Notes From Lecture:

FILM-TV 2 – LECTURE #1 – 21/07/14

The focus of this semester is Documentary. Mockumentary is not included, as Paul Ritchard has classified it as ‘Drama’. We will be focusing on the production of a documentary, which will be shown at the end of the semester.

The value of learning ‘True Lies’ last semester was to gain a deeper understanding, thinking, research and breadth of documentary. This will help for the production.

It is encouraged to do an experimental or more creative documentary, surrounding areas of non-fiction.

Bill Nichols’ Taxonomies of Documentary Genres/Styles:

– Political
– Comical
– Personal
– Self-Reflexive
– Observational
– Archival
– Dramatised
– Poetic
– Essay

It is encouraged to use these terms to frame and discuss your documentary

** Paul has strongly advised me to edit my ‘Test Shoot’ before we shoot, to gain an understanding of what the framing will look like, how the pace and tempo will be constructed, as well as any other lighting or mise en scene that will be included. **

**RESEARCH, PRODUCTION, REFLECTION**
This will be the basis for your study of documentary this semester

**PAY ATTENTION TO THE COURSE GUIDE FOR ASSESSMENTS AND PROJECTS**
There has been a trend of previous students missing out on crucial assignments because they did not know when they were due. This is the solution to the problem.

“We don’t want you to turn up with documentary ideas to your tutorials. We want you to come with subject ideas.”

When studying/researching a subject, it is crucial to have a subject and sub-list. Meaning, the subject, and all of its elements.

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So, my first lecture for this class. My first impression was that this is going to be very research based, as we are moving in to documentary rather than drama filmakking. It feels more authentic, in the way that I feel what we are going to be producing will be of a more professional standard and could possibly reach beyond the realms of RMIT FILM TV 2 class 14′. Honestly, I’m excited, but not naive. I know this is going to be absolutely hectic amounts of work, particularly considering I will be away weeks 6A-8. It’s going to be fun, but tough. When I look at the notes that I took from the lecture, I can see that the class ‘True Lies’, which I did last semester, will act as the foundations for my mindset for this production. However, I can’t shake the traditional expository documentary style of political event, point-shoot, narrator, interview, in the bag kind of style. Paul even explicitly stated that he wants to see more of an experimentation of documentary, and a more creative side to it. I think to myself….shit…this is gonna be a challenge. If one thing was sparked in my mind from this lecture, it would be my beloved VICE documentaries. Ahhh I love ’em. They’re bold, different, and right in the thick of it. I love that style! It’s like documentary with balls. Excuse the expression. However, if I am to be different in how this documentary is going to be constructed, I’m going to have to choose a subject, research and study it, and then apply a certain style derived from something I have seen before, or that I can adapt to that kind of style. One of my favourite journalist, authors and for a short cameo, actor, Hunter S. Thompson, the late American gonzo journalist, would preach to me a kind of style that I would love to adapt to in a documentary form. His own strange ideological takes on 1970’s America could be translated to my weird view of a particular subject and its impacts on society. On the contrary, I need to be careful not to ignore or stray from Paul and Robin’s advice, being “We don’t want you to turn up with documentary ideas to your tutorials. We want you to come with subject ideas.” We’ll see how we go…

I am searching for truth and romanticism. The fine concept that strings together my reality. The knowing that everything is true and real, while maintaining some mysticism and affection for what makes the 10’s a decade of change, a decade of fighting back against selling out a culture for money, and a decade of spiritual revolution.

My existence in Melbourne is like being what we call in the film industry, “fly on the wall”, meaning I am the observational camera angle. I stand back and watch it all unfold and make my small fly sized opinion heard anywhere from a buzz to the bubonic plague. My observations lie in the realm that our generation faces the hardest and most confusing elements of the world that the generations before have left behind. We gamble between making a living by working hard and persisting, or as a dog jumping up and down for a bone, humping the leg of its owner. We’re left with an abysmal music industry, set on three chord tones and catchy tunes to try and make hundred million dollar sums so men in black can afford their sports car quota for the year. Our politics have gone sour, and our education has gone numb. We’re not interested in learning anymore, only money.

We are a pioneering generation. We have the power to stand up and fight back, not in the violent sense, we don’t need that, we simply choose to not follow. I’m for following your dreams, whether it be a football player, crayon maker, to a rattlesnake shaker. Anything we wanna be, we can be. There is no one stopping us. Feel free to run over to your council and tell them what you wanna see done, you’re entitled to it. Change things, move mountains, fucken’ unleash the hounds. This is my romanticism. The truth that life is ours and no one else’s. We are the creators of our own universe. We are the masters of our own destiny, and we are caught up in our future that we miss the present. It’s time to enjoy the short time we have. I believe in a social and Cultural Revolution, the only thing stopping it, starting it, rewinding it and ejecting it, is you. Press play.

