Made immediately before he made Amy, by Kapadia
Similar to Amy:
All new visual footage
Kapadia has no onscreen presence, verbally and visually, makes it seem like there's no mediation, watching it unfold naturally
Is Kapadia's skill taking controversial figurers and making them appear better - Senna as noble and Amy as a victim
Footage used is far less personal than Amy, get less of a bond with him - know Ayrton Senna the racing driver not him as a person, opposite for Amy
Would Kapadia argue that the documentaries were made like that because that's where the story was - Senna with his controversial career and Amy with her controversial life
Can relate to Amy more than this because we were alive at the time
Could be argued that he's a documentary editor/compiler instead of a creator
John Grierson - documentary is the creative treatment of actuality
Finishes like Amy, return to innocence - starting quote and end quote are the same
Thursday, 4 October 2018
2 Ways to Achieve Connecting One Topic Area to Another
Auteur to Cinematography
Narrative to Nihilism
Spectatorship to Ideology
Digital Technology to Documentary Theorists (Moore and Broomfield)
- How different filmmakers use various shots/angles etc. in different ways. Hitchcock's steady, long shots Vs. Scott's quicker, closer ones. There's a relationship between how they use cinematography and what effect/message they want to portray. Hitchcock focuses on voyeurism, thematic part of his auteur theory and relates to cinematography by how he films. Ridley Scott using low key lighting, shooting through smoke or fans etc.
Narrative to Nihilism
- Overarching themes of nihilism in Trainspotting which shape the narrative, contrasted with the optimism of Shaun of the Dead or the light hearted, but still nihilistic, Sight Seers. Characters, structure, colour etc. all impact how nihilism is shown in the narrative. Trainspotting non-linear narrative, shows him in the chase in a negative place, then goes earlier on to show him trying to get better, showing he's already defeated. Choosing normality vs nihilism. E.g. camera angles when on heroin look up, like in gutter.
Spectatorship to Ideology
- How ideology is imprinted on the audience. What the audience can see (restricted or open narrative), how it's shown (cutting away or comedy violence), how showing characters can create sympathy or dismissal of characters (Roy in Blade Runner). Typical ideology in NCFOM that Llewelyn, as a veteran, is invincible, but his dying off screen contradicts this, and goes on to show what he represents as America can also be defeated without drama. Or in BOTSW, is Wink a good father (Marxist ideology) teaching Hushpuppy what she needs to know, or a bad father who doesn't treat her right (dominant ideology), depending on your own ideology effects the spectator.
Digital Technology to Documentary Theorists (Moore and Broomfield)
- Examples of using various sources, i.e. phones, for documentaries (Kapadia) against mainly one camera storytelling (Moore). Contrasting Amy vs The Future is Unwritten with the availability of footage of them when young and how it affects how their youth is shown. Kapadia can use it to place us on Amy's side. The significant thing is not the Kapadia uses the technology, but the difference in which Kapadia seeks to gain an effect from the use of technology. He basically shows a fictional films narrative by creating antagonists, narrative structure etc.
Monday, 1 October 2018
How far have developments in digital technology had an impact on your chosen documentary film?
Download form for research
Mark in red pen
Marked /40
Mobile technology - citizen journalism - availability of phones and other transportable/accessible recording hardware means
Advantage Kapadia takes with digital technology isn't the same advantage Broomfield and Moore uses it. Kapadia and Moore both push an ideology but Broomfield doesn't
In Amy (2015), Asif Kapadia takes advantage of the development in digital technology by accessing home video/personal clips, TV broadcasts and other footage to be able to create his trademark 'True Fiction' narrative structure.
This is perfectly shown by the very beginning of the documentary, as it starts with a home video of Amy Winehouse and her friends, having fun and singing. This short clip sets the audience's expectations for the rest of the film - showing them that this is documentary about the personal life of Amy Winehouse, from before her fame, and also shows Winehouse as a fun person who is immeidiately personable and relatable. It starts to construct a narrative via a connection to the audience by establishing time, place and character, an essential part of story. Another examples of this is the use of previously unseen footage of Winehouse on the way to her first recording session, recorded by her friend and manager at the time Nick Shymansky, which also showed her personality, as well as setting up our understanding with some of her relationships with people. The candid, unprofessional look of the videos is instantly relatable as something we all create and share (especially recently on social media), which helps to create an informal more realistic theme to the videos. So Kapadia uses digital technology to create an emotive story that explains her personality and makes her relatable, which can be seen from the beginning until the end of the film.
