component 1 section B- American film since 2005

Spectator vs Audience

Film studies distinguish between the response of social groups, collectives of people – an audience – and the response of the individual – a spectator.

•Spectatorship is concerned primarily with the way the individual is positioned between projector and screen in a darkened space

•The audience ceases to exist for the individual spectator for the duration of the film

•Although the spectator is singular, a figure alone before the screen, spectatorship tries to generalise about how all spectators behave

component 1: US film since 2005 

CAPTAIN FANTASTIC:

spectatorship+ ideology

independent film -production context

spectatorship:

- Passive

- Active

- Dynamic interaction with film narrative

- Uniformity or diversity

- Preferred, negotiated, oppositional and aberrant readings (reception theory) 

- Impact of different viewing conditions on response

- The analysis of narrative, visual, musical, performance, genre and Auter cues

 

ideology: a critique of American society and binary opposites: 

BEN                                            JACK

liberalism/progressiveness VS   traditional convention

Antiestablishment VS status quo 

liberal education VS traditional education 

power freedom VS order conservatism 

questioning and rebelling against status quo VS conserving and preserving the status quo

KEY SCENE - SWEET CHILD OF MINE

NARRATIVE:                                              

-Dancing around the fire      

primitive and tribal 

- sequence towards the end

shows they are a strong unit 

despite what they want 

VISUAL CUES:

 -all shots characters are in the centre, not on edge -sutured

-our focus, target film

-its a funeral 

-over shoulder-fire

-panning landscape

-cuts to a different child 

-looks like they're in heaven 

PERFORMANCE

-cheerful

-synchrony with each other- family unity

-each child has different functions that act as one

-dad acts as the conductor 

-sense of relief-catharsis for spectator 

sweet child paragraphs:

The sweet child O' mine scene in which the family gather to cremate there mothers body. They are seen to be cheerfully dancing and singing in a tribal manner and going against the status quo of what a 'typical' cremation ceremony would look like. At this point, the spectator begins to become active. Because as perceivers we are processing how different there ceremony is and their way of doing things seems much more authentic and liberating way to celebrate death. Therefore as spectators, we are in a position to deeply process whether their way of life is better or worse than the traditional conventional way of living.

In terms of performance, each child is playing a different instrument or singing and they each have their own function but they act as one. This signifies that they have strong unity as a family, despite the family dispute that happens throughout the film concerning they way the dad has raised them without the traditional schooling and raised them to be anti-establishment like himself. However in this scene for Ben and the spectators it a acts as a sense of relief for him you can tell by the way he acts as passive conductor watching his children sing and dance to this song symbolises he has completed his mission in teaching his kids 'the right way to live'. This scene sums up the resolution to the film, how the family survives the battle of living under the oppressive society and instead chooses to live how they want through their own methods of freedom. This gives the spectator a sense of catharsis because it represents the end to there struggles and therefore is satisfying for us to see them live how they want to without disturbance.

the panning of the landscape and the costume of the family is very ethereal as if they are not in this world and not from this world, the close-up shot of the clouds then a shot of their mother on top of the fire. As well as the sublime scenery all sets the image of heaven on earth for the spectator. 

Dinner sequence analysis:ideology

-mum/harper and husband-telling children how lesley died

-vs ben-straight out with it 

-ben reflecting chomskys philosophy of learning/language

-ideological clash-ben rejecting nuclear family-middle class value

-typical American family-ben is perplexed by their view

-ben pushes his belief and boundaries onto family

The dinner sequence represents bens overall mindest on his opposition of the traditional amercan set up of a nuclear family, and its 

Stuart Hall:

cultural theorist/political perspective/Marxist ideologies

representations are never transparent or authentic

never a window on the world

mediated reality

dynamic and active spectatorship

preferred reading- reading an interpretation :

accepting, colluding with the messages, values and ideologies of the text-film

reception theory :

with reference to a sequence you have examined explain and analyse how reception theory enhances our spectatorship:

oppositional reading :

rejecting messages, resisting, reality, or representation values and ideologies are rejected

relevant for a more active approach-also for specific groups-on the margins: gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, class

negotiated :

negotiating a reading which both accepts and rejects aspects of films messages/values

