Week 11 Screening 1

Bobby Fischer Against the World. 2011. Dir Liz Garbus.

The films opening introduction is by way of a cacophony of voiceovers underscored with music, the theme of the montage being the exploration of the life of Bobby Fischer. This technique is an excellent means to set the scene for the film that follows as it directs the mind towards wondering who is Bobby Fischer. It is a technique that could easily have gone wrong and been a needless distraction but in this instance it is done with skill. this film is primarily a talking heads documentary. The people that are interviewed for the film are from the center of the world of chess or are close to the subject of the film, this gives the films content an authenticity and fidelity.

Much like in the documentary Pulling John the film points out that the Russians are given state support while the Americans are given no such support. The observation is out of context and sticks out because of this. This attempt to slant the film is the one subjective pitch in an otherwise objective analysis of an individuals wasted potential and is noticeable because the rest of the film maintains its objective integrity. Charting the arc of Fischer's career from childhood until his death the documentary moves fast enough through the stages to not get stuck or bogged down at any one stage. Because this is a retrospective biography most of the footage is archival but it is brought to life with interviews. The interviews are responsible for the content but how they are edited and orchestrated in postproduction is what determines the ebb and flow of the film.  In this sense documentaries are an orchestration of content, and in the case of Bobby Fischer Against the world it is a well-orchestrated film that maintains viewer interest when it could have been immensely boring. It is after all a film about chess.

Week 10 Screening 2

PressPausePlay. 2011. David Dworsky, Victor Köhler.

This documentary covers the effect that the digital revolution has had on peoples ability to create and disseminate their art. Using primarily talking head interviews the film observes the creative process from different perspectives. Importantly it is mainly individuals who have already had some measure of success who are interviewed; people who already make a living from their art. For example there is some talk of the ‘noise’ and ‘garbage’ that all this creative output has generated, but this is always viewed from the outside looking in. The people interviewed already have a voice and an audience; they have escaped the noise of the masses.

“The creation of art is an elitist business”, this quote from the film sums up the dichotomy between those that are creating and those that are creating and managing to broadcast to a mass audience. Despite the freedom to create using new and improved tools there are still only relatively few people who can actually manage to make a living from creating. Although art is more available than ever and communication is enhanced the status quo has not changed. The documentary manages to skillfully stitch together the interviews with a variety of experts, and in doing so make it seem as if they are finishing each other’s sentences. The different participants could have been edited together into their own sections but instead they are sorted by subject matter. This variety of interviewees and stimulating subject matter make for an entertaining watch. Without tackling it head on the subject matter turns to the relative value of education and the creation of art. This deft handling of the subject matter (possibly due to interview techniques) stimulates rather than stagnates ideas on the topic and the film flows without meandering.

Week 10 Screening 1

The Devil And Daniel Johnston. 2005. Dir Jeff Feuerzeig.

The Devil And Daniel Johnston is a biographical documentary chronicling the life of artist and musician Daniel Johnston. The film uses first person interviews and authoritative materials such as home videos and tape recordings to narrate the story of his life. Perhaps due to his fame and the amount of people who came to know Johnston this film has many voices mixed into the commentary, they all stick closely to the narrative in what must have been a laborious editing process. The films narrative never becomes pointless and nearly every narrative point has corresponding authentic source material. This source material adds both to the polyphony of the narrative and the legitimacy of the story itself.

The many interviews are used as a ‘voice of god’, their authenticity is not questioned as they are placed over the footage they are narrating, but this gives the footage a particular slant. When interviews are placed over footage in this manner it appears that the interviewer is displaying the footage, as if they have ownership of what the footage itself means. The film is gravitates around the iconic infamy that Johnston acquired, due partially to his mental illness and partially to his substantial talent as a musician and artist. Johnston himself is never directly interviewed for the film; his extensive recordings are instead used and are snapshots of Johnston through time. Due to the amount of material that Johnston contributed to the film it takes on a nearly autobiographical tone, but the witness interviews give the footage another context than the one presented by Johnston himself. 

Journal Entry Week 11

Tuesday the 19^th March

Today I had arranged with the sports office to film a women’s soccer cup final at the Drom. The Drom is located on the top of a hill in Rahoon (it was freezing). I had learnt from the rugby that when I am at the same level of the pitch there is only a certain amount I can capture and so I situated myself at the goal of the opposition so that I would at least capture Galway’s goals. I had also learnt from the basketball that I had to pay attention all the time and keep the camera on the action, because of this I managed to capture every goal (there were six in total). The women’s soccer coach had asked me several times if I was able to make it to the game to film, as had the head of the sports department. This for me brought up the issue of representation. Even if covering the game was not specific to the documentary I am making it is still the case that individuals or teams feel the need for representation. The scope of filming and then broadcasting (even if it is only to the web) goes beyond mere promotion, giving the people represented a voice and their activities a wider audience.

Wednesday the 20^th of March

This evening I arranged to film the athletics club partially because the elite coach, who works in the sports office is the coach but mainly because aesthetically it would look very different to the rest of the footage I had shot thus far. I didn’t stay long at all to film but I got what I needed. I think this is due to having developed an idea of what I require not only because I know what footage I have already but also because I have become more adept at framing and filming. Even though I spent the least amount of time filming athletics it was some of the best footage in the assemblage in terms of color, framing and focus. It helped that the obstacles that the athletes were doing drills over were angular and were easily framed, but I have experienced enough of both the filming and the viewing to know better what works and what doesn’t. In short I have become more efficient in my work that will help me in the run into the end of the semester.

