I wasn't sure what to expect after seeing the short trailer in class, but I knew I was going to witness some pretty tragic stories and issues. QUEST FOR HONOR nevertheless was a sober look into the unjust world of 'honor killing' although beautiful stylistically.
I noticed that the structure of the film was pretty straight forward but had some challenges in presenting closure. The film mostly follows a main character (Runak Faraj) as she documents and explores the various honor killings in rural Kurdistan. Each scene was very distinct and between them were beautiful establishing shots. I was quickly reminded by the cinematography that Mary Ann Smothers Bruni had her roots in photography as mentioned during class. The end of the film lacked clear closure in some respects; however, Faraj's thoughts on her and her country's future in human rights activism at the end did provide for a sufficient closing moment.
She also was able to capture interesting themes implicitly. In an area made up of a traditional tribal society there also existed many modern artifacts like 'Americanized' advertising with risque images of women. This was never discussed explicitly but through the juxtaposition we can see the odds that are in play in the Middle East specifically in this region.
I also found the music in the film to be rather effective in terms of locale. During captivating shots of the landscape, the music would give a sense of place and even time. I'm always listening to the sound track of a film and on a personal note, I liked it. It was subtle (played a supporting role), appropriate (for the location and documentary), and unified in theme and purpose.
One of the most interesting things about this documentary is the level of access Bruni was able to obtain. She had said in the panel discussion after the film screened that she was very lucky in this respect and people generally wanted their stories told. Despite all the risks of speaking to a camera, the subjects told their stories. One particularly riveting moment was when a woman who had been the victim of an attempted homicide was told that the two people that she had seen shooting at her were released by the Judge due to insufficient evidence. This was the first time she had heard that news and the moment was captured on camera. You could see the trembling fear in her eyes. This moment like many others allows the viewer to see the gravity of the situation and the human element there in Kurdistan.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Asian American Studies conference screenings
The Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS) is holding its annual conference this year at UT-Austin from April 7-10th, and will feature two screenings: the films of Tadashi Nakamura and shorts by Texas-based filmmakers. These will be at the Omni Austin Hotel downtown. The link to the entire program for the conference is:
http://aaastudies.org/2010/schedule/FINAL2010AAASprogram.pdf
Here are the relevant screenings; the first night is more documentary-based.
Song for Ourselves (2008, 35 mins)
A SONG FOR OURSELVES is an intimate journey into the life and music of Asian American Movement troubadour Chris Iijima. Struggling to make sense of their father’s early death, his teenage sons learn that during the 1970s when Asians in America were still considered “Orientals,” Chris’ music and passion for social justice helped provide the voice and identity an entire generation had been in search of.
Pilgrimage (2003, 22 mins)
PILGRIMAGE tells the inspiring story of how an abandoned WWII concentration camp for Japanese Americans has been transformed into a symbol of retrospection and solidarity for people of all ages, races and nationalities in our post 9/11 world.
Yellow Brotherhood (2003, 18 mins)
YELLOW BROTHERHOOD is a short personal documentary about a friendship and finding community through a self-help group turned basketball team that began in the 1960s.
Tadashi Nakamura, Filmmaker
Tadashi Nakamura, in the three short documentaries screened here for the first time together, weaves together Asian American politics, activism, and community. “Pilgrimage” (2007, 23 min) retells the story of the first pilgrimage to the Manzanar internment site; “A Song for Ourselves” (2008, 35 min) highlights the poignant legacy of Chris Iijima, an indelible figure in American folk activism; “Yellow Brotherhood” (2003, 18 min) places the filmmaker in a recuperative space that traces Asian American political identity across ethnicity and generation. Nakamura never loses sight of the indelible mark of history and its political imperative at the same time that he reinvests time-honored stories with a compelling, contemporary visual aesthetics. He is an exciting young filmmaker whose lens is at once of-the-moment as well as grounded in a long tradition of documentary activism.
North of Ojinaga (2006, 24 mins)
Rommel Eclarinal, Filmmaker
Two young immigrants, a Japanese woman and a Mexican man in search of their dreams, are smuggled across the US border from Mexico and abandoned in the vast unforgiving Texas desert. Lost and struggling to survive, they discover hope in each other.
"Untitled" (2009, 2 mins)
Nikki Eclarinal, Filmmaker
A quiet drive and big questions are asked on a Texas highway.
Krutie (2009, 4 mins)
Krutie Thakkar, Filmmaker
What's in a name? A young Indian American woman explores her multiple identities.
Texas Girl (2008, 20 mins)
Hyung Hyup Kim, Filmmaker
Mi-sook arrives in rural Texas, the happy wife of a military man who was stationed in Korea, only to be emotionally abandoned by her new husband.
Veedu (2009, 7 mins)
Chithra Jeyaram, Filmmaker
A young Indian boy learns a lesson in right and wrong with the help of a talking Ganish statue.
The Dilemma (2008, 5 mins)
Nicholas Martin, Abin Abraham, and Paul Yoon, Filmmakers
Why are Asian American males the LEAST married in America? Three Asian American students at the University of Texas strive to find out the answer.
http://aaastudies.org/2010/
Here are the relevant screenings; the first night is more documentary-based.
Thursday, April 8
7:30pm – 9:00pm, Capital Ballroom B
7:30pm – 9:00pm, Capital Ballroom B
Song for Ourselves (2008, 35 mins)
A SONG FOR OURSELVES is an intimate journey into the life and music of Asian American Movement troubadour Chris Iijima. Struggling to make sense of their father’s early death, his teenage sons learn that during the 1970s when Asians in America were still considered “Orientals,” Chris’ music and passion for social justice helped provide the voice and identity an entire generation had been in search of.
Pilgrimage (2003, 22 mins)
PILGRIMAGE tells the inspiring story of how an abandoned WWII concentration camp for Japanese Americans has been transformed into a symbol of retrospection and solidarity for people of all ages, races and nationalities in our post 9/11 world.
Yellow Brotherhood (2003, 18 mins)
YELLOW BROTHERHOOD is a short personal documentary about a friendship and finding community through a self-help group turned basketball team that began in the 1960s.
Tadashi Nakamura, Filmmaker
Tadashi Nakamura, in the three short documentaries screened here for the first time together, weaves together Asian American politics, activism, and community. “Pilgrimage” (2007, 23 min) retells the story of the first pilgrimage to the Manzanar internment site; “A Song for Ourselves” (2008, 35 min) highlights the poignant legacy of Chris Iijima, an indelible figure in American folk activism; “Yellow Brotherhood” (2003, 18 min) places the filmmaker in a recuperative space that traces Asian American political identity across ethnicity and generation. Nakamura never loses sight of the indelible mark of history and its political imperative at the same time that he reinvests time-honored stories with a compelling, contemporary visual aesthetics. He is an exciting young filmmaker whose lens is at once of-the-moment as well as grounded in a long tradition of documentary activism.
Friday, April 9
7:30pm – 9:00pm, Capital Ballroom B
7:30pm – 9:00pm, Capital Ballroom B
North of Ojinaga (2006, 24 mins)
Rommel Eclarinal, Filmmaker
Two young immigrants, a Japanese woman and a Mexican man in search of their dreams, are smuggled across the US border from Mexico and abandoned in the vast unforgiving Texas desert. Lost and struggling to survive, they discover hope in each other.
"Untitled" (2009, 2 mins)
Nikki Eclarinal, Filmmaker
A quiet drive and big questions are asked on a Texas highway.
