Prologue

To see things as a learner’s perspective, I had achieved a lot. Not only making decisions about camera work and the editing process, but the creative experience too.

To be completely honest I didn’t do as much work or research as I could have within the semester. To give a clearer picture of my “creative process”, I make myself watch lots of classic pop culture movies that I would always hear within the circle of people that I come across, but never had the time to look into. and Since I did History of film theory, I felt like that this could only give me a deeper insight on the origins of well renowned films and what they eventually inspired cinema to become as we know it.

I’ve been really interested in the french new wave recently, only because I have to for the other class. all this avant grade, death of cinema, chairs du cinema non-sense that I can only vaguely understand not only widens my vocabulary but also a “behind the scenes” look at why films were the way they were at the time.

So I think with all the deep talk I immerse myself into in other classes about philosophy of cinema and being it, morality of shots and a film (like the tracking shot in the Italian film Kapo), Style, Content and the most elementary part of cinema, Story telling.

I think back to my former courses in year 1-2 and remember a big chunk of cinema classes always trying to be profiled and understood. To categorise them either as fiction or non fiction. Fake or Real. It was pretty much an “intro to cinema” (name of the class I missed out as I did philosophy first year first sem). So it felt like I had a jump start to the deeper concepts of ‘cinema’. I signed in to do a 3 year Media course because I Liked watching movies. But with my poor knowledge at the start, I wouldn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the theory behind Cinema!

Fast forward, now I’m in my third year. And the structure has changed. You are now free to choose what kind of course and learning outcomes you want to achieve. There are Video/film production courses, Radio ones, Writing ones too. Under these three categories are more rounded courses to pick from. I had the audacity to not read my emails and be informed of this structural change. I had always thought that first year: short scenes, Second year: short film/ short Documentary (Doco), Third year: A Full film. It felt like a reasonable order and would slowly but surely get more intense and required more work. But fortunately I wouldn’t have to worry about a full feature film. I chose hastily and clicked one of the radio courses called ‘Room with a view’. when I saw the word ‘view’ in the description. I just thought sight=camera= I know that area. But to my surprise it was radio. ew. Not that I am Disrespecting the revolution through radio or compromising it’s worth as a device for communication. The power of words by the narrator that can sit a family still in fear, happiness or pain. I just don’t believe MY ‘word-drobe’ is extensive enough and the way I speak wouldn’t be in parr with what I wish to speak of. And in Radio there are rules. Due to the fact that one would usually be live and there would be a crowd listening. one must be sure not to cross the line between a private conversation and a touchy subject on AIR. So, I bailed that class and email Paul Richard. Better Call Paul!!.

So he let me in, and I was placed in a class with few familiar faces. On account of the mixture of all years being put together. I thought it wouldn’t work out. The level of skill, passion and capability would never be in sync. But Fortunately I was wrong. I felt like I learnt more by being around new people and they in turn learned some form the ‘seniors’ of the class. The conversations that I would have about film with some people would be more revelational to me more than them. And it’s because of the innocence that they have entered with. The curios nature that hasn’t been violated by experience. and by experience i mean post production work, dealing with strangers and security, learning about regulations, technical stuff behind the camera. After two years of all that ‘experience’ one’s creative streak begins to fade after having to worry about other priorities.

That is the best part of the class, in many ways this semester has felt more of a film school compared to previous ones. You are expected to know how to handle the camera and you just have to use it the best you can, no hassle. Of course there is a lot more behind what we do, reflections and methodologies are a B****h.
But basically, get a script, choose an occupation within the group, get camera and shoot to edit. 2-3 hour class, Done.

Creative freedom is also a big plus for this class. I don’t only speak for myself when Its pretty amazing how we get to choose something to investigate and research through the semester. Its very liberating, the only time we get to ask and answer a question in any other class is when we make up our own essay question.

Cinema vérité: The art or technique of filming a motion picture so as to convey candid realism.

