The Silences is a 2015 documentary by Margot Nash that describes and analyses Nash’s family, specifically her mother. At the start of watching this documentary I was very hesitant to keep watching as it seemed slow and uneventful. Having finished it I don’t think I could watch it again, but it definitely made me consider my own family relationships. This film largely connected to the reflexive mode of documentary. Nash narrates the documentary and had a voice of authority as she attempts to convince the viewer of her own opinions of her mother. It is evident that Nash has respect for her father despite his mental health issues whilst she clearly has a strained relationship with her mother who is depicted as harsh and unloving. Given that this is a story about Nash’s family history there is a huge use of footage from interviews and archive material. However the documentary also dabbles in reflexive mode conventions as there are many techniques borrowed from fiction film with there being multiple recreations of her childhood shown in the documentary. This documentary also raises the question of ethics in that Nash is portraying her mother and father from only her perspective and as they are both deceased, they have no right of reply. This therefore made me question whether or not the documentary was offering an authentic portrayal of Nash’s family, especially considering she is relying so heavily on memory.

Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer is a 2003 documentary by Nick Broomfield and details the crimes committed and eventual death of American serial killer, Aileen Wuornos. Wuornos is an incredibly interesting character and the documentary made me feel extremely sympathetic towards her as it is clearly evident she is mentally unwell yet is still executed under the death penalty in Florida. The documentary gravitates towards tropes of the performative and participatory modes of documentary in that the documentary maker, Broomfield, makes his presence extremely evident. However I felt that by inserting himself so heavily in the documentary, Broomfield was portraying himself as the hero trying to save Wuornos and her reputation. Whilst I agree her punishment was unjust given her mental state, I think the documentary is at a disadvantage at the fault of Broomfield and his saviour persona. He evidently had built a relationship with her after having made his 1992 documentary Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer, however his continuous presence throughout his new film can at times distract from Wuornos who is ultimately the star of the documentary. I would still recommend and rewatch this documentary as it is a unique and interesting human interest and crime story however I question what the different outcome would be if Broomfield wasn’t featured as much.

The September Issue by R.J. Cutler is a 2009 documentary that follows American Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, creative director Grace Coddington and other magazine employees as they work on the 2007 September issue of Vogue. In the opening sequence, Wintour is being interviewed and states that ‘just because you like to put on a beautiful Carolina Herrera dress or a pair of J Brand blue jeans instead of something basic from Kmart, it doesn’t mean that you’re a dumb person’. She then further argues that ‘there is something about fashion that can make people very nervous’. I thought these two statements set the tone and direction of the documentary really well but I also liked how you were being asked to consider your own relationship with fashion from the outset. Personally as someone with a strong interest in fashion, it can at times feel scary and intimidating to wear something that is new and a bit different as I don’t want to be judged by people who wear more simplistic clothing. I agree with Wintour in that it is largely due to the fact that a lot of people are intimated by fashion so they judge as a defence mechanism. The documentary raised the question for me of whether high fashion is an unnecessary luxury or form of artistic creation.There is definitely a stigma that fashion is a luxury and it’s considered lunacy by many to spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars on a handbag or dress from a designer brand. However I think this documentary attempts to show all the artistic creativity that designers and Vogue magazine put into fashion which they consider to be an art form. Surprisingly by the end of this documentary I felt a sense of sympathy for Wintour and Coddington. Although they both clearly love the fashion industry, it is evident it takes an emotional and creative toll on them. When Wintour’s family is featured or described it is clear that they think her work is somewhat frivolous and dramatized, however having seen how effort Wintour put into publishing the September issue for 2007 I felt compassion for her. I further enjoyed this documentary as it felt very real as there was so much behind the scenes footage of the months of planning as well as the photoshoots that would appear in the magazine.

My older sister recently moved out of our family home and as someone who has only moved house once when I was very young, I was curious to ask my sister some questions about how she is adapting to her new neighbourhood of residence and it’s impact on her identity.