Krutie (2009, 4 mins)
Krutie Thakkar, Filmmaker
What's in a name? A young Indian American woman explores her multiple identities.
Texas Girl (2008, 20 mins)
Hyung Hyup Kim, Filmmaker
Mi-sook arrives in rural Texas, the happy wife of a military man who was stationed in Korea, only to be emotionally abandoned by her new husband.
Veedu (2009, 7 mins)
Chithra Jeyaram, Filmmaker
A young Indian boy learns a lesson in right and wrong with the help of a talking Ganish statue.
The Dilemma (2008, 5 mins)
Nicholas Martin, Abin Abraham, and Paul Yoon, Filmmakers
Why are Asian American males the LEAST married in America? Three Asian American students at the University of Texas strive to find out the answer.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
SXSW part 3
THE SOUND OF INSECTS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2a8yGLc4U_g
http://www.peterliechti.ch/page.php?en,0,16,1
Short version: Anonymous man goes into the woods to starve himself to death, and we hear the narrated words from his journal as he documents the process of his suicide.
This was one harrowing concept film. There was literally no other voice except the narrator reading his journal. The main challenge, of course, was what would we see? Their solution was better than I imagined, but still didn’t sustain the entire length of the film, for me. Evocative, abstracted landscape shots, scenes of rain showers, the reconstructed shelter the man built, and visions of his hallucinations were the bulk of the imagery. When the images built a scene, like a rain shower, with a beginning, middle, and end, it worked. When it started to feel like a parade of random shots, disconnected from one another and disconnected from what we were hearing, it did not work as well. Eventually the novelty of the ‘evocative’/’poetic’ imagery wore off, and it felt repetitive.
As my mind began to wander in the meditative mode this film was inducing, what I started to think about was what subjects are best suited for documentary, and what subjects are best suited for radio, or print, for that matter? On its face this seemed like primarily an audio-driven piece, reading the journal, fashioning a soundtrack of natural ambiences mixed with evocative electronica for the moments of memory and hallucination. What, really, is it necessary for us to see? Obviously the filmmaker answered this question differently than I did, but I’m not sure how much I truly benefitted from the images in the film, what it added to the experience (or, conversely, what did it take away from the experience?). These are questions that every filmmaker should ask him/herself before embarking on a project, and answer truthfully. Of course maybe that challenge is what drew this director to this project in the first place, and maybe that’s enough.
Avant Cinema 3.7: Film-Makers' Cooperative, Tomorrow
Avant Cinema 3.7: Film-Makers' Cooperative, Tomorrow!
SCREENING INFOWed, March 31, 7 PMAustin Studios Screening Room (1901 E 51st Street) $6 / $4 for AFS Members Buy Tickets >> Members must be logged in to access discounted ticket(s). |
Avant Cinema's Film-Makers' Cooperative program brings from New York City to Austin the group-curated program "A Moveable Feast," originally presented at the Howl! Arts Festival. Coop board members selected titles from the collection most influential on their own filmmaking. The Tribute is also a celebration of the Coop’s move to its new home at 475 Park Avenue South.
The Film-Makers' Cooperative is the largest archive and distributor of independent and avant-garde films in the world. Created by artists in 1962, as the distribution branch of the New American Cinema Group, the Coop has more than 5,000 films, videotapes and DVDs in its collection.
“We don't want false, polished, slick films—we prefer them rough, unpolished, but alive; we don't want rosy films—we want them the color of blood.”
– The First Statement of the New American Cinema Group, September 30, 1962
– The First Statement of the New American Cinema Group, September 30, 1962
Featuring 16mm projections of Viet-Flakes (Carolee Schneemann, 1966), Fragments (Mike Kuchar, 1967), Angel Blue Sweet Wings (Chick Strand, 1966), Bridges-Go-Round (Shirley Clarke, 1958), Scotch Tape (Jack Smith, 1962), Commingled Containers (Stan Brakhage, 1996), Cartoon Le Mousse (Chick Strand, 1979), The Whirled (Ken Jacobs, 1961), Ceci N'est Pas (Jeanne Liotta, 1997) Read more about the films >>
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Screening Reaction: 'Off the Charts'
Off the Charts (2003), dir. Jamie Meltzer
As you might have been able to gauge from Lacie’s excellent portrait of me, I’m a bit of a guarded person. Because of that I’ve been thinking a bit about the exploitation that, on some levels, seems inherent in a lot of documentaries. A lot of great moments in documentaries come from people letting their guards down. They share something very emotional or strange about themselves and it resonates. It's the kind of moment you have to build a relationship with someone to get, but since there is a camera, the audience can get it during the running time of the documentary. That’s not wrong or unethical; it just creates a sensitive situation that the filmmaker needs to be conscious of. What makes it OK is when the filmmakers treat the subject in a sensitive and respectful way. They have to create a relationship between the subject and the audience that enables the audience to honor that personal confession and empathize with the confessor, instead of just feeling awkward about the confession or laughing at the strangeness of it. Off the Charts does not do that.
Off the Charts does not endeavor to get much deeper then the ridiculous surface of the industry it is profiling and the individuals who play some part in it. It is a ridiculous subject. And the people and their songs are hilariously strange. I laughed and I quite enjoyed the spectacle, but I kept feeling uncomfortable about the nature of what the film was doing.
This gets you into the responsibility of the filmmaker. It is not their job to safeguard these people from themselves. The commentary confirmed that the subjects made their own decisions about what they wanted to do and how they wanted to present themselves. These people are adults and, really, it would be more disrespectful for the filmmakers to intercede on their behalf and say, “Come on. You’re making a fool of yourself.” Still, regardless of how silly these people and their passions are, chances are they take themselves and what they do seriously. They have to have humanity and a drive, but the filmmakers don’t try to explore what that might be.
Part of the problem with the film is that there are so many characters we only get to know many of them on a surface level. There are some people who barely register. There’s a man who wrote a worshipful song about Jimmy Carter, and another who wrote a song about a dancing alien – who seems very offended by the liberties taken with his lyrics. There’s never even any pretense of getting to know these people, and since there’s no personal connection the only thing we can do when confronted with their eccentricities is laugh. They are just there to add to the parade of oddities.
This light, breezy style sabotages some moments that could have had real weight. There’s a potentially great story about a guy who collects and studies the music because his depressed, drug addicted father who committed suicide was involved in the industry. That story is squeezed in the middle of the film and largely glossed over in order to get to more weirdoes. The film ends with one of the prolific artists, Gary Forney, performing some of his music live for the first time. You can’t help but cringe during the show. If the filmmakers had fostered a sense of who Forney is and what his music means to him, it would be a painful moment of a man being confronted with his own ineptitude in his chosen art form. As it is, I was left with the same thought I had been having throughout the film: “Poor dope. Still… that’s pretty funny.”