Building on my previous point, Kapadia uses the home videos from family and friends (available due to advances in digital technology) to push his ideology/opinion on the subject. Footage showing Winehouse's spiral into drug addiction, self harm, bulimia etc. is shown in almost graphic detail. This gives the audience the idea that she was a victim of fame and people around her; not to be blamed for her death, which is clearly what Kapadia himself believed while contructing the documentary. In addition, editing is also used to reinforce this ideology, with interviews being placed over the top of the emotive home video imagery to create an overall feeling of empathy, especially as the interviews were often from family and friends expressing sadness at the position she was in, and also viewed her as a victim. Kapadia uses footage not available without advancements in digital technology to enforce his own ideology, which effected the film in that it was able to show Kapadia's ideology easily and subtly.
Advancements in digital technology mean that the ability to record video is widespread. As a result, it's easy to find, and as Kapadia has shown use, multiple recordings of an event to show different perspectives. For example, at the famous Belgrade Concert where Winehouse was too intoxicated to perform, multiple sources were used, e.g. videos from the crowd where you can hear people complaining, to official TV footage of the event. This allowed the viewer to get different opinions on the event (ie the complaining in the crowd), which may shape the opinion of the spectator. These perspectives may differ from the dominant ideology of the film and/or society, which gives the documentary more depth and detail than it may first appear. In addition, combining these alternative perspectives with various interviews overlayed on top (as seen in the documentary in this scene, with friend Lauren Gilbert and Winehouse herself) about the event, it serves to create an even more varied view of the sitation, and as a result allows the audience to make up their own mind on it. Advancements in digital technology affected the documentary in that it allowed the filmmaker to show, and let the audience debate between, various perspectives quickly and easily.
In conlusion, advances in digital technology have allowed Asif Kapadia to develop Amy Winehouse's 'character' in the documenatary, making her more relatable and to the audience, while also giving the audience the choice to make up their own decision based on varied sources.
Mark in red pen
Marked /40
Mobile technology - citizen journalism - availability of phones and other transportable/accessible recording hardware means
Advantage Kapadia takes with digital technology isn't the same advantage Broomfield and Moore uses it. Kapadia and Moore both push an ideology but Broomfield doesn't
How Far have developments in digital technology had an impact on your chosen documentary film?
In Amy (2015), Asif Kapadia takes advantage of the development in digital technology by accessing home video/personal clips, TV broadcasts and other footage to be able to create his trademark 'True Fiction' narrative structure.
This is perfectly shown by the very beginning of the documentary, as it starts with a home video of Amy Winehouse and her friends, having fun and singing. This short clip sets the audience's expectations for the rest of the film - showing them that this is documentary about the personal life of Amy Winehouse, from before her fame, and also shows Winehouse as a fun person who is immeidiately personable and relatable. It starts to construct a narrative via a connection to the audience by establishing time, place and character, an essential part of story. Another examples of this is the use of previously unseen footage of Winehouse on the way to her first recording session, recorded by her friend and manager at the time Nick Shymansky, which also showed her personality, as well as setting up our understanding with some of her relationships with people. The candid, unprofessional look of the videos is instantly relatable as something we all create and share (especially recently on social media), which helps to create an informal more realistic theme to the videos. So Kapadia uses digital technology to create an emotive story that explains her personality and makes her relatable, which can be seen from the beginning until the end of the film.
Building on my previous point, Kapadia uses the home videos from family and friends (available due to advances in digital technology) to push his ideology/opinion on the subject. Footage showing Winehouse's spiral into drug addiction, self harm, bulimia etc. is shown in almost graphic detail. This gives the audience the idea that she was a victim of fame and people around her; not to be blamed for her death, which is clearly what Kapadia himself believed while contructing the documentary. In addition, editing is also used to reinforce this ideology, with interviews being placed over the top of the emotive home video imagery to create an overall feeling of empathy, especially as the interviews were often from family and friends expressing sadness at the position she was in, and also viewed her as a victim. Kapadia uses footage not available without advancements in digital technology to enforce his own ideology, which effected the film in that it was able to show Kapadia's ideology easily and subtly.
Advancements in digital technology mean that the ability to record video is widespread. As a result, it's easy to find, and as Kapadia has shown use, multiple recordings of an event to show different perspectives. For example, at the famous Belgrade Concert where Winehouse was too intoxicated to perform, multiple sources were used, e.g. videos from the crowd where you can hear people complaining, to official TV footage of the event. This allowed the viewer to get different opinions on the event (ie the complaining in the crowd), which may shape the opinion of the spectator. These perspectives may differ from the dominant ideology of the film and/or society, which gives the documentary more depth and detail than it may first appear. In addition, combining these alternative perspectives with various interviews overlayed on top (as seen in the documentary in this scene, with friend Lauren Gilbert and Winehouse herself) about the event, it serves to create an even more varied view of the sitation, and as a result allows the audience to make up their own mind on it. Advancements in digital technology affected the documentary in that it allowed the filmmaker to show, and let the audience debate between, various perspectives quickly and easily.
