Codes and Modes Conference Extra Credit Assignment : Blog on Participatory Culture of Documentary

Larissa M Rosa

Codes and Modes Conference

Extra Credit Assignment : Blog on Participatory Culture of Documentary

                I attended a speaking on Saturday afternoon.  I walked away with my mind blown.

                The first speaker showed a clip from her documentary - Beauty in Transition.  She traveled to 9 different shelters in New York, as well as shelters in a few other cities.  She put together a beauty team in a van and they traveled to these various shelters and offered free services to the women there.  She said she faced stigmas along the way.  No one wanted to work with this population - because they were uneducated. She said this population is invisible and she wanted to use documentation to make them visible.  She said beauty is not essential, but the hair care and conversation gave the women hope.  Where they would otherwise be ignored they were paid attention to - their stories were shared.  I was homeless when I was in high school, and I know from personal experience not everyone who is homeless is crazy or a drug addict.  There are people who are homeless and still go to school or work every day; they still pay taxes and are part of society not huddled on trains or sidewalks. I was really happy to hear that the filmmaker learned a lot from her work as well.    

                She spoke about the different problems she had with participation within her film.  She spoke about early problems she faced with only sharing voices and not filming faces.  She decided - with participant's  permission - she wanted to show faces and tell stories.  Then they reached a problem at one shelter, they were told 3 days into filming they did not have permission to film anything and must destroy all footage.  Participation must happen on so many different levels.  This reminded me of the Brian Winston speech from the previous day.  The filmmaker has to work with everyone while still maintaining their vision.  This woman had to find a comfortable balance between working with and protecting the clients, all within the constraints imposed by the shelter system.

                I was really really glad I chose to attend this conference.  This is precisely the type of film I want to make.  Shining light on the lost individual; the misunderstood group.  And doing it all with tact.  Working with your subject, and working within limitations and still portraying a beautiful story many people would never see otherwise.   I feel like I learned a lot.  For example even if you go into something with a set view, be open to changing it.  Anything from shot setup, to overall outcome.  Always be ready to grow with the film and learn when to be flexible and when to be rigid. 

Student Audio Interview

https://soundcloud.com/user519582780/complete-interview-1

Interview Time!

Fun Times with Magazines in New York


             I interviewed Anna and we explored her two greatest passions, one of which I decided to delve into - writing.  I cut down our convo to the most important tidbits to get across a linear narrative.  I then added 3 different songs and played with the levels and fade in/out and placement of the song within the flow of Anna's voice.  Cutting was hard - cutting out Um's often left sound clips sounding 'choppy."  I hoped the music would help smooth those hard cuts and emphasize the mood of what she was talking about.

Codes and Modes Conference (in place of MOMI visit) A reflection on the keynote as presented by Brian Winston

Larissa M Rosa

Codes and Modes Conference (in place of MOMI visit)

A reflection on the keynote as presented by Brian Winston

                As a film student with an interest in making documentaries I was very excited to attend these discussions.  This presentation with Brian Winston did not disappoint!  I feel like I walked away with a lot to think about.  One important thing is the ethical relationship between both filmmaker and subject, as well as the filmmaker and the audience.  I learned you must use tact in both cases.  One must keep in mind the audience is jaded and may not need all of the information you have to share.  But also you must develop a relationship with the subject, so they feel comfortable and are able to trust you the filmmaker to present their story to an audience.  However the ethics of filmmaking is always effected by the process of mainstream funding.  In that whoever has the money can effect the filmmaking process.  What may be important to the filmmaker, whatever it is you may want to portray to the audience could be altered - or shut down all together - by the people you need to produce your film.  So the filmmaker must use tact not only working with subject, or creating for audience, but must also fight and let go of some vision in order to get the funds they need to make the film happen.  That is a lot to keep in mind!

                I am kind of iffy on reenactments.  From what I gathered they are okay at times; when done well.  This leads to another  point, what can you trust on film??  NOTHING apparently!!  This point really blew my mind!  You cannot trust the image! You cannot trust what you hear or anything else for that matter.  It is all an illusion put together by the filmmaker.  For example continuity is an illusion!  We already know the two shots of a man walking to a door, then coming through a door were filmed separately and put together to show a man walking through space.  We already know scenes are shot out of order, and often times shots are shot in size order.  For example a conversation can be filmed as one medium shot, then each character in turn can say their lines as close ups that are then cut and put together.  This really opened my mind to other possibilities within film making.  Because the filmmaker can gather all of the information they want, but at the end of the day they are the wizard that will create (or recreate) - in their own way - the place and actions or events surrounding their subject.  This gives the filmmaker infinite power to create anything at all.  This illustrates the freedom held by filmmaker within the oppression.  The filmmaker is stuck in a box of ethically dealing with subject and audience, and must be ready to sacrifice some vision in order for the work to be funded and seen by a larger audience.  However while working within these constraints the filmmaker is free to explore and portray the events and people as he/she sees fit; there is great power in this notion.

A Walk Through Harlem @ 8AM

Drizzling.  Empty.  Maybe the silence is the most shocking right now.  Light drops of rain on the ground.  You hear the sloshing of tires on wet ground.  Barely any cars out.  Slowly make a velcro un-doing sound as they cautiously drive.  Birds tweet overhead.  Loudly, not annoying in the least.  With all the trees and people silence, Harlem is pretty peaceful in the AM.  A couple stands on the corner, their voices a hurried whisper swallowed by the rain and velcro of the car tires.  A truck at a stoplight.  A base, growly kind of sound.  As the light turns green growly truck becomes more high pitch and it speeds away.  Cleaner truck.  Ironic something to clean creates so much noise pollution.  Loud engine, loud brush scrubbing up rain.  Slowly interrupts every other sound as it goes down the street.  Loud tweets.  I look to my left - small birds found cover from rain under Scientology awning.  Sing to each other very loudly.  Or perhaps amplified by the space they invaded.  Surprised me.  On 125th street all sounds are drowned out by early morning addicts yelling to each other as they stagger down the streets.