Unfortunately I was ill this week and missed out on the protest film exercise. As a result I was given a task on observational documentary. The idea was to catch a mood and create a story of a place so  I was quite excited to go out and film two juxtaposing views of Sydney Rd, Coburg. I moved around the corner a few months ago, and since then have really dove into the local businesses, the bakery knows my order, the fresh veg market runners know me, and the butchers and fishmongers would probably recognise me as well.

It was quite difficult to cover this due to the street not being as populated as usual due to coronavirus fears. The exercise said to take a ‘fly on the wall approach’ much like Bill Nichols suggests for the observational mode. I opted to blend a bit of both of using telephoto long shots of observing people, as well as some closer shots. One of the things I love about Coburg is the almost family like vibe, its very communal, and it’s somehow quite relaxing, but also frenetic at the same time.

Overall i’m not particularly happy with the end result, I wanted to show off this community but struggled with the element of observationalism, when I just wanted to get in close and ask for a smile or an interview. Observational modes require a distinct relationship between subject and filmmaker (Nash 2011), which I believe I have with Coburg, but I struggled to show that in my video.

There was also an aspect of the exercise to change the mood drastically, which I could not do; I believe looking for that change held me back from what I wanted to actually show. On reflection of this, maybe I should have chosen a different subject, something that I could find two different moods, or something that I wouldn’t feel bad about portraying in a direct opposite display to community.

 

 

Nash, K 2011, ‘Documentary-for-the-Other: Relationships, Ethics and (Observational) Documentary’, Journal of Mass Media Ethics, vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 224-239.