Question 01 In this clip from Forbidden Lies, Anna Broinowski’s 2007 film: describe in detail all of the audio, how it may have been recorded/sourced and how you think it has been edited / layered in post. (You do not need to describe how the music was recorded)

The audios in this clip are from three different persons, the author, the Jordan journalist and Dr. Sabbagh. The audio is recorded in different way.  Some audio files may have been recorded in another time and place. The filmmaker select one useful audio file from other clips to match a sequence. For example, the audio of the journalist introducing herself is not as same as when she speak in her office.

Interestingly, Broinowski creates an reflexive argument among three person. Her strategy is to make a debates with their audio but they do not debate face to face. She let one person question first and she cut to another person’s audio to answer it.  But this is not the only way Broinowski creating the argument. Sometimes, we can hear two individuals speaking the same thing and these audio file are layered together. This device strongly intense the debate because it hear like two person really argue withe each other.  In this way, Broinowski not only has to know what interviewers say but also she direct what interviewers say. Otherwise, she cannot achieve the debate and the layered device.

QUESTION 02 Most applications reserve keyboard shortcuts for the functions that you use most often. It is really good to learn all of these as it will speed up your editing and additionally alert you to functions that the software developers and other users find important. (You can learn much about the software by looking at keyboard shortcuts).

Find the keyboard shortcuts for Premiere (hint, film-tv blog) and note four or more functions that you’ve never used before and why they may be invaluable to your editing. (Different functions to what you wrote last semester)

Go to In: Shift+I; Go to out: Shift+O; Match Frame: F;

Make Subclip: Cmd+K; Link Clip: Cmd+L

QUESTION 03 “From a distant gaze …” (1964) directed by Jean Ravel, picture Pierre Lhomme & Chris Marker, words by Louis Aragon, narrated by Jean Negroni, music by Michel Legrand.

Describe a few things that intrigue you – it might be shot construction, camera work, editing, overall structure, thematic concerns etc. Describe the camera work and why you think it has been shot that way.

Throughout this film, Jean Ravel use a long-focal length device all the time. The major reason is the theme of his documentary “From A Distant Gaze…” Apparently, He tried to capture people’s emotions, expressions, and behaviour in a very distant place where people hardly realised him.

To capture people’s naturalness, Ravel had to be reflexive when he was shooting. He was not a observer who simply stood far away people with a camera. Ravel has to find a way of telling a story because audience have no idea what Ravel was doing in a crowded city. In one shot, a police is billing a violating car. When Ravel found the police is ready to make a bill, he turn the camera to license plate immediately.

Ravel cleverly used cars as his cut in the opening shot. When a car is passing through the frame, he cut to another frame. Although audience would realise a cut in the film, this device is not “wired” but is a brilliant editing strategy.

QUESTION 04 Select from one of the readings and briefly describe two points that you have taken from it. Points that interest you, something you could apply to your own documentary.

In a chapter of Curran Bernard’s book, Manipulating Time, he reveals that time is an important element to move forward a story. A documentary never success without developing through time. However, moving a story forward through time does not mean narrative must follow a chronological recitation events in the order they occurred.Bernard suggests you can absolutely tell a story in any order you like. How to tell a story is dependent on a filmmaker’s perspective. Whether your story start at the beginning, in the middle or at the end is all on what do you want to say.  Creative manipulating time could lead to a dramatic storytelling.

There are two concept about time in filmmaking, screen time and real time. The screen time is about the duration of a film and the real time refers the duration of an event. Bernard reveals a filmmaker is able to spend 2 minutes in telling 10 years of history meanwhile he also can use 45 minutes to describe an eight months event. The choice of collapsing or expanding time depends on what the concept of a documentary.