Progress Report 二
The logistics of the trip limited me in terms of what equipment I could bring. When taking UT equipment overseas, you have to have the camera in your carry on luggage. This was especially difficult for this trip because I was flying on Air China, which is very restrictive about carry on weight – one item, no heavier than 11 lbs. The class’s standard camera, the Z5U, was almost twice as heavy as that with its case. For that reason, I was given an A1U. That was actually for the best in all areas. The A1U is a smaller and lighter camera, much more conducive to being carried around all day long. I was working with a pretty stripped down list of equipment. I had a monopod, a shotgun mic (4073), the top of a table mount as a boom substitute, two XLRs, and a pair of headphones (which stopped work
ing after the first week). That was it. I could not find a lav that was free for the two weeks I would have been using it. Since there was no one to hold the “boom,” I had to put our shotgun in the position of the camera’s mic. The 4073 was a little thinner then the camera mic, so, to fit it in the holder, I had to wrap it in tissue. I hooked it up to the external power supply to save the camera’s battery. I put the battery pack in the pocket of my coat (it was very cold) then wrapped the XLR cables around my arm. It was bare bones, but we got good results. Although the quality suffers in low light situations, the A1U still produces a great image. And, although lavs would have been ideal for interviews, the shotgun produced decent quality audio.
One of the inevitable difficulties of shooting was the language barrier. I don’t speak Chinese and many of our subjects spoke no English. Because of that I needed to rely on my Mandarin speaking friend to alert me when a particularly interesting thing was being said. When filming dialogues, I had to go on intuition as to whom I should be focusing on and what to make the framing. However, it also had advantages. Because our subjects couldn’t casually interact with me, it made it easier for them to forget the camera while they were doing their routines or talking, giving our interviews a nice, casual tone.
There were some other big challenges. We only had two weeks to shot, no going back for follow-ups, so we had to be conscious of what we were getting and what we wanted. A lot of our filming was done in big, public spaces, so I had no control over the surrounding people and noise. Also, I was a single camera dealing with very active subjects. It was sometimes a struggle to decide whether it was more appropriate to film wide, getting a full sense of the movement, or close, getting the sense of the personal strain, concentration, or complexity of the action. As much as possible, I tried to split the difference.
I’m still a bit astonished that the trip went off as smoothly as it did. None of the equipment got lost and all the essentials were glitch free. We were given wonderful access to a very interesting cast of characters. We got to film in some very visually interesting locations. And, personally, I had a great time. Now all that’s left to do is sort through all the evidence of that great time!
Back to the grind!
Friday, March 26, 2010
SXSW part 2
DOCUMENTARY SHORTS
I think I mentioned this in class, but on the whole I was unimpressed with the selections in this program. Maybe they used all the good doc shorts to partner with features. I felt like we could have randomly selected any doc from the intro and adv doc classes at UT and they would have worked better. The one standout was Austin filmmaker Amy Grappell’s QUADRANGLE, which took home mucho awards at Sundance.
The story of a group marriage among two couples who swap partners in the 70s, it is told in an unconventional and brilliant way, in a split screen form, where Amy’s parents each tell their story on one half of the screen, mother on the left, father on the right. Apparently the best stories came out of interviews on the go, in the car, instead of formal sit-down interviews, and they needed both of them to fill in the gaps that they other had left. So the split screen essentially makes what could have been the documentary’s weakness into its greatest strength, with each partner driving toward each other, or away from each other, in this split screen. It was also conceived as an installation piece, where our normal conventions of the screen are freed up, giving space for different ideas like this to flourish. All in all, this is the sort of piece I wish that all of you could see (unfortunately it’s on the fest circuit now), because it pushes the boundaries of the form in an interesting way stylistically, and for a purpose that originates organically from the material.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Some thoughts on SXSW, part 1
WHEN I RISE
http://vimeo.com/groups/secondstory/videos/2408371
Short version: It’s the 60s. UT pulls a young black music student from their opera because she’s black. Said opera singer then becomes a world-renowned opera star.
This was the most accessible piece I saw, and the one I’d recommend that someone off the street see, the one I’d tell my own mother to go and see. Driven by an incredible and expressive character, it was also a strong narrative, well shot, and emotionally complex. I found myself tearing up at her story, getting thrilled when she meets Harry Belafonte, and cheering her on as her hard work and raw talent translate into a long career on the stage, all of which means that I was engaged in the experience of watching.
The treatment of archival material was compellingly animated and made me rethink the Ken Burns/tried and true ways we usually feature such material. The one issue I had was that there were long sequences of VO where the visuals were empty performance halls—and it just didn’t work for me in those moments. All the momentum just died in those scenes. Finally, the ending felt a bit stagey, as she is honored by UT and then by the Texas legislature for her achievements. It wasn’t exactly the real apology from the legislature that had pulled her from the performance and the university who went along with it. I wasn’t what I had hoped for her, and it therefore rang a bit false, as if the filmmakers were trying to smooth everything over at the end. But, smoothing things over isn’t exactly the story of discrimination and civil rights in this country. Perhaps we need to be reminded that everything isn’t fixed yet, and maybe that’s the filmmakers’ job too.
THE WORK OF ALAN GOVENAR
Three pieces:
1. STONEY KNOWS HOW. A profile from the 1980s of an old tattoo artist in Appalachia, who comes from ‘the old school’ of vaudeville/circus tattooing. Camera by Les Blank, and an appearance by Ed Hardy.
http://www.docarts.com/stoney_knows_how-video.html
2. THE DEVIL’S SWING. A portrait of the Texas/Mexico border towns, their traditions and culture.
http://www.docarts.com/devils_swing.html
3. THE POETRY OF EXACTITUDE. A look into a French artist who makes miniature carnival/roller coaster rides.
http://www.docarts.com/poetry_of_exactitude.html
The first and last short pieces were best, I think primarily because they were short and sweet, didn’t need the backbone of a bigger story to hold them together. They were about ordinary folks who, as Govenar said himself in the screening, made something out of nothing. Their creativity was about making something because they had to, not for money or for self-interest, but because that is who they were.
It seemed to me that backbone was what the middle piece on the border was missing. It rambled from topic to topic, without every letting the audience where we were going next, and what was the overall premise or driving force behind this documentary as a work. I’m all for surprising your audience, but I felt lost while watching this, and it made me think that folks who come to documentary from the anthropology/ethnography/social sciences world really need a lesson in storytelling. At least in PARIS IS BURNING or other films that have a more anthropological bent to them, there’s intention at the outset, an implied narrative that moves us forward, keeps us watching.
I must also say that this small retrospective did get me thinking about the intersections among written ethnography/ie books, photographs, and documentary. There is so much that is lost about a subject when we try to tell a story, and a story that is told in sound and moving picture only. Maybe the best way to truly document is to produce works in many media about one subject.
Also this screening made me admire the breadth and depth of his work; that he has sustained a career doing this fieldwork for decades, and has been able to traverse so many different subjects, making an essential archive of living history for our state and our nation. His oeuvre is the heart-soaked, sustained work of memory and culture that will be examined by generations to come.
XLR-Lemo cables
Here are links to Trew Audio's page where you can purchase the XLR-Lemo cables I've mentioned, which make it possible to send a signal from a stationary mixer at a performance/lecture hall/etc to the transmitter of your wireless mics, so that you can receive house sound wirelessly. You should choose line or mic level (I have both) depending on what kind of signal is being sent to that XLR output.
Remote Audio Balanced XLR Output to TA5F, Line Level
http://www.trewaudio.com/store/product.php?productid=159&cat=23&page=1
Remote Audio Balanced XLR Output to TA5F, Mic Level
http://www.trewaudio.com/store/product.php?productid=160&cat=23&page=1
A good thing to have in your kit to get the best sound possible.