In conlusion, advances in digital technology have allowed Asif Kapadia to develop Amy Winehouse's 'character' in the documenatary, making her more relatable and to the audience, while also giving the audience the choice to make up their own decision based on varied sources.
Monday, 24 September 2018
Documentary Theorists
Michael Moore
Bowling for Columbine - 2003
Farenheit 9/11 v- 2004
Sicko - 2007
Left Wing filmmaker
Appears in his films
Clear bias against capitalism
Bowling for Columbine - capitalism create fear for profit
Confused narrative, all over the place
Emotive but irrelevant points
Finishes on a low, manipulates you into fearing the system, if it was a narrative film would've finished on K-Mart banning the bullets
Nick Broomfield
Broomfield shows everything but doesn't really shape into a narrative - shows his investigation to make it genuine, not to make points.
E.g. in Bowling for Columbine - argued against guns, racism etc. but didn't focus on the event
Asif Kapadia
'True fiction' narrative structure, coined by him
Bowling for Columbine - 2003
Farenheit 9/11 v- 2004
Sicko - 2007
Left Wing filmmaker
Appears in his films
Clear bias against capitalism
Bowling for Columbine - capitalism create fear for profit
Confused narrative, all over the place
Emotive but irrelevant points
Finishes on a low, manipulates you into fearing the system, if it was a narrative film would've finished on K-Mart banning the bullets
Nick Broomfield
Broomfield shows everything but doesn't really shape into a narrative - shows his investigation to make it genuine, not to make points.
E.g. in Bowling for Columbine - argued against guns, racism etc. but didn't focus on the event
Asif Kapadia
'True fiction' narrative structure, coined by him
Monday, 17 September 2018
Sightseers
Directed by Ben Wheatley
Jump cuts
J Cuts
How would we apply feminism to this? Research: Male Gaze
Interesting juxtaposition between typical British tourism and serial killing
Feminist approach to film:
Tina plays the part of the defeneless woman. In fact, this point is reinforced by her childlike attitude, sheltered background and naive outlook on the world. This shows a patriarchal theme. However, subtle hints, combined with the ending of the film, point to the opposite. Chris follows Tina's suggestions and wishes, not instructions, portraying the stereotypical view of women and their role in the household. However, all these suggestions have impact, and are self serving to her. For example, suggesting Chris writes down his murders connects him to the crimes while giving her an alibi, which ties in aptly with her possibly planned 'suicide' trickery, leading to Chris' death not hers. It all suggests to Tina planning out the trip, with the end goal being murder, contrasting with her spontaneous murder of the runner.
Chris encompasses hyper masculinity - aggressive, domineering etc. Oppresses Tina.
'She was getting married' criticizing Tina for killing Chailey. Sees himself as almost a heroic figure, especially with the dream sequence. But gets attacked by the woman, predicting.
'Chailey' as a name, chavvy, slaggy names - criticizing women and their way of life she deems lower than her - contrasts with Tina's knitting and reserved life. Tina doesn't have a go at Chris for kissing Chailey, 'stand by your man' logic.
When Chris goes off, Tina instantly resorts to cooking for him. Traditional women role.
The mundane life of caravanning, combined with showing him plugging in, the toilets and shower etc. immerse us.
Men have the idea that the wrong they do serves a purpose, while women do wrong when they lose their temper, but subverts this at the end.
Debatable who is a muse to who. Creativity is tie to nature, and as the film progresses nature shown becomes wilder in landscape and weather.
Chris murders to gain control, Tina murders to lose it/Chris murders to feel empowered, and so can't escape what he resorts back to, while Tina goes to escape.