Stressed? Life and death anxiety conjured from a scheduled meeting at 2PM with human resources telling you that you are ‘not hitting the bar’. The bar hits you, and suddenly we enshroud ourselves with the greatest self importance, that somehow, our existence is nothing but despair and crazed cynicism. We have a zero tolerance for failure. We must be perfect.

It is known that despite there being billions upon billions of microcosms and organisms in the world, not one fuck is given about them on a regular basis. Why? Because we have that 2 o’clock meeting, loser. Nothing is important when you’re stressed and in a rush, except for your destination and not screwing up in the process. Failure means immediate disqualification. These organisms and atoms create an entire universe, our entire cosmic realm, yet we pay them no attention, and they just exists, performing their everyday tasks and what it is that they are required to do in their terminal existence. Then why the fuck are we so important? Why is it, that human beings, the most dangerous species in the world, has been given self awareness, insecurity and self superiority, enabling our minds to think that we can only ever create, reproduce and do it even better so that we can make ‘progress’ and ‘advance’ the human race? What have we got to show for it?

We have created automobiles, things which make US move faster. TV! Things that make us sit still, for hours! Cures for diseases, things which keep you alive, so you can move, sit still, spend money and make that 2 o’clock meeting you dumb-arse!

It all seems very trivial? Cynical as it is, I believe that our existence is more than creating a world of ‘progress’, I believe our existence is purely based on social interaction and satisfying our basic needs. We have become so focused on looking the best, being the best, getting a degree, getting a job, surviving Tony Abbott, and making sure that our kids can do everything that we just did! That is 90% of our life’s content. I live for the 10%.. the sitting on the train tracks at 3am with a friend, polishing off a bottle of whiskey when we were 17 and looking at all the street art. I live for the culmination of youth to fight for what is right, and to truly exist together in free flowing thought and conduct. I live for the binding connection between all of us, as human beings, that breaks the monotony of daily life. Conversation and interaction is the biggest prevention of mass suicide, and literally, makes life worth living.

So, why is that 2 o’clock meeting the end of the world?..

I fear nothing, but the void of thought. Death is the absolute void of thought, and everything that contextualises existence. I fear death because I may longer be able to think, or act, or feel. But if I live, when I cannot think, or act, or feel, oppressed by judgement and savage vilification, then I may no longer live within the realms of society, but let my mind wander free into the abyss, meandering through the endless possibilities that is the imagination, then will I know the absolute freedom.

A euphoric train of thought, the free flow of imagination and creation, is a purely subjective experience. We cannot truly explain every vivid detail of our somewhat existing creation, only can we try to save the thought to savour and examine it. We create layers of different elements of thought like style, colour, content, meanings, messages and emotions. Such a complex and multifaceted spark that is ignited like a match to tinder. This is incredible. The most amazing and astounding thing known to mankind, the ability to imagine, create, think and exist.

However, while I can think, I can not say. Not just I, but all of us, are constrained to social complexities and social mannerisms that confine us to what is appropriate and sane. But what magical being creates these restraints? This fictional authority of superior charisma and social elite that I dare not look in the eye or be blind? How can rules become so widespread through this culture of ours, yet not be questioned. We feel comfortable in restrained conversation. The lack of abstract thinking is our protection. It’s the invisible shield to defend us all from each other, for we are nothing but judgmental social savages, preying on difference and creativity. The abstract becoming the abysmal. A baron wasteland of numbed thought and consciousness.

Following the theme of montage for Shields’ reading, here is one of the greatest experimental montages ever created!

In Shields’ manifesto, I found that reading it was a bit of a gamble. I would either stumble upon something quite profound and intricate, or just plain ‘being different for the sake of being different’ pretentiousness. However, I understood most of what the reading’s purpose was. It explained to me how a Korsakow film can create a non-plot driven narrative through a montage or collage like sequence, by juxtaposing different images to explain my point or message in a non-linear way. It is experimental film through interactive online documentary. An extract that really grabbed me was “If you grow up with toys bought in the shop but things that are found around the farm, you do a sort of bricolage. Bits of string and wood. Making all sorts of things, like webs across the legs of a chair. And then you sit there, like a spider. The urge to connect bits that don’t seem to belong together has fascinated me all my life.” (pg.110, A313) What Shields is doing is preaching the non-linear. The combination of randomness to create something whole, and a constructed thing, in and of itself. On the other hand, an article saying “The absence of plot leaves the reader room to think about other things.” While this is true for experimental film, reading some text which may not go together can also alienate a reader and they can become bored. With the ever decreasing attention spans of society, to read a collection of ‘gibberish’ would only serve to show pretentiousness, intoxication and mindless self indulgence. Such as the quote “I hate quotations”. I don’t get it. It may be subjective art that I have to dissect, but the result is that its not engaging enough for someone to care about. No one cares. That can become a huge risk for experimentation with this sort of media/mediums. My reasoning as to why experimental film will never receive the attention, adoration or capital that narrative film does.