Remote Audio Balanced XLR Output to TA5F, Line Level
http://www.trewaudio.com/store/product.php?productid=159&cat=23&page=1
Remote Audio Balanced XLR Output to TA5F, Mic Level
http://www.trewaudio.com/store/product.php?productid=160&cat=23&page=1
A good thing to have in your kit to get the best sound possible.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Touch the Sound
Touch the Sound was an incredibly intense auditory experience. On the surface, the film tells the story of Evelyn Glennie, a renowned percussionist who is profoundly deaf. Thematically though, the film is an exploration of sounds, and seems to be asking the viewer to question what it means to hear.
There is almost an excessive sense of detail paid to the sounds in the film. In one scene, we see an overhead walkway in an airport, and the director zeroes in on the rolling suitcases, the clicking heels, the rhythmic stepping of people’s feet as they walk across; spending much more time on these details than you would expect. In almost every new scene this is how we are introduced to the environment - by a close-up examination of the sounds. It made me incredibly aware of my sense of hearing, and I found myself listening much harder than I usually do on a film, which I consider more of a visual medium. Of course, the visuals were also impressive. Very graphic and picturesque, and the transitions were often these great unexpected matched cuts – from image to image that are tied together more by their similar sounds than by the way they look.
Although I was impressed by the visual and audio quality of the film, I thought it had a weak storyline. It seemed more like an experiment in sound recording than a story telling endeavor. I felt like there wasn’t much of an arc, and there were a few attempts to bring in other aspects of Glennie’s life outside of music (like her family) that seemed forced and not completely relevant to the rest of the story.
The most interesting issue that was addressed, I thought, came from Glennie’s perspective on what the definition of hearing is. In an article she wrote on her website, Glennie examines how her deafness compares to people who can hear.
“…I am not totally deaf, I am profoundly deaf. Profound deafness covers a wide range of symptoms, although it is commonly taken to mean that the quality of the sound heard is not sufficient to be able to understand the spoken word from sound alone….For instance when a phone rings I hear a kind of crackle. However, it is a distinctive type of crackle that I associate with a phone so I know when the phone rings. This is basically the same as how normally hearing people detect a phone, the phone has a distinctive type of ring which we associate with a phone.”
She goes on to say that there is no way to know if everyone hears things the same way, and so how do you qualify someone as “deaf” or “hearing” when there is so much gray area. The film did a good job of making you think about this idea with numerous shots of Glennie listening to the world around her. This was a constant reminder that she was hearing in some way, we just didn’t know exactly what that sounded like.
I appreciated that the film made me think more about how sound can be as important as visuals, and asked a lot of interesting questions about the meaning of hearing. I thought the story line dragged though, and the director spent a lot of gratuitous time on very long experimental music sequences and extravagant visual montages that didn't advance the story.
There is almost an excessive sense of detail paid to the sounds in the film. In one scene, we see an overhead walkway in an airport, and the director zeroes in on the rolling suitcases, the clicking heels, the rhythmic stepping of people’s feet as they walk across; spending much more time on these details than you would expect. In almost every new scene this is how we are introduced to the environment - by a close-up examination of the sounds. It made me incredibly aware of my sense of hearing, and I found myself listening much harder than I usually do on a film, which I consider more of a visual medium. Of course, the visuals were also impressive. Very graphic and picturesque, and the transitions were often these great unexpected matched cuts – from image to image that are tied together more by their similar sounds than by the way they look.
Although I was impressed by the visual and audio quality of the film, I thought it had a weak storyline. It seemed more like an experiment in sound recording than a story telling endeavor. I felt like there wasn’t much of an arc, and there were a few attempts to bring in other aspects of Glennie’s life outside of music (like her family) that seemed forced and not completely relevant to the rest of the story.
The most interesting issue that was addressed, I thought, came from Glennie’s perspective on what the definition of hearing is. In an article she wrote on her website, Glennie examines how her deafness compares to people who can hear.
“…I am not totally deaf, I am profoundly deaf. Profound deafness covers a wide range of symptoms, although it is commonly taken to mean that the quality of the sound heard is not sufficient to be able to understand the spoken word from sound alone….For instance when a phone rings I hear a kind of crackle. However, it is a distinctive type of crackle that I associate with a phone so I know when the phone rings. This is basically the same as how normally hearing people detect a phone, the phone has a distinctive type of ring which we associate with a phone.”
She goes on to say that there is no way to know if everyone hears things the same way, and so how do you qualify someone as “deaf” or “hearing” when there is so much gray area. The film did a good job of making you think about this idea with numerous shots of Glennie listening to the world around her. This was a constant reminder that she was hearing in some way, we just didn’t know exactly what that sounded like.
I appreciated that the film made me think more about how sound can be as important as visuals, and asked a lot of interesting questions about the meaning of hearing. I thought the story line dragged though, and the director spent a lot of gratuitous time on very long experimental music sequences and extravagant visual montages that didn't advance the story.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Swingers Doc: Revised Treatment
Sorry for the delay everyone. Here it is:
K and O, a young, attractive, mixed-race couple, lie in bed together. They kiss. They touch. Their naked bodies roll around, wrapped up in sheets. They make love.
K and O are just like any other couple. They share an apartment. They cook meals together. They go to work. They come home. They talk together, laugh together, cry together. They share everything.
Almost everything:
Sitting in their living room, K and O browse the personal ads on Craigslist. They scroll down the list, discussing potential partners, ooh-ing and aah-ing at the photos and stats that catch their eyes. They write emails, trying to be as seductive to complete strangers as possible with the boring medium of computer text. When they find a partner, they separate, making love to people outside of their relationship, no longer the model of a “normal” monogamous couple, but rather two individual, sexual beings who happen to share an emotional connection.
This 10-minute video documentary follows K and O through their daily lives, both sexual and emotional, exploring and introducing their story as a polyamorous couple. Parallel storylines between the various individuals would function as a good way to express the varying viewpoints and opinions about the situations in the film. The film could progress chronologically through a swingers’ party and the events surrounding, or it could be edited into a thematic order. Inspiration may be found in the Comstock series of films such as Matt and Khym: Better than Ever or Damon and Hunter: Doing it Together.
In 2010 America, untraditional or unconventional ideas of sexuality and gender are the final frontiers in the fight for civil liberties. Like issues of same-sex marriage and adoption, ideas of polyamory or polygamy may seem foreign to many people. This is a hot-button issue, one that could incite loud and passionate responses from either end of the political spectrum. Still, behind the curtain of political theater remain real people, real couples like K and O who fit this bill on a daily basis. Their story may not be as unique and unconventional as many people would assume, and telling their story is one step along a path to a more understanding, tolerant and open-minded society.
This story is ideal for networks like HBO that show more explicit or adult documentaries or films quite frequently, like the series Real Sex. Members of the swinging community, couples that identify as polygamists or polyamorous, younger filmgoers, or supporters of the LGBTQ and other communities representing unique viewpoints about sex, sexuality and gender would be a vast, diverse and welcoming audience for this film. Both within this circle of supporters and outside, among the dissenters, the biases surrounding swingers would be key to the film’s story. Conservative social morality is certainly against this more casual form of sex and even the moderately socially liberal consider it psychologically or physically unhealthy. The participants in swingers’ events obviously hold a different perspective. This alternative view and lifestyle are what hold the interest of the film. Evidence in the form of interviews and verité footage create a connection between the viewers and our two characters, rather than trying to convince the viewer to align with either view as to the morality of the subject matter.
K and O, a young, attractive, mixed-race couple, lie in bed together. They kiss. They touch. Their naked bodies roll around, wrapped up in sheets. They make love.