Comparing the first and last images of Tina - at the start, she's hiding behind a door, timid, not even the first person shown. Compared to at the end where she's smiling, standing high up - more confiden. Gone by being affected/controlled by someone to affecting/controlling someone
Research Sightseers
-
Talk about the fact that it's British, not Hollywood. It's therefore less stylized, key elements are more expressive than Hollywood. British films also focus on themes of British Realism more (Martin Scorsese says social realism is Britain's greatest gift to the world), which is derivative of Italian reaism. Seem to like to link in to 'ideology' in a different way - binary oppositions, ideaology of the tine etc. British film ideology tends to be more critical of society, cynical
Talk about Ben Wheatley and his desire to include elements ofgothic horror in a contemporary context - ie Hammer Films, which he sees as traditional British films
Postmodern setting - more realistic approach on Bonny and Clyde. Ie Natural Born Killers
Get in narrative themes of feminism, love and relationships - immediately go from honeymoon stage to old married couple, having sex all the time to when his friend gets in the way and damage their relationship to sitting outside the caravan in the rain like old people, also shows women in the relationship approaching power then being pushed back down. Violence theme - solution of problems, relatively little repercussion, easy
Number of different ideological frameworks for how to look at the world and in the films, got to look at the films through themes. The ideology that we look at it through and comes out of it is feminism. Ie women are oppressed in patriarchal societies
Narrative contrasts the almost primitive violence of Chris and the idea of serial killing with the mind-numbing boringness of reality
WE ATTACH ONE IDEOLOGY TO EACH FILM
Jump cuts
J Cuts
How would we apply feminism to this? Research: Male Gaze
Interesting juxtaposition between typical British tourism and serial killing
Feminist approach to film:
Tina plays the part of the defeneless woman. In fact, this point is reinforced by her childlike attitude, sheltered background and naive outlook on the world. This shows a patriarchal theme. However, subtle hints, combined with the ending of the film, point to the opposite. Chris follows Tina's suggestions and wishes, not instructions, portraying the stereotypical view of women and their role in the household. However, all these suggestions have impact, and are self serving to her. For example, suggesting Chris writes down his murders connects him to the crimes while giving her an alibi, which ties in aptly with her possibly planned 'suicide' trickery, leading to Chris' death not hers. It all suggests to Tina planning out the trip, with the end goal being murder, contrasting with her spontaneous murder of the runner.
Chris encompasses hyper masculinity - aggressive, domineering etc. Oppresses Tina.
'She was getting married' criticizing Tina for killing Chailey. Sees himself as almost a heroic figure, especially with the dream sequence. But gets attacked by the woman, predicting.
'Chailey' as a name, chavvy, slaggy names - criticizing women and their way of life she deems lower than her - contrasts with Tina's knitting and reserved life. Tina doesn't have a go at Chris for kissing Chailey, 'stand by your man' logic.
When Chris goes off, Tina instantly resorts to cooking for him. Traditional women role.
The mundane life of caravanning, combined with showing him plugging in, the toilets and shower etc. immerse us.
Men have the idea that the wrong they do serves a purpose, while women do wrong when they lose their temper, but subverts this at the end.
Debatable who is a muse to who. Creativity is tie to nature, and as the film progresses nature shown becomes wilder in landscape and weather.
Chris murders to gain control, Tina murders to lose it/Chris murders to feel empowered, and so can't escape what he resorts back to, while Tina goes to escape.
Comparing the first and last images of Tina - at the start, she's hiding behind a door, timid, not even the first person shown. Compared to at the end where she's smiling, standing high up - more confiden. Gone by being affected/controlled by someone to affecting/controlling someone
Research Sightseers
-
Talk about the fact that it's British, not Hollywood. It's therefore less stylized, key elements are more expressive than Hollywood. British films also focus on themes of British Realism more (Martin Scorsese says social realism is Britain's greatest gift to the world), which is derivative of Italian reaism. Seem to like to link in to 'ideology' in a different way - binary oppositions, ideaology of the tine etc. British film ideology tends to be more critical of society, cynical
Talk about Ben Wheatley and his desire to include elements ofgothic horror in a contemporary context - ie Hammer Films, which he sees as traditional British films
Postmodern setting - more realistic approach on Bonny and Clyde. Ie Natural Born Killers
Get in narrative themes of feminism, love and relationships - immediately go from honeymoon stage to old married couple, having sex all the time to when his friend gets in the way and damage their relationship to sitting outside the caravan in the rain like old people, also shows women in the relationship approaching power then being pushed back down. Violence theme - solution of problems, relatively little repercussion, easy
Number of different ideological frameworks for how to look at the world and in the films, got to look at the films through themes. The ideology that we look at it through and comes out of it is feminism. Ie women are oppressed in patriarchal societies
Narrative contrasts the almost primitive violence of Chris and the idea of serial killing with the mind-numbing boringness of reality
WE ATTACH ONE IDEOLOGY TO EACH FILM
Thursday, 6 September 2018
Documentaries
Some documentaries as entertainment and education when they're just entertainment - i.e. Undateables. Real life imitating art
Good documentaries to watch:
Grizzly Man
Supersize Me
When We Were Kings
The Act of Killing
Spellbound
Sicko
The Future is Unwritten
Amy
Features a lot of intertextuality (referencing other media), i.e. having celebrities on it to talk about her. Doesn't rely on prior knowledge of people, unlike The Future is Unwritten.
