.
When looking on documentaries beyond the course I think these documentaries stand out, so much in comparison to what is shown in TV2 basically because their form varies in looseness from one place in the world to another. They are the results of political, economical and social constructed ideas, reflecting on the world today, and they also show the use of newer technology. Together they all show the truth of what is being documented
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