I do not have the link to our Lenny yet But i will update it into this post when I get the chance.
Some of the things I learnt through shooting the Lenny was the importance of preproduction. Considering we did 0 pre production for this exercise I really felt the impact in the extra amount of time it took away from our limited shooting time. AS well as how it influenced our shot selection as we had to throw out a lot in post production.
This week I decided to stray away from the realm of Korsakow i-docs to find something a little different. What I stumbled across was this i-doc/interactive game called Fort McMoney a documentary based on the small town of Fort McMurray and it’s oil sands.
The thing that differentiated this documentary was that it market itself as more of a game that an interactive episodic documentary. This really comes through in the interface which takes on the form of a point and click adventure story, but instead using non-fictional events and characters. This was the first thing that struck me as odd because every game I have played has been fictional or at rarely a sort of fictional adaptation of a real event, yet these are real people and ‘real’ experiences.
At first we are taken through the point of view of a car travelling through the dystopian industrial winter landscape somewhere in Canada, accompanied by a radio report that fills in some background information about the area. The user is then provided with a near 360 degree landscape view of their surroundings in which they can interact with people and objects of interest. When you interact with people you become the documentary maker as they interview the subject you are provided with options for different questions you can pose to them to which you then listen to their response.
The interface is quite unique as it does really function as a game, you have a dashboard in which you can view all kinds of related data visualisations on the topic as well as ‘influence points’. These influence points can be gradually collected by talking through conversations with people and seem to be the main point of the game. One button which is greyed out on the dash board is the ‘debate’ button which to me seemed to be the end goal of the game, you get enough influence points and possibly you can ‘debate’ the topic of “should we stop exploiting the oil sands”. (which already seems like a loaded question).
I only made it so far after the introductory area, the user is either forced to register or end their journey. At this point I decided not to continue for a number of reasons. During the first run through of my game I got stuck, I was stopped as the game froze and did not allow me to continue. Usually when you get stuck in a game you have something to guide you in the right direction, often when stuck for long enough you either get frustrated and put it down all together or come back later if depending if you already have invested something into the game. Yet this i-doc has no tool to indicate the right direction although the direction is fairly straight forward if it runs smoothly as there is limited amount of options available. But if it does not you get stuck you end up sitting there thinking “is there something else I have to do”? when in actual fact the page just needs a refresh. I noticed that the game was using the URL to guide me through the areas so when I got stuck I just tried playing with the location from changing it from
http://www.fortmcmoney.com/#/fortmcmoney/route-de-glace/fort-chip
to
http://www.fortmcmoney.com/#/fortmcmoney/route-de-glace/fort-mcmurrey
which was the next location in the story, and surprisingly it worked! it had tracked the number of influence and allowed me to interact with objects, but did not allow me to progress to the next area presumably because I had not completed the other tasks. So when It asked me to register in order for to be able to track my own progress and keep my influence points I was not convinced. Now this could or could not have been the case, and I understand some of their motives to get users to register, but when I think about the overall aim of the project to raise awareness and possibly create some kind of change in this issue I feel like compulsory registering worked against them. Even though this is only a small obstacle I still feel it undermines prevents a certain amount of people from viewing it.
Apart from that the whole layout of the interface and information is fantastic as well as some of the shots so check It out here if you want to have a little look and then leave a comment if you agree or disagree.
This week I went even further back in time and watched the Korsakow film [7sons] by Florian Thalhofer and Mahmoud Hamdy. It documents a small tribal council community of Bedouins in Cairo centring on their decision of a local land rights case.
Once again I find myself completely absorbed in a short space of time, the film makers start with a small narrative set up and then leave the viewer to navigate through a selection of 3 videos titled by one word captions. Speaking of interface I really like the way Thalhofer and Hamdy set this one up, you have the main viewer and then as I mentioned before three other options which are displayed in black and white and also play through a small loop when moused over which I think is a nice feature. They also hold the videos back until you have viewed the intro of each video segment, another feature I like as I feel it stops the viewer from just quickly clicking from vid to vid without actually paying attention.
The music is also great, they have different tracks for each video which continue to play after the video ends. This left me catching myself just listening to the music rather than continuing to watch the videos after they ended, but maybe it was just my personal preference.
As far as the content goes there seems to be 3 relations all interconnected with the land dispute case, landscapes, life and law. The film starts with the landscapes which introduces the characters and the settings and then leaves the viewer to navigate between the other subjects. The film also contrasts the life of the Begonias to the life of the Egyptians and perhaps in a broader sense the effects of large civilisation on the tribe.