Aberrant readings:

de-coded or interpreted differently to the intended messages/meanings

constructing meanings of your own from that text/film

EXAM STYLE QUESTION:

With close reference to the dinner’ sequence analyses how a critical approach you have studied enhances your understanding of the films’ ideologies 

The dinner sequence starts at the beginning of Act 2 and represents bens overall mindset on his opposition of the traditional American set up of a nuclear family which jacks family symbolises behaving as a conventional American family. which directly opposes Bens position of anti-establishment and rebelling against the status quo, which resembles the works of Chomsky who has been referenced by ben throughout the film specifically the celebration of ‘Chomsky day’. Specifically when harper and the father explain how Lesley died, but disguising the real reason, however ben, seemed perplexed on why harpers feel the need to ‘protect’ the children from the truth and he intervened and blatantly and honestly informed the children that she killed herself.

 Consequently there opposing views on how children should be informed on mental illness caused conflict over the table, and ben pushes his beliefs and boundaries onto their family. Causing the spectator to decide which family they align with, which depends on their own views on how to raise children, overall this creates an internal deepened processing within the spectator. In terms of mise-en-scene

amy essay Apply one filmmaker's theory of documentary film you have studied to your chosen documentary. How far does this increase your understanding of the film?

Amy essay

Apply one filmmaker's theory of documentary film you have studied to your chosen documentary. How far does this increase your understanding of the film?

In Asif Kapadia's documentary Amy, which is about the life of Amy Winehouse, Kapadia could be seen as a personal documentary filmmaker due to the many hours of archive footage he collected and edited to make the film. Kapadia shares some traits with the observational filmmaker, Kim Longinotto, where they both delve deep into the lives of their chosen projects by making the spectator feel a part of their life; both use voiceover to create a commentary on their chosen subjects; however, whilst Longinotto personally speaks in her documentary voiceover, Kapadia is silent. Therefore, there is more of a sense of distance created by Kapadia from his subject. Kapadia’s documentary speaks directly to the spectator through voiceovers of the people who were involved in the time of what was being shown. This gives more of a sense of realism rather than the filmmaker's voice-over opinion on it. This, therefore, influences the spectator to create there own new opinions on Amy and not what is just being shown. Kapadia wants the spectator to feel a certain way about Amy and does this through the archived footage he edited in certain ways. This included handheld camera footage and paparazzi footage. All of these micro features help the spectator to feel more involved with the documentary, as they create a feeling of intimacy with Amy’s ‘real’ life. Kapadia's main theme he wanted to express was that of what publicity can do to your life and what the corruption of fame does to people. 

At around the midpoint of Amy, there is a section where Amy's song Love is a Losing Game is played over a series of videos and pictures over her and Blake. The song and the images are manipulated by Kapadia as they are played as the spectator learns of the demise of their relationship and the negative, destructive effect that it had on Amy and her mental health. This section and this technique are particularly effective as Kapadia manipulates the way the spectator views Blake throughout the film, this section, in particular, portrays him as corrupt and manipulative shaping the way the spectator will continue to view Blake. Whereas Amy is shown to be more sweet and innocent compared to blake, perhaps suggested by the inclusion of the song weaved into the background of the images, it is one of her more honest and open songs and develops the idea that Blake was the negative counterpart in the relationship and was the main destructive influence on Amy. This could be seen as a further manipulation by Kapadia to give the spectator a bias against Blake as a figure, possibly diminishing the objective element of the documentary as the spectator learns more about her and her relationship with Blake. Compared to an observational filmmaker such as Kim Longinottto who has more of an objective approach. Because she is purely just observing and filming, also Longnitto spends less time editing than Kapadia. He searches for archived footage and goes through a long process of editing and cutting all the footage down into a 128-minute film. Kapadia's personal documentary-style makes Amy a more subjective film because he spends more time engineering his work. 