Week 11

I spent a lot of this week editing the sports documentary while in the sports office, this gave me a taste of what working there would be like. It was in effect like a week of work experience as for the week I was the sports office Media Officer. It was a very busy week at the sports office because of the sports award ceremony and the sports ball. The assemblage of footage I had created was broadcast onto the wall at the reception for the sports awards and then onto two giant screens during the sports ball in the Galway Bay Hotel. I had some representation for nearly all the clubs present and since the film was on a loop (and it looped several times) people would have seen almost all of the film. The seating arrangement at the sports ball had different sports clubs at different tables, so when a section came up in the film that contained each table’s sport they began cheering and banging on the tables. We decided after about half an hour of it looping that we should pause it (it was getting out of hand) and once we did people returned to conversing with each other. It felt strange to have so many people viewing my work but it was nice to watch people watching it, even if I did feel bad for the clubs that I missed. Representing some clubs but not others created an imbalance. Allowing the sports unit to use the footage in this way has had several benefits not least access (for me). For example I have confirmed an interview with Gerry Hussy who is the sports psychologist for the Irish boxing team. Depending on what kind on interview I get from him it may be the only one I use but this may be a little optimistic. The final edited format of the sports documentary will be determined by the content of the interview(s) that I record.

Journal Entry Week 10

Tuesday

7am start for the rowers:) I got up and got to the river early in order to make sure I caught them, turns out I was a little over eager as they didn’t appear for a good 15 minutes. When they did appear I managed to get 45 minutes of footage although it was mostly from the same spot across from Menlo castle, I didn’t want to risk moving and then not catching them again. I will endeavor to get out to film them regularly and to do it from a different spot each time. I am under the impression that the editing for this film will be easier than for the sports documentary as it is one club, the river flows in one direction. How I edit the footage together will depend upon the interview, I will attempt to create a narrative arc depending on the quality of the interview and the corresponding footage. The footage could follow the arc of a training session, in the sense that the order of the footage would be from pre training (getting the boats out) to upriver to downriver to end training (putting the boats away). A little simple maybe but once the narrative arc is in place I could experiment with the timing of events, scenes and shots. I am also thinking to use no soundtrack for this documentary; to just record some wild tracks and put them in place around the natural sound. That would mean I use a prerecorded song for the sports film, make a recording for the boat film and then just use natural sounds for the rowing film. Each one will be a different learning experience. After filming the rowing club I collected the laptop and spent the day editing in the sports office. This once again proved fruitful as I managed to set up some more meetings to film and also collected footage from off campus clubs (eg snowsports)

Friday 15^th March

Today I had arranged to meet with the golf club at the Galway Golf Club, we were to meet as they were passing the clubhouse during a round. When I rang the vice captain he informed me they were not out but he could swing by to do a bit of filming. When he arrived I quickly realized he (Damien) had the run of the place. We tried to take a shot or two down near the water but there was too much glare from the sea and the way the tee was pointing meant that I would have to film into the sun. We then tried from the top of the golf course and this worked because there was not so much glare but there was still a nice backdrop to frame. This is where Damiens knowledge of the club and its workings came in handy, he was able to borrow a golf buggy for free to take us to the top of the hill. Bumpy ride but still better than walking. Damien proved to be very willing to participate in the filming process, taking as many shots as was required and allowing me time to ensure that I had the camera focus properly tuned. Having taken the footage home and viewed it since it still appears that there is some blurring but this could be to do with the iso. The footage collected will add to the films visual diversity as the landscape is completely different from anything else in the film. Having said this it is still the case that I need to check the settings on the camera and see what they do in relation to the footage that I have captured thus far.

Friday 15^th March

I tried to film the rowing club for a while in order to check the focus, I have been having trouble with getting the camera to focus. It looks focused on the screen but when I get it off the camera onto the computer its hazy at best. I took some footage and brought it back to the laptop only to find that it was once again blurry. I will take Aimee’s advice and henceforth use the automatic focus before switching to manual focus, just to be sure.

Saturday 16^th March

Today was the rowing event named the Head of the River. It is a large rowing event that rowers from all over the country come to compete in. I started filming on the riverside and just as I was leaving I ran into the club captain who said he could get me a ride upriver in a launch for the second race, of course I accepted. On the way up I wanted to film everything but I had to balance it with the need to conserve the battery life, I had only two batteries with me. Having so many rowers on the river gave me lots to film and moving alongside them allowed me to illustrate the flow of the boats. Once parked on a rock island I was let off and began filming immediately, the framing was nice but I was worried that the shots would all look the same as I could not move from the rock island I was filming from. Once the last boat of this race (there was three races) had passed we followed them downstream, in fact all the launch boats (ten or more) followed them downstream. I was actually filming it on my mobile phone, it has good footage and I had no battery worries but it films everything in widescreen. For the last part of the race (I had not intended to stay this long) I set up on the Quincentennial Bridge to get a different angle of the rowers. I have footage from the start, near the end and the end of the race. I captured it in different order but I am intending to edit as if I captured them in sequence of how they occur in real time. Having edited to footage into a short film that needs an interview to describe what is occurring and perhaps some music although I am beginning to like the pared down version. When looking in the camera viewfinder everything looked in focus and today everything just about was. I had followed the advice of using the automatic focus and then switching to the manual focus and this seemed to work.

Early edit;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sIocoCIdRk&feature=youtu.be