K and O are just like any other couple. They share an apartment. They cook meals together. They go to work. They come home. They talk together, laugh together, cry together. They share everything.
Almost everything:
Sitting in their living room, K and O browse the personal ads on Craigslist. They scroll down the list, discussing potential partners, ooh-ing and aah-ing at the photos and stats that catch their eyes. They write emails, trying to be as seductive to complete strangers as possible with the boring medium of computer text. When they find a partner, they separate, making love to people outside of their relationship, no longer the model of a “normal” monogamous couple, but rather two individual, sexual beings who happen to share an emotional connection.
This 10-minute video documentary follows K and O through their daily lives, both sexual and emotional, exploring and introducing their story as a polyamorous couple. Parallel storylines between the various individuals would function as a good way to express the varying viewpoints and opinions about the situations in the film. The film could progress chronologically through a swingers’ party and the events surrounding, or it could be edited into a thematic order. Inspiration may be found in the Comstock series of films such as Matt and Khym: Better than Ever or Damon and Hunter: Doing it Together.
In 2010 America, untraditional or unconventional ideas of sexuality and gender are the final frontiers in the fight for civil liberties. Like issues of same-sex marriage and adoption, ideas of polyamory or polygamy may seem foreign to many people. This is a hot-button issue, one that could incite loud and passionate responses from either end of the political spectrum. Still, behind the curtain of political theater remain real people, real couples like K and O who fit this bill on a daily basis. Their story may not be as unique and unconventional as many people would assume, and telling their story is one step along a path to a more understanding, tolerant and open-minded society.
This story is ideal for networks like HBO that show more explicit or adult documentaries or films quite frequently, like the series Real Sex. Members of the swinging community, couples that identify as polygamists or polyamorous, younger filmgoers, or supporters of the LGBTQ and other communities representing unique viewpoints about sex, sexuality and gender would be a vast, diverse and welcoming audience for this film. Both within this circle of supporters and outside, among the dissenters, the biases surrounding swingers would be key to the film’s story. Conservative social morality is certainly against this more casual form of sex and even the moderately socially liberal consider it psychologically or physically unhealthy. The participants in swingers’ events obviously hold a different perspective. This alternative view and lifestyle are what hold the interest of the film. Evidence in the form of interviews and verité footage create a connection between the viewers and our two characters, rather than trying to convince the viewer to align with either view as to the morality of the subject matter.
Street Fight (2005) by Marshall Curry
"Newark is the frontier of the American dream." - Cory Booker I recently watched Marshall Curry's 2005 documentary Street Fight about Cory Booker's 2002 campaign against the incumbent Sharpe Jones for the mayoral seat in Newark, New Jersey. This doc was released on PBS and was eventually nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature.
Booker was a city council member and up-and-coming community activist at the time of his campaign. Jones had a 16-year hold on the mayoral seat. In that time, he had created a very powerful political machine and won the favor and trust of the African-American population in Newark. However, Curry's production team and Booker himself uncover a vast system of political corruption, revealing inconsistencies in Sharpe Jones' multiple paychecks and the vast poverty of Newark's citizens. Curry and his camera crew are even assaulted several times by Sharpe's team of bodyguards and personal police force, even when they are in public settings open to the press.
Over the course of the film, Curry uncovers a lot of themes that play factor in this and almost all political campaigns: issues of race, class, age, experience, honesty, and the ubiquitous "American Dream." Although Booker is eventually beaten by Sharpe for the 2002 election, he does come back to win the election in 2006. Since then, Sharpe Jones was infamously indicted on and convicted of five federal charges of fraud and sentenced to 27 months in prison. The documentary style itself is mostly verité footage of Booker's door-to-door campaigning, political speeches and assemblies held by both candidates, and on-the-street interviews with Newark citizens. The snappy editing, mostly-verité content and contemporary hip-hop/rap soundtrack really brings out the fight in Street Fight and makes this film a very intriguing and exciting experience.
Revised Treatment - Turning Texas Green
Turning Texas Green
The Teco-Westinghouse plant sits in Round Rock, TX, right on the edge of I-35. Its neighbor the interstate is an uninspiring icon of Texas' dependence on vehicles and gasoline to transport us throughout the expanse that is our state. The plant is unassuming, but inside is a force of production for wind turbines and turbine generators. A Teco-Westinghouse employee introduces and welcomes the wind curious into their home. The turbines are a calm presence in the landscape, but their repetitive sounds of rotation and constant hum start here in the factory, and those sounds are present in the plant as we meander the facility. The complexity of the manufacturing machinery we see as our T-W guide walks us past parts of production is in stark contrast to the ultimate simplicity of the turbines themselves, but that only adds to the gravity of their purpose and potential. The T-W employee is an informative and beaming guide as he educates us on the birth of the turbines under T-W's roof. The collection of finished products inside the plant or perhaps outside on their compound we know is only a fraction of what a wind farm can be. But those pieces are elemental to wind farms, and the next stage of their life is what we'll explore next.
WHAT?
This 10 minute documentary will explore the development of wind turbines in Texas and their impact on energy, the landscape, and the changing ideologies of Texas. The narrative of the piece will be structured around the life cycle of a wind turbine up through its installment and role as part of a wind farm and the energy grid of America as an alternative solution to ‘traditional’ energy productions.
NARRATIVE
The introduction of the film will illustrate the various problems Texas is dealing with in concerns to energy consumption as well as production for the past couple of decades and today. The documentary may explore solutions to the problem such as solar energy or thermal energy briefly. However, Texas is long known for its wind and before introducing wind turbines fully, there will be a discussion on wind in Texas. As if there is no other more sensible and logical solution than utilizing wind in Texas, the wind turbines and farms will be introduced. From this point, the documentary will explore the arc of developing wind turbines in Texas from planning a site to the output of electricity from the turbines. What are the considerations as well as reasons for all decisions made in the development of wind farms? Some controversial questions will also be explored like: ‘How efficient are wind turbines anyhow?’ The documentary will conclude with more abstract musings from interviewees (minimal) on wind and wind turbines as they are now complete and producing energy and will include visual cues on how wind energy is shaping Texas.
HOW?
We are inspired by the film Touch of Sound, in that it succeeds in showcasing an art and science without too heavy a reliance on showing speaking audio or interview throughout. There was a highly visual component that we wish to mirror. Turning Texas Green will definitely include the proper interviews and information needed to express the state of energy in Texas and the role of wind in our present and future, but we hope to eradicate whenever possible the stale nature of the talking head sit-down interview. Interviews will be acquired from experts at every stage of production as well as from those who are familiar with wind in Texas and possibly energy is general. We hope to use interview as voiceover or have our interviewees be in motion and fluid whenever possible in order to mirror the energy and fluidity of the turbines. Our goal for this documentary aside from addressing energy issues and wind turbine development in Texas is to showcase the turbines’ and wind beauty visually and audibly in the natural Texas landscape.