What neighbourhood do you live in?

Mordialloc.

How long have you lived there for?

Three months.

Do you think it has had an impact on your identity?

Yes, it makes me more low key and more of a homebody because there’s less to do and brings out that part of my identity.

Do you feel a connection to the neighbourhood?

Yes and no. I like it but I haven’t lived here long and I’d like to live somewhere with a bit more culture. I’ve lived in the south east most of my life and I feel like I’ve done it.

Do you live there out of choice or circumstance?

Circumstance. I would prefer to live in the north side but my partner is from Mornington so it’s a nice halfway point so neither of us are too far from our family or friends. But I am happy with the particular suburb we chose.

What has been your favourite suburb you’ve lived in and why?

In terms of actual location – East Melbourne, close to the north side, Richmond and CBD. Lots of places to eat, go out. In terms of how happy I’ve been, Mordialloc. I feel relaxed at home and love living with my partner.

1. https://www.mediafactory.org.au/jemma-perelaer/2018/04/27/memory-identity-and-neighbourhoods-assignment-3-part-1/
2. https://www.mediafactory.org.au/jemma-perelaer/2018/04/27/memory-identity-and-neighbourhoods-assignment-3-part-2/
3. https://www.mediafactory.org.au/jemma-perelaer/2018/04/27/memory-identity-and-neighbourhoods-assignment-3-part-3/
4. https://www.mediafactory.org.au/jemma-perelaer/2018/04/27/memory-identity-and-neighbourhoods-assignment-3-part-4/

Discussing another groups’ pitch 

I will be assessing the Pentridge Prison pitch. I thought this group did a really good job at providing a direct, interesting and informative pitch to the class, especially considering they were first to present. Having never heard of Pentridge Prison, I felt they gave a great introduction to the location and it’s history. They went onto expand on the surrounding area of the prison and how it is evolving over time. I appreciated how they combined Arielle and Tal’s interests from assignment 2 and were able to create a new direction together for their documentary.

I agree with the panel in that there are several focus points the group mentioned and that they should consider focusing on one. As this is only a 3 to 5 minute documentary, I personally think it would be more effective to just focus on the prison history, an interesting inmate story or the ghost/haunted aspect of the prison. I equally like the concept of focusing on the change within the urban environment that is growing around Pentridge but I think they would need longer than 5 minutes to successfully capture that story.

I would definitely green light this project as I think it has a lot of potential and multiple avenues it can go down, whichever one it may be. Their passion and interest in this topic definitely showed in their presentation and I think that was what was one of the most captivating aspects aspects of this presentation, other than their great location and ideas. My only concern for this group would be that there is potential for some really great interviews with people who live nearby or an ex employee or even ex inmate, but these could be extremely difficult to come by and will definitely take a lot of time to capture.

Recording the feedback

Overall I was really pleased with the feedback Andi and I received. I think our pitch successfully communicated the ideas we have for our Retro Star documentary and with the panel’s feedback I’m feeling confident that we have a clear direction moving forward.

The main feedback that we received that was that we had a unique and interesting topic however for a 3 to 5 minute documentary we should try and focus in on one of our several different potential directions. Going into this pitch we had several ideas of who our main interview subject would be, possibly a Retro Star employee or customer but the panel really seemed to enjoy our Humans of New York inspired customer interview style. I think interviewing multiple people coming in and out of the store on how they found Retro Star, why they are there and what they are buying will allow us to capture a wide variety of the different cliental Retro Star has. The Humans of New York social media posts are always able to capture a captivating and intriguing story in a short amount of words so I definitely think that is a goal for us and it would give vintage clothing and the world of Retro Star the most justice. It was also emphasized to us that it’s important to not interview anyone we know as having a personal connection to an interview can possibly hinder how authentic their responses are.