At the very end of the film, where Amy's death takes place, there is archived montage footage of the scene and Amy's dead body is in extreme longshot, creating an uneasy feeling that we are spying on her. The footage is outside her house with the ambulance outside alongside with the voiceover of Andrew Morris, her bodyguard. The first witness to her death, explaining how Amy told him the night before how much she hated being famous. Asif Kapadia assembled the footage and Morris’ voice to magnify how little privacy Amy actually had even on her death bed, she was filmed and photographed, showing no escape from paparazzi even after her death. Kapadia wanted the spectators to sympathise and empathise with Amy, to show her lack of control and abuse of drugs as a form of escapism from the shock of sudden fame, as well as a cry for help and a lack of hope. Kapadia style of personal documentary depicts Amy in a certain way, as spectators we are compelled to sympathise with Amy, through the interviews with Amy loved ones as well as compelling montages of Amy being her charismatic self, but we are also forced to see her at her worse. Therefore at the end of the film, we are left to our own devices of judgment on Amy Winehouse but we are encouraged to feel sorry for her due to Kapadia's personal documentary style. To compare Kapadia’s work with that of another filmmaker, Longinotto and her observational style, Kapadia’s film seems more subjective because he takes more time manipulating his work; more process has gone into influencing spectator response, making it more subjective and leaning favour towards Amy.

in conclusion, my understanding of film has increased because the comparison I made between Longinottos observational style showed how it differs from Kapadia's style in Amy and that allowed me to become more aware of the big spectrum of documentary film differs as a whole. As well as to evaluate to what extent can documentary can actually be objective rather than subjective, and how far Kapadia successfully illustrates Amy in a objective light. and how Kapadia illustrated to me how the editing processes differed to make a different ending result of the film.

documentary-AMY

AMY

documentary definition: 

A documentary film  is a non-fictional, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education, or maintaining a historical record"

what we focus on when analysing AMY
film form 
critical debates
filmmaker-theories
meaning and response
contexts

section B-documentary
an exam question would be on filmmaker-theories and / critical debates, so you can sort of plan your answer before


according to bill Nichols, the documentary can be subdivided into
6 documentary modes:

POETIC MODE- The poetic mode is considered a „subjective interpretation of the subject‟ – essentially meaning its biased. This model dictates that a certain tone or mood is depicted throughout the documentary, which will influence the viewers understanding and intake of information. This mood is purposefully created through the left out of important information, such as character descriptions and specific events, which create a biased viewpoint.


Expository Mode- The expository mode is where the documenter speaks directly to the viewer, through the use of tools such as voice over, or subtitles, and through this create a powerful argument and point of view. Images are more so used to emphasise the point being mentioned by the documenter and not to create their own point, this adds to the extremity of the point being made, and adds relevant pictorial evidence. Through this use of pictures being accompanied by direct addressing of the audience, the audience is strongly directed to view a picture or video in a specific way. This is used in historical documentaries to deliver an „unproblematic and objective‟ account and interpretation of past events.

Observational Model- Emphasizing the documentary filmmakers engagement in observing the subjects daily life and circumstances and documenting them with an unobtrusive camera. The observational mode uses a more „unbiased‟ method, through the simple observation of events happening around the documenter without any direct interference. Conclusions are then obtained from the events and scenarios witnessed. This passive way of obtaining facts, creates a more intimate connection between the audience, by them actually witnessing real events (such as trauma or injury‟) which can cause an emotional response from the viewer.

Participatory Mode- The participatory mode believes that the documenter has to have a certain level of influence on the footage and facts. This allows a certain level of clear evidence on the documenters presence affecting events. The incorporation of documenter influence will essentially make the film entirely biased, as they will create artificial events to create a strong and evident argument.


Reflexive Mode Definition- The mode uses specific footage and information that will lead viewers to a specific outcome and therefore essentially make the decision of their opinions for them. The reflexive mode essentially highlights constructed scenarios and does not create a sense of realism intentionally to emphasise the point of the documentary. This can highlight extreme cases of events, but these will be considered normal by the un-aware viewer. This extreme use of suggestion toward one viewpoint makes the documentary especially successful.