The Teco-Westinghouse plant sits in Round Rock, TX, right on the edge of I-35. Its neighbor the interstate is an uninspiring icon of Texas' dependence on vehicles and gasoline to transport us throughout the expanse that is our state. The plant is unassuming, but inside is a force of production for wind turbines and turbine generators. A Teco-Westinghouse employee introduces and welcomes the wind curious into their home. The turbines are a calm presence in the landscape, but their repetitive sounds of rotation and constant hum start here in the factory, and those sounds are present in the plant as we meander the facility. The complexity of the manufacturing machinery we see as our T-W guide walks us past parts of production is in stark contrast to the ultimate simplicity of the turbines themselves, but that only adds to the gravity of their purpose and potential. The T-W employee is an informative and beaming guide as he educates us on the birth of the turbines under T-W's roof. The collection of finished products inside the plant or perhaps outside on their compound we know is only a fraction of what a wind farm can be. But those pieces are elemental to wind farms, and the next stage of their life is what we'll explore next.
WHAT?
This 10 minute documentary will explore the development of wind turbines in Texas and their impact on energy, the landscape, and the changing ideologies of Texas. The narrative of the piece will be structured around the life cycle of a wind turbine up through its installment and role as part of a wind farm and the energy grid of America as an alternative solution to ‘traditional’ energy productions.
NARRATIVE
The introduction of the film will illustrate the various problems Texas is dealing with in concerns to energy consumption as well as production for the past couple of decades and today. The documentary may explore solutions to the problem such as solar energy or thermal energy briefly. However, Texas is long known for its wind and before introducing wind turbines fully, there will be a discussion on wind in Texas. As if there is no other more sensible and logical solution than utilizing wind in Texas, the wind turbines and farms will be introduced. From this point, the documentary will explore the arc of developing wind turbines in Texas from planning a site to the output of electricity from the turbines. What are the considerations as well as reasons for all decisions made in the development of wind farms? Some controversial questions will also be explored like: ‘How efficient are wind turbines anyhow?’ The documentary will conclude with more abstract musings from interviewees (minimal) on wind and wind turbines as they are now complete and producing energy and will include visual cues on how wind energy is shaping Texas.
HOW?
We are inspired by the film Touch of Sound, in that it succeeds in showcasing an art and science without too heavy a reliance on showing speaking audio or interview throughout. There was a highly visual component that we wish to mirror. Turning Texas Green will definitely include the proper interviews and information needed to express the state of energy in Texas and the role of wind in our present and future, but we hope to eradicate whenever possible the stale nature of the talking head sit-down interview. Interviews will be acquired from experts at every stage of production as well as from those who are familiar with wind in Texas and possibly energy is general. We hope to use interview as voiceover or have our interviewees be in motion and fluid whenever possible in order to mirror the energy and fluidity of the turbines. Our goal for this documentary aside from addressing energy issues and wind turbine development in Texas is to showcase the turbines’ and wind beauty visually and audibly in the natural Texas landscape.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Donghwan Kim revised Proposal
Donghwan Kim Revised Proposal
The Hand Up
Story: Last semester, I found out something interesting. There was an old homeless man pitching a newspaper to the people on the street for a dollar donation. I asked him what he was doing, and he said that he employed himself for the distribution of the newspaper for the street people, The Austin Advocate. I was getting curious, and asked him how it works. He explained to me that The Austin Advocate would sell the newspapers to the homeless people for a quarter per a copy. Then, the homeless person walks out, and gets a dollar donation from people as he/she gives out a copy of the newspaper. All the money gathered through this activity belongs to the homeless person. “In this way,” the old man told me, “I can be my own boss.” As I heard him saying this, I felt like he had something important in his life. He seemed passionate in explaining me the righteous cause that he was asking money for. He was confident, and I felt a lot better giving him the dollar bill, compared to when I was giving a homeless person the dollar bill without any cause. I donated a dollar for the newspaper, and took my time to read it. The quality of the paper was neat, and the writings were very intelligent.
However, the semester was over before I came to know this strange newspaper organization The Austin Advocate. I remember a homeless person telling me that ‘what homeless people really need is not a hand out, but a hand up.’ I do not fully understand the meaning of this metaphor, but I think what The Austin Advocate is giving to the homeless people is that ‘hand up,’ rather than temporary ‘hand out.’ I really want to know better about this place and people there.
The Project: The Hand Up will be around 10 minutes and it is about the Homeless newspaper Austin Advocate. As I came to know about the newspaper after attending the monthly board meeting for the first time, it turned out that the newspaper organization is suffering the seasonal downfall. Because of the cold weather of the first of March, there was no homeless person who actually sells the paper at the street attending the meeting. I learned that the newspaper now has about 10 vendors, and last month, the organization earned about six dollars from distributing the newspaper to the homeless people. Nevertheless, the board members were passionate and serious about keeping the newspaper running. I exchanged emails and phone numbers with them, and got the permission to interview the board members. There was a board member who is currently homeless, who goes by the street name Zebra, and a member who was a former homeless, Cliff Taylor. Especially, the Chairwoman of the organization, Valerie Romness, is really interesting to know. She was a hairstylist, and she used to volunteer in cutting the hair of homeless people. I will interview her this weekend, and ask about the concrete hardship in keeping the newspaper running, as well as the purpose of the organization. Also, I learned about the location and name of the most successful homeless person who sells the newspaper on the street. His street name is Edge, who is 60 years old and sells the newspaper in front of the restaurant Hickory Bar & Grill, on the 9th Congress Av. Although there is no certain time when he comes out to the street, I will put some effort to contact him. Every board member seems to know him, so I will try to get as much information as possible from them. After getting the permission, I will ask Edge about how does it feel different compared to the days before selling newspaper, and how is life changing because of it.
I want this documentary to be watched by many UT students, who happen to come across the homeless people very often, and have to deal with the dilemma of either giving them the money or ignoring them. It will be a good chance to think about what the homeless people really need in order to better their lives.
The Style: I want the mood of this documentary to be bright and not slow. Music is going to play an important in my documentary. I have a friend who is taking a music making class at UT, and he told me that he will provide me with the music that he makes. If I have the chance, I also want to ask the street musicians for the music, and use it as the sound track. I will try to use natural lightings, when I am shooting outside. I want the documentary to be ‘on the street,’ for a major part of the film. Interviews with the board members should be set to let the audience get the feeling of what the work space is like, and feel their passion. Also, the ‘voice’ of the homeless, which is expressed through the newspaper by the articles and poems written by them, is something I would like to emphasize. I can ask the homeless people to read the poems and record it, to express that their voice is being heard through those writings.
Revised Treatment - Kelly West
It’s early on Saturday morning, and a small group gathers outside a trailer home in south Austin. Armed with rakes and shovels, they pile into a van and drive across town to a house where a lush vegetable garden grows in the front yard. The motley crew of workers is careful with the harvest, which will pay their bills for the week.
The Karporphoreo program, started by Steven Hebbard through Mobile Loaves and Fishes, is a new project aimed at creating jobs for formerly homeless Austinites through organic gardening. By planting and harvesting organic produce from the residential yards of member families, participants in the program learn a job skill, and earn a wage from what they sell at the farmer’s market.
This 7-minute documentary video tells the story of one program participant, Lloyd Bell, and shows how the program is making a change in his eating habits and in his life. Bell has lived in Austin for over 40 years, and in fact used to deliver produce to the original Whole Foods store, before it became an international corporation. Bell will tell the story of how he ended up homeless, and how last year the Mobile Loaves and Fishes trailer program helped him get off the streets. We will see Bell working in the garden and selling produce at the farmer’s market to take home a paycheck, as part of MLF’s newest program. Using visuals of the plants and gardens, interviews with Hebbard, Bell, and other program participants, and verite scenes of Bell’s life, this video will profile both an individual and a movement that is attempting to find a solution to Texas’ poor record of eating healthy foods.