Following Soars’ reading for this week, I thought I’d segway into more depth with an example I used. I spoke about ‘Vice Documentaries’ and how they are filmed all around the world and are accessible through multiple platforms. However, what they also do is make sure that it can be accessible to as many states and nations as they can to ensure a global audience. .They do this by primarily uploading their documentaries to Youtube, the world’s biggest and easily accessible online video platform. This is the more mainstream but not as accessible as Korsakow documentary platform. However, the encouraged experimentalist style of Korsakow wouldn’t cater for Vice. Nontheless, Youtube and Korsakow both serve the same purpose for documentary filmmakers. Vice engage their audiences with what is happening in the world through a different view or ‘lens’ as I call it, different to just what we see on the news. They get right into the thick of it and show the world what it is truly like to be down on the front lines of any current event in the world. Here you will find a documentary they have recently made about the Russian-Ukraine crisis, which has been very suppressed in its exposure from the media/ This became one of the most viewed videos for their channel, and one of the most important.

One of the most important things when directing actors is to have a very good knowledge of acting before hand. To direct actors, you cannot say “Act better”, you have to describe the finer detail of expression skills, character objectivity, goals, sub-text, everything! The director and the actor have a very close relationship, as they portray the character to the director’s vision. Therefore, the most important skill to have as a director is describing things to other people, and having them see roughly the same idea. For example, if an actor is playing an old man, you must guide them in their slouched/hunched posture, sagged face, shaky movement and gestures, slow and paced steps, and the thoughts that the character would be having in this context. Another thing is to control your temper as a director, as while you do have the most stressful job on the film set, you are a leader, and must do your best to lead and never lose your cool, otherwise, you’ll lose your followers.

The editing is used very carefully to assemble the shots of both the men in the scene. Despite it being a conversation, the shots are held on either subject for a long time, to allow for suspense to build, as well as cater for the rhythm and unsettling mood of the scene. The audio in this scene has a lot of folly and ambient sound over the entire clip. The sound’s volume is turned up to heighten the intensity and noir setting. It does this by pricking up the ears of the audience to the clicking of the crickets, the steps of the Hitman’s boots on the wooden floor, and the dumping of the fish and lighter on the table. This is the breaking of the disturbing silence (besides the crickets) which is unsettling for an audience, because we anticipate the loud ‘bang’ or climax to break this silence. Any kind of loud sounds would create an uneasiness to the scene, to which the Coen brother’s have done excellently in their debut film ‘Blood Simple’. The saw that can be heard at random times in the backround is a part of the narrative. However, it also serves to reinforce this uneasienss in a macarbe way. As the two talk about a murder which ‘had been commited’ as a part of this deal taking place, the sound of the saw would run parallel in the minds of audiences’ as to the disposal of the bodies, dismemberment, or violence in general. This psychological manipulation or ‘play’ as I like to call it, is a Coen Brother’s trade mark, as seen in later work such as ‘Fargo’, ‘The Big Lebowski’, ‘Barton Fink’ etc. While all sounds throughout the film are diagetic, they serve to create the mood better than any score or soundtrack could for this sombre scene.

Soar’s anecdotal print “Making (with) the Korsakow System: Database Documentaries as Articulation and Assemblage” helped me understand the point of Korsakow. It’s use is predominantly for filmmakers to be able to create interactive documentary narratives that can be viewed from almost any computer (excluding some tablets, smart phones, other web devices) around the world with internet access, as it is a compressed sized download, which won’t overuse any internet, big or small. Soar, being one of the co-founders of the Korsakow system expressed his thoughts on the “dying industry” of documentary making on the big screen, and how he foresees the internet becoming the next source of media streaming/viewing and creating. This can be seen in some documentary producers such as ‘Vice’, to which only until recently, have been purely documentary makers who upload to the web (YouTube). The easiness of the Korsakow system also allows filmmakers with no knowledge of programming to be able to create online streaming of their interactive documentaries cheaply, faster & with ease, as it’s “drag and drop inter-face” caters for beginners. By reading this print, I could grasp the concept of Korsakow, and as to why we are learning it more easily. However, my use of it in the future is still questionable.

Find below the tutorial for Korsakow: