Month: April 2016

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Film Sound & Vivre Sa Vie

 Jean-Luc Godard’s use of sound in Vivre Sa Vie is unapologetically raw. In an almost experimental use of sound, the film strays away from the established norm of using non-diegetic sound to evoke emotion. In fact, venturing beyond just using diegetic sound, Godard ensured to create an even higher form of fidelity within Vivre Sa Vie, recording all sounds directly as they occurred, in shot. The use of sound is thus highly deliberate, whilst also featuring noises that, completely unplanned, impose upon the shot; such sounds include the all-encompassing noise of the passing truck, which fills the air the first time Nana goes out to prostitute, or otherwise, the hospital bells that may be heard at the end of the film at Nana’s deathbed. Exaggerated by the lack of non-diegetic sound or music, or manufactured audio effects, sound within Vivre Sa Vieis heavily foregrounded, with French reviewers complaining that the intense reality of the film’s atmospheric sounds, such as in the noisy, bustling café, obscure the voices of the actors, as viewers must strain to understand dialogue through the dense soundscape created by recording all of the film’s audio on-set. Godard’s use of sound in this unconventional way ensures that the audience is highly conscious of it,and by this, he not only creates a sense of reality within the piece, butactually presents the audience with reality, as the film’s audio is entirely true to its source. Godard thereby curates a sense of gritty realism withinVivre Sa Vie, used to reflect the harsh actuality of the film’s narrative and engage the viewer in what appears as the raw truth presented on screen.

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Bibliography

Bonn, S 2015, Moral Panic: Who Benefits From Public Fear?, Psychology Today, viewed 21 April 2016, <https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wicked-deeds/201507/moral-panic-who-benefits-public-fear>

Cohen, S 1972, Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and Rockers. MacGibbon and Key Ltd, UK.

Goode, E & Ben-Yehuda, N 1994, Moral Panics: Culture, Politics, & Social Construction, Annual Review of Sociology Vol. 20, UK.

Goode, E & Ben-Yehuda, N 2009, Moral Panics: The Social Construction of Deviance, Wiley-Blackwell, UK.

Green, L & Clarke, K 2016, Social Policy for Social Work, Polity Press, UK.

Hayle, S 2013, Folk devils without moral panics: discovering concepts in the sociology of evil, Internet Journal of Criminology and Sociological Theory, Vol. 6, USA.

Marsh, I & Melville G 2011, Moral Panics and the British Media – A Look At Some Contemporary ‘Folk Devils’, Internet Journal of Criminology, UK.

Mods & Rockers Rebooted 2014, film, BBC, UK.

Thompson, Kenneth 1998, Moral Panics, Routledge, UK.

Tuchman, G 1978, Making News: A Study in the Social Construction of Reality, the Free Press, USA.

 

Music | Promises – Letterbox

Archival footage and music used under creative commons & Copyright Act (1968).

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Narrative & Mystery Road

Ivan Sen’s Mystery Road follows the path of Indigenous detective Jay Swan, as he investigates the murder of a teenage girl in the Australian outback. This constitutes the main plot of the film, one that’s narrative is constructed and enhanced through the use of a variety of filmic techniques. Although Mystery Road’s plot occurs over a series of weeks, framed within a broader story of many years, Sen uses a manipulation in temporal reality to allow the film to play out within the space of just over two hours; an example of the way in which screen duration may function independently of story or plot duration, as the viewer is accustomed to jumps between time and space in the film world, accepting it as natural and normal. It is through this customary suspension of belief that viewers are able to comfortably watch the film, as they automatically create closure between shots, and between scenes, in order to construct the singular unified reality of Mystery Road.

The specific uses of cinematography, setting and genre are employed to form and further the narrative of the film, giving added depth to the plot of Mystery Road, by reflecting the position of the film’s protagonist. The use of wide shots of the arid Australian outback, as well as aerial shots of cars driving down barren highways through the desert are prolific throughout Mystery Road. These work to reflect the isolation felt by Jay as he socially separated from both the predominantly white police force, as well as his own community. The use of such shots furthermore evidence Jay’s lone, steadfast conviction to the case, as this is an integral force within Mystery Road, creating a series of cause and effect that ultimately drive the film.

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Critics Festival

In today’s class we were divided into groups and, using de bono’s hats, collaboratively evaluated eachother’s documentary projects as part of a mini film festival.

Luka Hofbauer

• Natural speech, doesn’t sound like she’s speaking in front of a camera.
• Easy to follow.
• As she’s an artist, could have featured her drawings more, or had her talk a little about what kind of art was made.
• Could have found more relevant found footage / switched it up more.
• Alternatively, the abstract connection between the runway footage and the subject works well to convey the expectation vs reality of the social media world, as reflected by the glamour vs gritty reality of the fashion industry.

