Room 237 (2012, Rodney Ascher)
The documentary starts off like a film as seen by its composition of wide shots to close ups, POV angles and even the choice to hire Tom Cruise.
Compares "the wave of terror" mentioned in the marketing of the film to the colonisation of the white settlers and uses a shot by shot comparison of a settler chopping logs with and axe with a shot of Jack Nicholson chopping down the door with his axe. "The wave of terror" followed by a shot of native Americans running towards the camera.
Tracking shot of Tom Cruise walking down stairs towards the movie theatre, followed by a panning shot of the seats as the narrator talks about how he remembers the the seats they sat in when they first watched "The Shining". Visually imaginative shots are used, lots of red shown throughout this sequence, which was a motif throughout "The Shining".
The shots match what the narrator it talking about, reenacting his memories of him walking out the theatre in a daze, heading towards the underground car park.
Zoom in on Tom Cruise's face as he thinks to himself about the film and his realisation that native american culture is sprinkled throughout the entire film, accompanied by scenes from the film, and black and white cowboy film scenes of Indians riding their horses, archive pictures of natives smoking peace pipes.
Narrator realises that the film is about the genocide of the native Americans, which is said as we see more footage from westerns of cowboys firing cannons at the natives.
Talks about duplicity, which the twin girls represent, he talks about the broken peace pipe treaties while we see a shot of Calumet baking powder cans behind Jack Nicholson's head, all turned in different directions to represent the failed treaties.
Thursday 26 October 2017
Formative assessment 2
Character description:
Young, unenthusiastic, a bit of a shut in, yet compassionate and loyal. Has his own problems and mental health issues but listens to others during their time of need and tries to help out.
Questions:
- What are your interests?
- Why do you choose not to go out often?
- when did you first find out about your mental health?
- Does it affect your everyday life and if so, how much does it?
- Why do people come to you when they need help?
- Do you like helping others or do you feel obligated to help when asked?
Young, unenthusiastic, a bit of a shut in, yet compassionate and loyal. Has his own problems and mental health issues but listens to others during their time of need and tries to help out.
Questions:
- What are your interests?
- Why do you choose not to go out often?
- when did you first find out about your mental health?
- Does it affect your everyday life and if so, how much does it?
- Why do people come to you when they need help?
- Do you like helping others or do you feel obligated to help when asked?
Documentary Proposal
For my documentary proposal, I had the idea to make a documentary about home businesses and the effort one must go through to make sure their business succeeds. The main character for this documentary would be my older sister, who is someone who has started up many different home businesses over the years all centred around crafts and fabrics, whether that be fabrics for others to use in their projects or hand made accessories.
The documentary will follow my sister on her day to day routine as she prepares her products and ultimately sets them off for shipping, all while talking about the process of starting your own business and the hardships she faced while starting up her different brands.
I propose to represent the subject as a story of hope by showing the trial and error process that all businesses go through and how to push through these problems to achieve your dream. I plan on using mostly action shots where we interview my sister while she works rather than a simple sit down interview. I plan on keeping the overall tone of the documentary quite light which an be done through the use of a faint merry melody in the background and a moderate pacing that cuts between interview and action shots.
The documentary will follow my sister on her day to day routine as she prepares her products and ultimately sets them off for shipping, all while talking about the process of starting your own business and the hardships she faced while starting up her different brands.
I propose to represent the subject as a story of hope by showing the trial and error process that all businesses go through and how to push through these problems to achieve your dream. I plan on using mostly action shots where we interview my sister while she works rather than a simple sit down interview. I plan on keeping the overall tone of the documentary quite light which an be done through the use of a faint merry melody in the background and a moderate pacing that cuts between interview and action shots.
Wednesday 25 October 2017
Performativity
Feminist theorist and philosopher Judith Butler described performativity as "that relative power of discourse to produce the phenomena that it regulates and constrains." She applies this to her study of gender development. Butler sees gender as something being rehearsed and that people come to perform in the mode of belief, and believes that the key to performativity is repetition. An example of this would be a father teaching his son to play football, and through repetition, the son would learn to love football.
Whilst this isn't exclusively a male thing to do, most of the time it is a male figure who introduces you to the sport, whether it be your father or a sports personality, like the character Jess Bhamra from "Bend it like Beckham" (Gurinder Chadha, 2002).
Judith Butler also believes that performativity also applies to sexual orientation, with heterosexuality and homosexuality acting not as fixed categories, but as a conditioning through repetition.
In Butler's definition, performativity is seen as an authoritative voice, enforced by laws or views of social norms, and that our most personal acts are being scripted by society, with the difference between private and public being a fiction designed by an "oppressive status quo".
Whilst this isn't exclusively a male thing to do, most of the time it is a male figure who introduces you to the sport, whether it be your father or a sports personality, like the character Jess Bhamra from "Bend it like Beckham" (Gurinder Chadha, 2002).
Judith Butler also believes that performativity also applies to sexual orientation, with heterosexuality and homosexuality acting not as fixed categories, but as a conditioning through repetition.
In Butler's definition, performativity is seen as an authoritative voice, enforced by laws or views of social norms, and that our most personal acts are being scripted by society, with the difference between private and public being a fiction designed by an "oppressive status quo".
Wednesday 18 October 2017
Rothwell's Interviewer roles and my accident.
Rothwell's "mode of address" is used to establish the role of which the interviewer adopts, in relation to the film and the events that they are describing. These modes range from participant, giving us a first hand view of the events, to artist, using metaphorical or symbolic interpretations of the event. I will be retelling the events through the perspective of a "guide".
When I was 15 my friend convinced me to try to learn how to skateboard with him during the summer holiday. After creating a Frankenstein like skateboard out of second hand and store bought parts we set out on our quest for fun, learning from scratch with him acting as my guide and mentor. For the entirety of the summer holiday I learned how to cruise and go down hills and bumps, eventually leading us to go to my local park where they had a course for bikes (no one actually took there bikes there so the local skateboarders used it instead). Here I practised my ollies and kick flips, honing my skills on the cement hills that filled this little corner of the playground.
With a new school year approaching and an accident free summer, I was called out on the last day to skateboard some more. What could go wrong? after a few more hours of practice with my friend, i figured I should go home and get ready for school. However, my friend insisted that I go down the big hill one last time before I leave. I had a bad feeling about it but I figured I had gone down the hill enough times to be confident enough. As I stood on top of the cement hill, friend by my side saying words of encouragement, a football flew by and knocked my skateboard out from under my foot, shaking my confidence all the more before my decent. After a few more seconds to compose myself, I took a deep breath and leaned forward, propelling myself down the relatively small but steep hill. As I got to the bottom by front wheel hit a pot hole, trapping itself in place and sending me flying forwards. This is it. I landed on my front, twisting my shoulder and slamming my chin on the concrete floor. I heard a crunching sound in my mouth and spat out what I assumed was a small stone I must have accidentally gotten in my mouth during the fall. I spat out a shard of tooth. I stood up and popped my shoulder back in place and as I sat down, my friend and the other skaters ran to get me some water, tissues and a plaster, which at that point I had no idea what that was for as all I did was break a tooth and dislocate my shoulder. I hold the tissue against my broken tooth assuming it was for that, at which point my friend said "No dude, that's for your chin." I held it against the underside of my chin and wiped away a large amount of blood, which looked darker as my vision had started to go blue from the adrenaline.
After I had gotten home my dad and sister had decided to accompany me to the A&E to get stitches. My dad was in a particularly bad mood as this was his day off and he assumed my mum was over reacting to my gash and after the 3 hour wait I was finally seen by a trainee doctor. After my dad saw how bad the gash actually was he had an argument with the young doctor, who simply wanted to glue it shut and after a second opinion from a more experienced doctor, they proceeded to take out the anaesthetic and sewing needles. After I dealt with one of my biggest fears at the time (needles), I told the doctor about my shoulder and she assured me that I was fine and I went home feeling a little shaken up. The next day I went to the dentist to get a filling for the broken tooth (which broke two weeks later and had to be replaced), and a year later my shoulder started falling out of the socket. After a month of physio my shoulder was practically good as new (minus the odd clicking sound).
When I was 15 my friend convinced me to try to learn how to skateboard with him during the summer holiday. After creating a Frankenstein like skateboard out of second hand and store bought parts we set out on our quest for fun, learning from scratch with him acting as my guide and mentor. For the entirety of the summer holiday I learned how to cruise and go down hills and bumps, eventually leading us to go to my local park where they had a course for bikes (no one actually took there bikes there so the local skateboarders used it instead). Here I practised my ollies and kick flips, honing my skills on the cement hills that filled this little corner of the playground.
With a new school year approaching and an accident free summer, I was called out on the last day to skateboard some more. What could go wrong? after a few more hours of practice with my friend, i figured I should go home and get ready for school. However, my friend insisted that I go down the big hill one last time before I leave. I had a bad feeling about it but I figured I had gone down the hill enough times to be confident enough. As I stood on top of the cement hill, friend by my side saying words of encouragement, a football flew by and knocked my skateboard out from under my foot, shaking my confidence all the more before my decent. After a few more seconds to compose myself, I took a deep breath and leaned forward, propelling myself down the relatively small but steep hill. As I got to the bottom by front wheel hit a pot hole, trapping itself in place and sending me flying forwards. This is it. I landed on my front, twisting my shoulder and slamming my chin on the concrete floor. I heard a crunching sound in my mouth and spat out what I assumed was a small stone I must have accidentally gotten in my mouth during the fall. I spat out a shard of tooth. I stood up and popped my shoulder back in place and as I sat down, my friend and the other skaters ran to get me some water, tissues and a plaster, which at that point I had no idea what that was for as all I did was break a tooth and dislocate my shoulder. I hold the tissue against my broken tooth assuming it was for that, at which point my friend said "No dude, that's for your chin." I held it against the underside of my chin and wiped away a large amount of blood, which looked darker as my vision had started to go blue from the adrenaline.
After I had gotten home my dad and sister had decided to accompany me to the A&E to get stitches. My dad was in a particularly bad mood as this was his day off and he assumed my mum was over reacting to my gash and after the 3 hour wait I was finally seen by a trainee doctor. After my dad saw how bad the gash actually was he had an argument with the young doctor, who simply wanted to glue it shut and after a second opinion from a more experienced doctor, they proceeded to take out the anaesthetic and sewing needles. After I dealt with one of my biggest fears at the time (needles), I told the doctor about my shoulder and she assured me that I was fine and I went home feeling a little shaken up. The next day I went to the dentist to get a filling for the broken tooth (which broke two weeks later and had to be replaced), and a year later my shoulder started falling out of the socket. After a month of physio my shoulder was practically good as new (minus the odd clicking sound).
Tuesday 10 October 2017
Open Voice and "Rough Aunties"
"Open voice" is a narrative style theory by Carl R Plantinga that follows a character centred, episodic style that typically observational, reflexive yet ambiguous, leaving the viewers with open questions/ answers. Plantinga said "Where the formal may be said to explain, the open voice shows, provokes, and explores. The open voice exploits the abilities of cameras and microphones to observe and show, record and play back."
"Rough Aunties" is a 2008 documentary by Kim Longinotto that follows "The Bobbi Bears", a group of South African women who have devoted their lives to helping and rescuing children and young people from sexual abuse and neglect.
Plantinga's "open voice" applies quite well to longinotto's emotionally powerful documentary because it portrays the very sensitive subject of wild abuse, something that is very hard to overcome and takes time, which results in the film showing episodes in the lives of victims as the Bobbi Bears come to give their support. Due to the nature of the subject, Longinotto stays strictly observational throughout the entire filming process, providing little to no input to the events taking place.
An example of the film's episodic nature is when the Bobbi Bears meet a young girl who has been beaten and neglected by her grandfather. At first, the ladies question and console the girl, all working to to learn about this girls's troubles and better her better her life. Later on in the film we see the Bobbis confront the grandfather about his actions, which he denies ever doing. at the end of the film we learn that one of the Bobbis took the girl into foster care and after a long discussion with her husband, they adopt the girl.
Throughout that entire episode, several questions are left unanswered, which works well as it portrays real life, which is all to often ambiguous and depressing.
"Rough Aunties" is a 2008 documentary by Kim Longinotto that follows "The Bobbi Bears", a group of South African women who have devoted their lives to helping and rescuing children and young people from sexual abuse and neglect.
Plantinga's "open voice" applies quite well to longinotto's emotionally powerful documentary because it portrays the very sensitive subject of wild abuse, something that is very hard to overcome and takes time, which results in the film showing episodes in the lives of victims as the Bobbi Bears come to give their support. Due to the nature of the subject, Longinotto stays strictly observational throughout the entire filming process, providing little to no input to the events taking place.
An example of the film's episodic nature is when the Bobbi Bears meet a young girl who has been beaten and neglected by her grandfather. At first, the ladies question and console the girl, all working to to learn about this girls's troubles and better her better her life. Later on in the film we see the Bobbis confront the grandfather about his actions, which he denies ever doing. at the end of the film we learn that one of the Bobbis took the girl into foster care and after a long discussion with her husband, they adopt the girl.
Throughout that entire episode, several questions are left unanswered, which works well as it portrays real life, which is all to often ambiguous and depressing.
Wednesday 4 October 2017
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