This film is geared toward the general public in Austin, many of whom may feel that they have heard enough about “eating local” and “sustainability”. By showing real examples of people in the community who are affected by these issues, we can explain that this is not something that only interests Whole Foods shoppers or people in high-income brackets. The story can eventually be branched out to other communities, because these issues, while severe in Texas, are prevalent nationwide.
The Karporphoreo program, started by Steven Hebbard through Mobile Loaves and Fishes, is a new project aimed at creating jobs for formerly homeless Austinites through organic gardening. By planting and harvesting organic produce from the residential yards of member families, participants in the program learn a job skill, and earn a wage from what they sell at the farmer’s market.
This 7-minute documentary video tells the story of one program participant, Lloyd Bell, and shows how the program is making a change in his eating habits and in his life. Bell has lived in Austin for over 40 years, and in fact used to deliver produce to the original Whole Foods store, before it became an international corporation. Bell will tell the story of how he ended up homeless, and how last year the Mobile Loaves and Fishes trailer program helped him get off the streets. We will see Bell working in the garden and selling produce at the farmer’s market to take home a paycheck, as part of MLF’s newest program. Using visuals of the plants and gardens, interviews with Hebbard, Bell, and other program participants, and verite scenes of Bell’s life, this video will profile both an individual and a movement that is attempting to find a solution to Texas’ poor record of eating healthy foods.
This film is geared toward the general public in Austin, many of whom may feel that they have heard enough about “eating local” and “sustainability”. By showing real examples of people in the community who are affected by these issues, we can explain that this is not something that only interests Whole Foods shoppers or people in high-income brackets. The story can eventually be branched out to other communities, because these issues, while severe in Texas, are prevalent nationwide.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Revised Proposal
Through a store window mannequins posture in mini-skirts and midriff baring blouses. We hear the click of high heels as we see teenagers in skin tight jeans and low cut tube tops pass. Reflected in the glass of the window we see the faces of three little girls switch their gaze from the mannequins to the teenagers passing by.
Over the shoulders of the same three girls we see Britney Spears on MTV. Britney wears next to nothing. Her dance moves simulate sex with her shirtless boyfriend. The three girls are singing the song and attempting to move like Britney.
Fourteen year old Caitlin does not look pleased with her reflection in the mirror. She tells her mother she is going back to the mall to get the other blouse. her mother says, "No way, Jose! It didn't have enough material to cover a cat."
This 10 minute video documentary is a window into the world of an adolescent girl grappling with growing up and facing the media messages that are directed at her, but may not be in her best interest.
The video will follow fourteen year old Caitlin through a week in her life as she prepares to sing at a public event. Caitlin's stories are interwoven with those of her sisters and cousins as they compare and contrast with the views of her parents. The video will not only follow Caitlin, but insert short interview answers along with example media messages from open source archives.
Young girls are almost constantly connected to media and they are bombarded with messages designed to guide their thoughts and behaviors. They seem especially vulnerable to the message that their self esteem is dependent on how they look, that sexuality equates to power, and that overt sexuality is the path to success. This video will explore the influence of these media messages and their effect on the negotiation of an adolescent female identity.
This video is aimed at Ten Under 10 and possibly Media That Matters Film Festival.
Over the shoulders of the same three girls we see Britney Spears on MTV. Britney wears next to nothing. Her dance moves simulate sex with her shirtless boyfriend. The three girls are singing the song and attempting to move like Britney.
Fourteen year old Caitlin does not look pleased with her reflection in the mirror. She tells her mother she is going back to the mall to get the other blouse. her mother says, "No way, Jose! It didn't have enough material to cover a cat."
This 10 minute video documentary is a window into the world of an adolescent girl grappling with growing up and facing the media messages that are directed at her, but may not be in her best interest.
The video will follow fourteen year old Caitlin through a week in her life as she prepares to sing at a public event. Caitlin's stories are interwoven with those of her sisters and cousins as they compare and contrast with the views of her parents. The video will not only follow Caitlin, but insert short interview answers along with example media messages from open source archives.
Young girls are almost constantly connected to media and they are bombarded with messages designed to guide their thoughts and behaviors. They seem especially vulnerable to the message that their self esteem is dependent on how they look, that sexuality equates to power, and that overt sexuality is the path to success. This video will explore the influence of these media messages and their effect on the negotiation of an adolescent female identity.
This video is aimed at Ten Under 10 and possibly Media That Matters Film Festival.
Swingers Doc - Craigslist Ad
Any "Out" Swingers? UT Film Students Seek Documentary Subjects - mw4mw - 22 (UT Austin)
Date: 2010-02-03, 1:56PM CST
If there are any couples out there who are in relationships and swing with other couples and who would be interested in sharing their stories, please contact us. We are two Radio-Television-Film students in an Advanced Documentary production course in our last semesters here at UT. Gay, lesbian, straight, bi - all are welcome!
We would love to be as open and...ahem...explicit as possible, so please keep an open mind. Anonymity is a possibility, of course, but the more willing you are to explore this topic openly, the better the final piece will be.
For more information, please contact us - your questions are more than welcome!
We would love to be as open and...ahem...explicit as possible, so please keep an open mind. Anonymity is a possibility, of course, but the more willing you are to explore this topic openly, the better the final piece will be.
For more information, please contact us - your questions are more than welcome!
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Revised Treatment - Isaac Rooks
We see the busy streets of Beijing. Huge skyscrapers line the streets, which are teeming with young people and businessmen. They move along with the streaming, noisy traffic. Among them is Mr. Zhang. Even in the crowd, he stands out in his loose fitting black clothes, his hair and beard wild and graying. The noise of the city builds and builds. Suddenly, we are in a very different location: a lush, green park. Music softly plays from loud speakers as Mr. Zhang gracefully moves through his form, his eyes almost closed. He is surrounded by students, who cast quick glances at him as they try to imitate his movements. Families walking through the park pause to admire his grace and skill. When the form is finished, Mr. Zhang’s body relaxes. The spell is broken. He turns to address his students. Although he seemed completely absorbed a moment ago, he was fully aware of what they were doing around him.
BAM! A leg smashes into the forearm of a large bald man who is protecting his head. As the leg recoils, the bald man lunges toward his opponent. We are now in a bright gymnasium, coldly lit by fluorescents. The two men circle each other in a ring surrounded by other young men, who shout encouragements and crane their heads for a better view. The two men lunge toward each other; they connect, grapple, and fall to the ground. They pause for an instant to gasp for air, before resuming their struggle. The movement lessens as the bald man gets his opponent in a tight hold; the shouts from the onlookers become more frantic. The bald man’s opponent taps the mat and the bald man leaps off, helping the loser to his feet. The two men bow and part. The defeated man looks very grim, but the victor grins from ear to ear. This is Vaughn. A few years ago he was a software engineer in Canada. Now he is a professional mixed martial artist.
Vaughn is just one of a number of interesting characters drawn from across the globe to compete in China. Others include Pedro, a Brazilian, and Hao Tian, a Mongolian. They are members of the international phenomenon known as MMA and they fight for fame in the same city where Mr. Zhang practices Yang style Tai Chi, a martial art whose origins date back to the 1800s. Tai Chi, like a number of Chinese martial arts, has become very internationally popular. However, as these martial arts have gone international, they have lost their cultural specificity – which is an essential element of Tai Chi. In an interesting turn of events, the international synthesis of these culturally bound martial arts, in the form of MMA, has come to China.