Veritas in latin stands for truth. Cinema veritas is therefore truth of cinema. It is getting increasingly more difficult to separate the truth and the unreal. A screen with a million pixels that scream colours and talk to us through vision has ruled our lives. There is no one I know that is not attached to some sort of device with a screen on it. It tells us what to think via pop culture and the public sphere.
in my earlier years of study I could not distinguish a documentary from a film. A heavily opinionated film or a non-biased neutral one. With Cinema studies and theory I feel liberated. Freed from my delusion of morality made up by western ideals and consumer needs. I learnt through my years of study that on screen, there is no such thing as an accident. I feel that every clip and every piece of mediated art form is created intentionally the way it is. Constructed meticulously to convey specific meaning and give off a certain mood.

And it feels sort of unfair to me knowing that as a practicing filmmaker, I feel guilty for being a part of this disease… If I ever get to play with the big boys of production that is and actually make cults. But for now, I’m talking small scale. But Imagine this, I make fans fall in love with these 5 characters in a series called Throne Games. Within a span of 4 months and at the end of the 2 season finale. I kill them all! And make everyone sad because those characters touched the hearts of many. strange how fictional characters can have an actual effect on people. That actually happened, Game of Thrones is pretty good.

But series like Game of Thrones sell because It comments on corruption within a kingdom, speaks of religios beliefs that preach killings and brings death, and the cruelty of men in hard times. It basically speaks of the world we live in, through good camera production, amazing story and a demographic.
So in a way there is some truth in everything we see. But not everything we see is of the truth. That is the paradox of today’s mentality towards visual media.

But standard narrative storry telling comes with standard ways of story telling (through a camera). We know there is a ghost or Hr Giger’s Alien in the corner if the music starts to creep in and the camera dolly’s slowly towards it and focuses on something blankly. We know if the two characters are going to fall in love and eventually kiss when the cheesy pop song plays in the backdrop. These are codes and conventions of what I grew up watching. Hollywood flicks, the films that families watch together, stories with good moral endings. They are now concrete with their style, traditional and perfected. And it caters to everyone. You don’t have to understand Italian Neo-surrealism to appreciate. But I have been watching old movies lately. Im talking about black and white movies that are well renowned for the story or camera technique that was revelational back then. special effects that were “unbelievable” decades ago. And it has opened my eyes as to why films of today feel so mediocre and similar to older films.

I believe it is because today’s director steals many things from many different artists and directors. They mix and match what techniques work to come up with a supposed ‘new’ one. Ideas are recycled. Often. In light of that, it will never cease to amaze the masses of what films can come up with. If Psycho by Hitchcock was remade and renamed in 2015 (and it has been done already), a newer colony will create a cult if they hadn’t heard of the original film (which is impossible). And it has to do a lot with style.

I have been reading extensively on Jean Luc Godard, the frontman of the french New Wave, and he speaks a lot of creativity and style like no other. Maybe its his obscurity in interviews or just the way he uses the camera. There are so many ways to look at his work when you take into account his persona. They relate. The work is of HIS style. The movie ‘Contempt’ featuring Fritz Lang is an example. He uses this word I learnt in year 1 called “baggage”. And Liam Ward said that baggage is when we bring all the meanings and interpretations of a certain aspect and apply it to something different. He was using this to point out when stanley kubrick placed the waltz music against the spaceship hovering through space in and out of screen. When we hear classical music it makes us think of old people and all the things that come with it. The feeling of something familiar juxtaposed against a metal flying object.

Jean Luc Godard uses the concept of baggage with philosophy and people he is associated with. For example the panning of the greek statues. behind the limestone structures, there is a story to it. And its about the God of War Mars and Venus. It is a parallel way of seeing the protagonists relationship of the story.

