When someone allows you to create a portrait of their character, they are employing a sense of trust in your creative ability and your principle responsiveness. When we create a piece of media in intention is to be seen and viewed by a range of people, many of whom do not know the subject. As such their only view of the subject is created from the information that the filmmaker allows them to see. I think that it is important to note the intention of the film to yourself, and in some instances to the subject, keeping that in mind throughout the production process. People are complex; they are layers of information, feelings and experiences. I think that it would be easy to get caught up in the different coats of skin that create a person, and identifying a key aim early on is important to maintaining coherency and fluidity throughout a video portrait.

When researching different video portraits I found this ad campaign from Canon Australia, which based itself on the notion that portraits are shaped by what is behind the camera, not in front of it.

The contention of this video is a little unsubtle I think. Perhaps it would have been more compelling to get six photographers to shoot the same subject, with their different approaches showing a difference in character. Its been done before, but I think that this would highlight the true notion of ‘a photograph is shaped more by the person the camera than what is in front of it’ as the artists pieces were evidentially shaped by what they thought was in front of it. Nevertheless I think that this is an interesting topic to explore.

The video really shows how portrayals by the media are sometimes, if not always, completely framed towards a particular angle or viewpoint. The people behind the camera get to decide what it is the viewer sees are how exactly they see it. This is power. A filmmaker is put in a position of power through additions and omissions – they are able to control the flow of information. That holds a high regard of responsibility and ones ability to react to such control I think is a strong measure of their ability as a filmmaker. I think when working towards our final project it will be interesting to look at how our scope of information effects an audience members view on a particular subject.