This documentary will explore the relationship and conflict between these two forms of martial arts: the traditional and culturally rich Tai Chi and the constantly evolving and international MMA. To better understand these forms, we will talk to and profile practitioners of the respective forms. We will try and get a sense of what drew them to, and what they get out of their respective styles. We will also see what they think of the alternative martial art being profiled.
The visuals will help delineate the two styles. The difference will not be glaringly obvious, but there will be a distinction. The Tai Chi footage will have warm color tones, while cool tones will predominate in the MMA material. The MMA footage will also be cut with a faster tempo as a rule. Another key element to this documentary will be the footage of Beijing itself. The city should be a character and we will strive to capture the diversity of the city, showcasing the new and old, the natural and the heavily industrialized.
The main focus will be on Mr. Zhang. Unlike the young MMA athletes, Mr. Zhang is a fairly unassuming presence. The documentary will introduce Mr. Zhang as he goes about his daily business, eventually introducing his Tai Chi and great strength. There will be a gradual process of introducing this character: setting up certain expectations, and then surprising with the truth. There will be a great deal of action in this film, of all kinds. There will be demonstrations of grace and control, and also quick, violent grappling.
The conclusion comes when these two sides are brought together. Until this point, they have been interviewed separately; now they are going to share a dinner at a restaurant owned by Mr. Zhang’s family. Mr. Zhang is surrounded by his colleagues. Across from him sit a number of young MMA stars. At first, neither side really addresses the other; they talk to their peers as though the others were not there. As the dinner wears on, however, the two sides loosen up and begin to talk to each other. The MMA athletes are skeptical about the real world application of Mr. Zhang’s techniques. They feel it is more of an exercise for the elderly. However, Mr. Zhang demonstrates to them that Tai Chi is actually a very powerful martial art. The MMA fighters are surprised to see examples of such great strength, speed, and skill coming from this older man. The tensions are forgotten as the two sides find their common ground in appreciation of the other style’s skill and merit.
This documentary will be unique because these two radically different styles would not often be linked and compared. The story needs to be told because it offers a fascinating glimpse at a large issue through a personal context. China is a country that is rapidly modernizing and becoming more international. This documentary will explore that evolution through the relationship of these different martial arts and the men who practice them. The project should resonate with young people, particularly young men, who will be able to view these practices in a whole new light.
BAM! A leg smashes into the forearm of a large bald man who is protecting his head. As the leg recoils, the bald man lunges toward his opponent. We are now in a bright gymnasium, coldly lit by fluorescents. The two men circle each other in a ring surrounded by other young men, who shout encouragements and crane their heads for a better view. The two men lunge toward each other; they connect, grapple, and fall to the ground. They pause for an instant to gasp for air, before resuming their struggle. The movement lessens as the bald man gets his opponent in a tight hold; the shouts from the onlookers become more frantic. The bald man’s opponent taps the mat and the bald man leaps off, helping the loser to his feet. The two men bow and part. The defeated man looks very grim, but the victor grins from ear to ear. This is Vaughn. A few years ago he was a software engineer in Canada. Now he is a professional mixed martial artist.
Vaughn is just one of a number of interesting characters drawn from across the globe to compete in China. Others include Pedro, a Brazilian, and Hao Tian, a Mongolian. They are members of the international phenomenon known as MMA and they fight for fame in the same city where Mr. Zhang practices Yang style Tai Chi, a martial art whose origins date back to the 1800s. Tai Chi, like a number of Chinese martial arts, has become very internationally popular. However, as these martial arts have gone international, they have lost their cultural specificity – which is an essential element of Tai Chi. In an interesting turn of events, the international synthesis of these culturally bound martial arts, in the form of MMA, has come to China.
This documentary will explore the relationship and conflict between these two forms of martial arts: the traditional and culturally rich Tai Chi and the constantly evolving and international MMA. To better understand these forms, we will talk to and profile practitioners of the respective forms. We will try and get a sense of what drew them to, and what they get out of their respective styles. We will also see what they think of the alternative martial art being profiled.
The visuals will help delineate the two styles. The difference will not be glaringly obvious, but there will be a distinction. The Tai Chi footage will have warm color tones, while cool tones will predominate in the MMA material. The MMA footage will also be cut with a faster tempo as a rule. Another key element to this documentary will be the footage of Beijing itself. The city should be a character and we will strive to capture the diversity of the city, showcasing the new and old, the natural and the heavily industrialized.
The main focus will be on Mr. Zhang. Unlike the young MMA athletes, Mr. Zhang is a fairly unassuming presence. The documentary will introduce Mr. Zhang as he goes about his daily business, eventually introducing his Tai Chi and great strength. There will be a gradual process of introducing this character: setting up certain expectations, and then surprising with the truth. There will be a great deal of action in this film, of all kinds. There will be demonstrations of grace and control, and also quick, violent grappling.
The conclusion comes when these two sides are brought together. Until this point, they have been interviewed separately; now they are going to share a dinner at a restaurant owned by Mr. Zhang’s family. Mr. Zhang is surrounded by his colleagues. Across from him sit a number of young MMA stars. At first, neither side really addresses the other; they talk to their peers as though the others were not there. As the dinner wears on, however, the two sides loosen up and begin to talk to each other. The MMA athletes are skeptical about the real world application of Mr. Zhang’s techniques. They feel it is more of an exercise for the elderly. However, Mr. Zhang demonstrates to them that Tai Chi is actually a very powerful martial art. The MMA fighters are surprised to see examples of such great strength, speed, and skill coming from this older man. The tensions are forgotten as the two sides find their common ground in appreciation of the other style’s skill and merit.
This documentary will be unique because these two radically different styles would not often be linked and compared. The story needs to be told because it offers a fascinating glimpse at a large issue through a personal context. China is a country that is rapidly modernizing and becoming more international. This documentary will explore that evolution through the relationship of these different martial arts and the men who practice them. The project should resonate with young people, particularly young men, who will be able to view these practices in a whole new light.
The Eyes of Me
The Eyes of Me. Directed by Keith Maitland.
Sort of expected the way it would have been about shooting blind people before the play, and for most of the part I still enjoyed it very much. When I first knew that they were going to screen this film, I kind of worried about the stereotype thing which always should be avoided either in photo story or video story when describing a certain group of people. Surprisingly, this film had done excellent job to show these four teens are actually not different from everyday people who struggle with school and relationship during their teen years as well. It’s just the four teenagers in the film can’t see.
Basically, it’s a story about four teens from Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Chas, Meagan, Denise and Issac. The director not only used lens to tell the story, but also engaged in using animation to complement the story by inserting the world those blind people “see”. More importantly, it showed the mix of real and virtual world to give audience an answer of their curiosity about blind people.
The film started with the scene where birds were flying from the trees. A sort of sense of freedom was given. I like the way that the director tried to contrast normal high school and TSBVI life. Things we used to take for granted seem so difficult for them. However, I felt the animation has been used too much to some extent. Sometimes it came up so abruptly and disturbed the rhythm of the story, which made me confused about the exact purpose behind.
The story line was well-organized in following their academic year in TSBVI. Though I don't exactly know why the director chose the characters like Chas and Meagan who still have their visual memories instead of focusing on ones who were born to be blind. But somehow it made this film closer to us, telling people that the ones who have been trying harder than us just to survive.
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