Daily Archives: August 8, 2014

Film-TV2- Analysis/Reflection 2 – Question 2

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Select from one of the readings and briefly describe two points that you have taken from it. Points that excite you, something that was completely new to you. 

 “It is essential that film-makers concentrate on the film-making as opposed to recording”

Filmmakers have an ability to get inspired at certain moments where possibly someone who isn’t obsessed with film might not. It’s important to remember that today everyone has the opportunity, and more than likely the ability, to record moments – but it’s the ability to priorities these moments to have relevance for an audience that gives the filmmaker the ability to create something much more than a recording.

“For me the point of making films is not to convey objective information about the world, but to show it as I see it and to find a form which is relevant.”

Pawliowski talks about the importance of form in the documentary structure and notes that films that challenge viewers to think not through words or rhetoric, but through their very form have the ability to seduce and entertain its audience. He identifies this with the example of television and it’s corruption of documentary, contrary to it allowing it’s survival. Their difference being, that television asks for films that are not worried about standing the test of time, but instant visibility, high ratings or kudos among other media people. And whether we like it or not, the TV documentary is the future. A reminder that sometimes you don’t have to say anything, you can show it in other forms to the audience that when they realise

Their use of real people and places, their moments of truth. They managed to tell touching stories without theatricality and literary dialogues. Therefore the subject of the documentary is crucial, and sometimes it’s luck that allows you to find a subject where the process of making the film became also a process of spiritual and formal discovery. To see the world through the subjects eyes, while at the same time maintaining an aesthetic and often ironic distance from it. With the task of our future productions in mind I believe this point is the most resonate in the reading, as the subject has the ability to inspire and create the piece – letting them organically lead the discovery, while making sure that that discovery is interesting is key.

Reference

MacDonald, K & Cousins, M. Imagining Reality, (p. 389-392). London: Faber & Faber, 1996.

Film-TV2- Analysis/Reflection 2 – Question 1

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In the lecture we screened a short film called ‘End of the Line’ – the film shot in Broken Hill. 

Please describe in 300 words or less if you think they achieved what they set out to do.

You may not remember much detail, if so, it could be helpful to talk about your first impressions, after all this is what most of us are left with after one viewing. The treatment which we showed in the lecture is available here.
Feel free to write to any categories you wish. eg. story, choice of participants, sound, camera, editing etc. 
I though the choice of participants in the film worked well with mostly older people who have lived their lives in Broken Hill. In one sense these people come across like they have almost given up on wanting life, and like the landscape where they live they are unnoticed to wither away. And it is in this sense that this documentary is a beautiful prospect for these people not only to be noticed but to be appreciated as well. Living a life desolate from many must be hard and at times it feels likes as much as these people are justifying to us why Broken Hill is their home, they were convincing themselves as well.
The old woman, with her quotes from testaments and views on death, really drives the film. Her dialogue on death and why she came to Broken Hill, relates not only to the desolate and cracked landscapes we see in shots of Broken Hill, but also to the ideal binding the town together. One thing the woman says is, “Dying isn’t the problem, living is the hard work,” in this she identifies that she, like the rest of her town, have given up on asking more from life.
One thing that becomes apparent as the shots proceed is the comparison between interior and exterior, with people predominantly being recorded inside or under shelter, and the natural dry crusted landscape exterior. This makes the sun hitting the earth in the exterior shots a lot harsher on the eyes, and emphasises the sounds heard such as the eerie wind as it blows through a town where none really exists anymore.