In terms of the shots and visual ideas we mentioned, the panel agreed that this would be a very visually immersive story and that we should try and capture as much colour and texture within the store. They were also in agreement with our idea on having a tracking shot walking through the Nicholas building and up to Retro Star as that will emphasize the hidden gem aspect of our location. However they also noted that we should make sure not to over do it with establishing shots of the CBD, suggesting two or three establishing shots would be sufficient in setting the scene before delving right into shots of Retro Star.

It was mentioned that we should be wary of making our documentary come across as an advertisement or promotional video for Retro Star. I hadn’t considered that this could be a very realistic issue we might face so I was really pleased that a potential issue was brought up. Now as we move forward we can try to avoid it by focusing on what questions we ask, how we ask them and the editing process will also be essential to avoiding a promotional type documentary.

I am however disappointed that our presentation time was cut short as it meant we were unable to get as much feedback from the panel as other groups did. Whilst I appreciated the feedback we did get, the panel members all had very different careers within the media industry so it would’ve been beneficial to hear all of their opinions.

Pitching your documentary to a panel 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1bFGkNG3SGd5fIIVUeR6mBFOFF9EPpxr_7LPQEErSruo/edit?usp=sharing

Deconstruction and analysis   

A reference point when thinking about my own work is the online documentary series Inside the Wardrobe, which is published on the British Vogue YouTube channel.

I find this series to be extremely fascinating as it allows a first hand look into the closets of influential members of the fashion community such as Vogue editors and contributors Sarah Harris and Bay Garnett as well as others like Camille Rowe and Suki Waterhouse. Having grown up shopping in op shops and vintage stores with my mum, I have always had a very big interest in fashion and love this series as it allows me to see a detailed insight into someone else’s fashion sense and why and how they came across certain items that have made it into their wardrobe. I think this series strongly relates to our documentary as it focuses on individuals talking about particular clothing items or accessories that they like to style a particular way or have an interesting back story.

Clip-1.33-2.04

In terms of sound, the conversation between Rowe and Garnett is very off the cuff and natural which I think makes this mini documentary as a whole a lot more inviting to watch as you feel like you are in the room with them. This is definitely something I am taking into consideration for my documentary, as I want the social actors to feel as though they can just answer our questions freely in a way that lets their personality show. I’m undecided if I would include upbeat background music like they have done in this clip as I think we would have to see how our interviews go and what the general emotional tone and pace of them is.

The camera work through this clip and entire video is at times a bit shaky and hand held but I think that works perfectly with the subject matter and location as it is a very casual, comfortable and welcoming environment. It’s easy to imagine yourself standing in her room looking through her wardrobe yourself. The shots themselves are quite quick at times but this is necessary in my opinion in order to be capture the extent of her wardrobe. As Retro Star offers such a variety of products and is quite large for a vintage store, I feel at times we could also have quite quick cuts in order to truly showcase the atmosphere.

You can really see that Camille Rowe feels very safe and happy and it’s almost as though the camera isn’t even there. The camera captures a lot of colour and texture within the confines of her bedroom and wardrobe, which is something we are definitely aiming to do in our final documentary. Even within this short clip you can see a wide variety of different fashion and accessory items so I think for our documentary by talking to different people within Retro Star we would be able to capture an even wider, more unique array of vintage fashion items.

In recent years, a lot of magazines have created YouTube channels as a way to visually communicate stories with readers online and open themselves up to a wider audience. Although having never actually read Glamour Magazine, it regularly posts content on YouTube that has caught my eye. There is a particular series, 70 People Ages 5-75 Answer, that almost acts as a short documentary. Each video features one person of each age providing their answer to the exact same question. Although its very simple in concept I find these videos not only entertaining but I appreciate how we are given a glimpse into someone’s identity not in just what they say but the mannerisms and emotions. I think this type of video is also an inspiration for our documentary as everyone is giving very direct clear answers and therefore they have been able to compile such a wide variety of answers into a short video. We are definitely aiming to do something similar with our documentary in that we want a wide variety of vintage shoppers of different ages who have different stories and opinions.