Focuses on personal life not music to create an ideology of tragedy - mediation
Amy Vs The Future is Unwritten
Amy felt constructed, attempts to add verisimilitude
Lift
Purely negotiated reading, not lead down any path.
What we take away from a documentary is not what we see, but what we feel and think about, how it effects our outlook, which is the opposite of narrative film.
It's arguable that we can only capture our own reality for documentary - as reality depends on the perceiver. This brings up the question 'can documentary show the truth of a situation?
John Grierson - documentary is the creative treatment of actuality (what's actually happened)
Not easy to get an accurate representation of someone in 30 minutes, people are a lot more nuanced than that
History
Pre 1900: films that showed events taking place
1920s onwards: the romanticized form of documentary. Staged scenes, director controlling action
1940s: propaganda documentary
So ideology is present, even when someone is trying to represent 'reality' - we all define our own reality
Night Mail
Made in 1936 - documents overnight delivery
Huge work of artistic merit, but how accurate? Some studio use and set ups means it's not accurate
As time has gone on, the need to inform and educate has been, to some extent, overtaken by the need to entertain
Cinema Verite
Relies upon technological advancements
Edited into the finished product
How much of this is 'real'? How much is the creation of the editor
Modern Age
Rise in digital technology
Everyone has a camera - we have more footage of every event
Also can switch from different types of footage with digital editing where we couldn't before
Change in form from verbal to visual
Editing is now the most important aspect - where ideology is formed. Process of focusing, organizing (putting them in order to create narrative) and selecting material (where does the camera want us to look)
Media being used is documentary film - the way we work within its limits and how they affect the way we choose our material is called mediation, which = ideology
How does this use of technology - clips, assist Kapardia in getting his preferred reading across for Amy?
Broomfield shows everything but doesn't really shape into a narrative - shows his investigation to make it genuine, not to make points.
Good documentaries to watch:
Grizzly Man
Supersize Me
When We Were Kings
The Act of Killing
Spellbound
Sicko
The Future is Unwritten
Amy
Features a lot of intertextuality (referencing other media), i.e. having celebrities on it to talk about her. Doesn't rely on prior knowledge of people, unlike The Future is Unwritten.
Focuses on personal life not music to create an ideology of tragedy - mediation
Amy Vs The Future is Unwritten
Amy felt constructed, attempts to add verisimilitude
Lift
Purely negotiated reading, not lead down any path.
What we take away from a documentary is not what we see, but what we feel and think about, how it effects our outlook, which is the opposite of narrative film.
It's arguable that we can only capture our own reality for documentary - as reality depends on the perceiver. This brings up the question 'can documentary show the truth of a situation?
John Grierson - documentary is the creative treatment of actuality (what's actually happened)
Not easy to get an accurate representation of someone in 30 minutes, people are a lot more nuanced than that
History
Pre 1900: films that showed events taking place
1920s onwards: the romanticized form of documentary. Staged scenes, director controlling action
1940s: propaganda documentary
So ideology is present, even when someone is trying to represent 'reality' - we all define our own reality
Night Mail
Made in 1936 - documents overnight delivery
Huge work of artistic merit, but how accurate? Some studio use and set ups means it's not accurate
As time has gone on, the need to inform and educate has been, to some extent, overtaken by the need to entertain
Cinema Verite
Relies upon technological advancements
- Small crews - in modern documentaries there's usually camera/director, sound/editor and presenter
- Portable equipment
- Quiet equipment
- Cheaper film stock
Edited into the finished product
How much of this is 'real'? How much is the creation of the editor
Modern Age
Rise in digital technology
Everyone has a camera - we have more footage of every event
Also can switch from different types of footage with digital editing where we couldn't before
Change in form from verbal to visual
Editing is now the most important aspect - where ideology is formed. Process of focusing, organizing (putting them in order to create narrative) and selecting material (where does the camera want us to look)
Media being used is documentary film - the way we work within its limits and how they affect the way we choose our material is called mediation, which = ideology
How does this use of technology - clips, assist Kapardia in getting his preferred reading across for Amy?
Broomfield shows everything but doesn't really shape into a narrative - shows his investigation to make it genuine, not to make points.
Trial Exam Feedback
What went well:
- Introductions
- Focussing on answering the question
- Film knowledge generally good (those who had clearly done extra research really shone out here)
- Timing
- Analysis was generally good with some exceptions
- Theories (narrative, binary oppositions ideology etc.)
- Key Terms
- Use of key elements of film form
- Sometimes too descriptive as opposed to analytical
- Wider reading needed
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