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Alec Wilson

• Music dominant, however matched changing tone of the film well.
• Abstract links of found footage to the subject matter work well and are excellently curated.
• Lighting very nice, matched the tone- film noir style.
• Perhaps overdramatised for subject.
• Too many types of music / too loud.
• Not a good idea to run credits while subject is still speaking.

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Jasmine Winecier

• Sound is an issue- highs chopped off, levels set too high.
• Backdrop not relevant to subject.
• Seamless integration of found footage.

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Lucy Wadelton

• Some really well composed still framed shots in the beginning.
• Use of black and white photography, and found footage of 60s and 70s Australia was well integrated.
• Possibly too many black and white photos all at once.
• Noise in the audio.
• Disconnected ending.

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Okay ladies, now let’s get in formation.

In this week’s tutorial, we formed groups for project brief four. Assigned randomly, I was placed in a group with Jialu and Emma. After forming our groups, we discussed our bewilderment at the broadness of the project, and set about working out the more administrative side of the task.

We set up a Facebook group, in which to post everything project-related, so that it is easily accessible and well-documented, and also discussed the strengths and passions of each of our group’s members.

• Emma is excellent at organisation and a highly efficient worker, and will work to keep everyone on track throughout the project.

• Jialu is proficient in editing, both in premiere pro and in adobe audition.

• My main strengths are in the creative and written aspects, so I will be helping to draft the work we produce.

We decided to work collaboratively to create all the pieces for this assignment, but with each member taking the lead in their chosen area of expertise. Ultimately, the final outcome will be reviewed and examined by every member of the group and discussed in order to refine the project into its best possible state.

I think with our combined talents and differing areas of specialisation, we can collaborate to produce two quite well-crafted works.

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OLIVIA follows the musings of twenty year old, Olivia Chamberlain, as she talks about gender dysphoria, societal expectation, and defying the norms of femininity as a transgender woman. 

Due to the time constraints surrounding project brief three, I decided to keep the interview focussed upon Olivia’s relationship with femininity as a trans woman, and discuss the complex interplay between gender dysphoria, femininity and womanhood, and whether those three elements necessarily align for everyone.

My intent was to contrast current conceptions of gender fluidity and womanhood with the highly circumscribed definition of womanhood that was conventional in the 1950s (a time of social regression, particularly for women). The opening of the film clearly illustrates this; the almost jarring visual switch from the 1950s footage, to that of the pill package conveys how much change has occurred, grounding the work in the modern day whilst creating a ‘realness,’ as juxtaposed with the ‘surreal’ attitudes of the 1950s. All the found footage throughout is employed to similar effect; to create contrasts that emphasise and bring added meaning to the film’s key messages.

Overall I’m pleased with this piece. The audio was fairly clean, so there wasn’t any distracting noise to detract from what was being conveyed in the film, and the music works in an understated way to enhance the mood of the piece, without being a distracting or overbearing element. The piece has achieved quite an intimate tone, which positions the viewer in a way that allows them to connect to the subject and engage with the message of the film; they’re being spoken with, not lectured to. In regards to the interview itself, I prepped my subject a day prior to the interview, ensuring that she knew the direction the piece was heading. This allowed for better articulation of her thoughts when it came time to sit and record. In addition, I conducted an off-camera interview for this piece, as I thought this would allow the subject to relax and speak with authenticity. I believe this was a large factor in why I was able to create an intimate piece, and is something that I will keep in mind for future projects.

Visually, I am content with the piece (the above shots being my favourites from the work); however, next time I will ensure to scout the area fully before beginning filming so that I can put more work into the curation of shots to ensure they are all to a higher standard and that there is a larger range of diversity throughout. Also, I will have to have to look into Vimeo’s file compression, and the best export settings to maintain video quality, as online some of the blacks in the piece have been crunched into blocks of colour, which isn’t present on the actual finished file.

In regards to the editing, my main issue was that I should really have broken up the walking sections towards the end of the piece. The first walking shot was intended to break up the piece (let it breathe), as I felt that it was important to allow the viewer to focus on the speech at that point, and not have their concentration divided by busy visuals. The second walking shot was used to reinforce the audio, that is, the way that cisgendered people will never fully be able to understand what it’s like to be transgender. Here, there is a shift, from a tracking shot to a static one as the subject walks away, thereby visually expressing this disconnect and highlighting the impassable separation in understanding. Despite these creative choices, which are effective separately, the two walking shots should have been spaced further apart, as they appear repetitive and lose poignance as individual shots because they are so close together. Constructively, through this project I have come to realise the amount that can be conveyed nonverbally through cinematography and mise en scene, and the immense contribution that this non-verbal communication lends to a film’s meaning.