My theory behind the Investigation

When I say ‘truth’ in cinema, I don’t think I know what it means anymore. The meaning has been reshaped and diluted so many times now. What constitutes truth and where does one draw the line? Does it have to literally be someone doing something at that specific time and should not be altered otherwise it is not true?. Then is that a documentary? are all documentaries honest and untouched? No, all forms of storytelling need a narrative. I have yet to see an un-edited whole long documentary on anything. cutting and puzzling is a must, for viewers to understand. In whatever order of cuts a documentary has it will always portray a meaning. that might or might not be indicative of what happened in that space and time. But I’m not here to re-write years of research and the ongoing transformation of cinema and ‘truth’ in it. I’m about a century late.

I have now deduced ‘truth’ in cinema to ‘speaking of truth’. A film, even a documentary shouldn’t have to be referred to like a bible (even-though cult cinephiles do) so long as it comments on some aspect of the world or one’s reality from a social aspect. An abstract situation with a very familiar reality or concept that we all have come across is truthful enough.
Camera technique can also be truthful in a way. I understand the camera (end product of the camera= film) as being an extension to my sight. a mobile pair of eyes that can go anywhere in the world and be in any situation. Like a hawk that sees beyond my human eyes. Not only can it show me images but also speaks! And that is what I have been exploring. To ‘view’ something in a realistic way. ‘As if you were there’, so to speak. Because that is how I have been conditioned to watch films and that is my understanding of it. That films introduce me to an alternate reality in which i do not have to involve myself, but as I sit there quietly and focus on the story I am involuntarily engaging with this fictional reality.

Due to the nature of this course, I am pleased to say I get to practice these things and actually find out what it means to be realistic with a camera when trying to push a narrative.

I have explored various ways on how to cover a scene. I have looked back at my former courses and there were exercises that had different sets of criteria. As I have mentioned in my older blog posts one of them was to pretend as if the camera were an animal and how would you record something in the view of said animal. This old exercise actually tied in well with Orson Welles Citizen Kane shot where they discuss about the ‘Kane’political party in a postmortem after the celebration. I have based these two things as a foundation of one of my scenes; The Foreign Shop Keeper.

I usually have vivid memories that may or may not have happened.
One of the dreams I use to have was this documentary style, fly on the wall camera where we would just look into someone else’s life.

“Picture a goat centre frame, on the left near his hind leg is a tin mug. Cream coloured and at the top glazed with rusty copper.The goat was relatively skinny and behind it was whatever was left of the hay or it might have been grassland. Then moving into frame is this small girl, she was dark skinned. she barely had clothes on. she took the mug, then she started to grab on the goat and she milked it. The camera did crash zoom or cut scene. It felt like I was there watching this girl milk the goat. But what came out of the goat wasn’t the nutritious milk we want her to drink. but instead it was blood. but she drank it anyway, as if it was water. and it was a cut then it was the same girl, noticing the camera and wiping the blood moustache. And I would always wake up after that.”

And I wonder if I thought that up or if it was something I saw on national Geographic, a crew of white middle aged men and women going overseas to put cameras on the faces of the less fortunate to profit from.

Whether this happened or not, If I were ever to recreate this, I could at least cover it in an ethical way. Like my memory of it, there was no cut or close up to the girl drinking the cup of blood and no sinister smile. It was sincerely someone thirsty in need of some nutrients not goat blood. Because I do not wish to exaggerate or reiterate the blood being the main focus. It would mean something completely different. I felt like this vision could have easily turned a nightmare if it had more dramatic camera close ups. On a larger scale this clip could reflect on poverty in third world countries. In a way that is truthful, but reconstructed. Or we could put together more clips that are alike, of less fortunate people against a sad ballad and give a link at the end of the clip for donations. But I’m no advocate of fake social causes like Joseph Kony or the ALS disease ‘Ice bucket challenge’.

There is no conclusion to my investigation as it is an ongoing process that will only continue to grow and connect more things together in my technical practice with the camera and theory work alike. But I can safely say that this kind of working requires a lot more participation and research and won’t be in vain. Because the outcome is never the best part of production, it is the actual making and the chase.