May
2014
Week 11 Reading
This week’s reading discusses database documentaries by using modern examples and describing them in detail. The authors discuss the spatial montage and the power of juxtaposition as has been discussed in previous readings aswell.
One of the most interesting points for me was the discussion of the ‘Are You Happy?’ project. This question was posed in various cultural contexts, getting quite personal answers as well as universal responses. What is really interesting about this project is the inclusion of the twitter feed alongside the video, juxtaposing between the cosy feel of the video and the jarring twitter feed. When Jasmine suggested that we include a text thread for our major project, this project came to my mind. I will endeavour to research different poems, or even twitter threads about celebration to see what we as a group like and find interesting.
Another interesting project was the one focusing on how people feel. I found it really interesting as it has long been so difficult for researchers and scientists to find evidence of how people really feel as they usually don’t reveal their true feelings. This project gave an interesting insight into the true feelings of people and is something I will use as an inspiration.
The reading discusses traditional documentary and its claim of having a privileged relationship to social reality in the sense that what we are shown we are lead to believe. It is usually about trying to get the audience to take a stand and change how they behave in their everyday lives. This is unlike new database documentary which allows for much larger interpretation, and a more personal and subjective view on whatever the maker decides to film. The juxtaposing between clips as well allows for greater depth, and larger interpretation, as well as allowing the maker to be more ambiguous rather than stating their ’cause’ or rather not even needing a cause at all. The reading states that “documentary film in the twentieth century was as much about changing the world as it was observing it.” My question then is, can we as filmmakers continue to ‘change the world’ by creating Korsakow films?
“In 1926 John Grierson defined documentary as ‘the creative treatment of actuality’.” I find this interesting as documentary since has taken a more subjective and argumentative approach to its material, consciously leaving out or exaggerating facts to make audiences take a particular stance. So this to me isn’t ‘actuality’. As Adrian has mentioned over the semester, by using Korsakow to document our observations we can create our own ‘actualities’. But is this really ‘actual’ as it is highly subjective? What makes something an actuality?