I’m not sure if it’s the interactivity inherent of I-docs which is drawing me in so quickly or the other elements of the films themselves, I guess if I keep watching them I will find out.
You can find the film here
First a disclaimer I have only briefly viewed these films 5 – 10 mins on each
Life is a musical I thought from the title that this would imply some kind of soundtrack like visuals or an idea centred around the sounds of the city/life. This is true to some extent however most of the visual track seems just to be images of traffic passing by some with a consistent rhythm or sound some without. I feel there needs to be a more consistent theme within either the sound or visual track, either way still there were some nice shots and sequences
Individual world is centred around Autumn and the colours and possibly sounds that the season brings to the city. It uses an different style of interface with a bird on a post at the bottom yet or a rainy window as a backdrop. Yet the interface seems unfinished as some videos do not load very well or you end up at a bugged / broken page. The visuals with the captions seem be simply describing a place and then filming it or just adding something which the author finds interesting and a small comment. The soundtrack is a continuous running of popular classical music while the videos are muted. I feel it’s a combination of the captions and the soundtrack which lead me to dislike this I doc as the way in which they act is too explicit. It feels like the author is really pushing the viewer to find a particular meaning or feeling instead of letting the viewer discover, relate and create their own meaning from the imagery.
You can find the films here
Almost Architecture is featured in the Korsakow showcase as a database documentary about the Montreal skyline and its signs. It was created in 2007 by Matt Soar and Frances Millerd and features a mix of interviews and landscape shots sequences.
It’s layout is very basic with a primary viewer and 3 sub clip selections. The relations between each clip seems to be arbitrary as they bear no relation. Once you have selected the clip from the database it disappears limiting your choices to the ones you haven’t watched. The structure is non linear, which was a I found to be a very suitable format as each clip can be viewed independently yet as you begin watching your understanding about the subjects and themes grows and you begin to notice their relations to one another.
Most of the sequences feature an interview with an expert on one of the issues involved with the signs which Matt soar often juxtaposes with an interviewee with the opposite perspective. The end result leaves the viewer with an fairly balanced view of the issue leaving them to build their own opinion. Other sequences feature shots of the various signs and city scape as well as the workshop where they are created. What I really enjoyed about these sequences was their soundscape weather it be the atmospheric sounds of the city or the work shop it sets the scene and transports the viewer.
The primary issues the documentary builds on is the function of signs on the city scape and what they symbolise to how they gain iconic value over time. It also examines the effect of sounds on the environment in Montreal drawing comparisons with Times square. After watching the documentary I have to say that I agree with the architects point of view in that signs for the most part do not make a positive contribution to aesthetic value on the space. Although I do agree that they can evolve to become important Icons of the city they also have a dual purpose, to advertise the brand/company. It is because of this that I think they should not really be considered as defining a skyline or character of a city as I feel unique and interesting architecture performs this function to a greater level.
Take 15 mins to try It out you and leave a comment
you can find the doco here: http://almostarchitecture.com/index.html
Q1:
In 200 words or less please outline your goals, desires – what you want to get out of this semester. You will review this later in the course. Many will rethink this dramatically – this is a good thing.
Consider Jasmine’s lecture on Screenwriting and briefly describe one point that you have taken from it.
A point that excites you, something that was completely new to you, perplexes you or even one you take issue with.
Select from one of the readings from week 1 or 2 and briefly describe two points that you have taken from that reading. Points that excite you, something that was completely new to you.
A3:
From the week 2 reading ‘Writing for the Screen: Beyond the Gospel of Story’ by Kathryn Millard
The first point I found intriguing was the point on central conflict theory by Raul Ruiz. One of the key points is that the current central conflict theory that dominates screenwriting is a US perspective and one which excludes other story formats from other cultures. I also found the points outlined by Jean-Pierre Geuens about the over-emphasis of scripts in contemporary american cinema to be of great interest. The notion that script writers only care about giving a good pitch because after they sell the story they lose a lot of creative control and input. This last point changed my mind of script writing from a creative writing process into a more sales and advertising oriented process.
The last point of interest for me was made by Wong Kar Wai and others about the role of a script. The way these directors use scripts could be called unorthodox as they use them more like outlines or post production docs and they devote more time working and fleshing out the story through the production process. I found this to be an unusual an alternate view on the role and use of the script.