Performative Mode- An example of the Performative Mode is Alain Resnais‟ Night and Fog (1955) a subjective, survivor account of the holocaust, recounting a biased opinion of the events have taken place. The controversial content and subject matter of the film causes it to become an emotionally based film, adding the aspects of the Performative Mode. Also, it follows the typical convention that this mode is suited more for minorities to give them a voice.


AMY-Mode This could be an observational documentary as the director didn’t really have an impact on what was filmed only what was included. As none of this footage is his own except the interviews he didn’t influence the footage or behaviours. Narrative The documentary follows a linear narrative as it goes through Winehouse’s death from start to finish. It is also a single strand narrative as the only concentration of the documentary is Amy Winehouse’s life and career. Type This could be a fly-on-the-wall documentary as a lot of the documentary is footage of concerts and home footage which isn’t staged and just follows casual and usual about of what her life was like.


AMY paragraph:

At the very end of the film, where Amy's death takes place, and there is archived montage footage of the scene outside her house with the ambulance outside alongside with the voiceover  Morris, her bodyguard. The first witness to her death, explaining how Amy told him the night before how much she hated being famous. Asif Kapadia assembled the footage and Andrew's voice to magnify how little privacy Amy actually had even on her death bed, she was filmed and photographed, showing no escape from paparazzi even after her death. Kapadia wanted the spectators to sympathise and empathise with Amy, to show her lack of control and abusement to drugs as an escapism from the shock of sudden fame, as well as a cry for help and a lack of hope. Kapadia style of personal documentary depicts Amy in a certain way, as spectators we are compelled to sympathise with Amy, through the interviews with Amy loved ones as well as compelling montages of Amy being her charismatic self, but we are also forced to see her at her worse. Therefore at the end of the film, we are left to our own devices of judgment on Amy Winehouse but we are encouraged to feel sorry for her due to  Kapadia's personal documentary style. To compare Kapdias work with that of another filmmaker, Longinotto and observational filmmaker, who makes her work more of an objective form, rather than Kapadia with Amy because he takes more time manipulating his work because more process has gone into influencing spectator response, making it more subjective and leaning favour towards Amy.

Amy essay

Apply one filmmaker's theory of documentary film you have studied to your chosen documentary. How far does this increase your understanding of the film?

In Asif Kapadia's documentary Amy, which is about the life of Amy Winehouse, Kapadia could be seen as a personal documentary filmmaker due to the many hours of archive footage he collected and edited to make the film. Kapadia shares some traits with the observational filmmaker, Kim Longinotto, where they both delve deep into the lives of their chosen projects by making the spectator feel a part of their life; both use voiceover to create a commentary on their chosen subjects; however, whilst Longinotto personally speaks in her documentary voiceover, Kapadia is silent. Therefore, there is more of a sense of distance created by Kapadia from his subject. Kapadia’s documentary speaks directly to the spectator through voiceovers of the people who were involved in the time of what was being shown. This exposes the deeper meaning of what was happening at that time. This influences the spectator to create new opinions on Amy and not what is just being shown. Kapadia wants the spectator to feel a certain way about Amy and does this through the archived footage he edited in certain ways. This included handheld camera footage and paparazzi footage. All of these micro features help the spectator to feel more involved with the documentary, as they create a feeling of intimacy with Amy’s ‘real’ life. Kapadia's main theme he wanted to express was that of what publicity can do to your life and what the corruption of fame does to people. 

At around the midpoint of Amy (dir. Asif Kapadia), there is a section where Amy's song Love is a Losing Game is played over a series of videos and pictures over her and Blake. The song and the images are manipulated by Kapadia as they are played as the spectator learns of the demise of their relationship and the negative, destructive effect that it had on Amy and her mental health. This section and this technique are particularly effective as Kapadia manipulates the way the spectator views Blake throughout the film, this section, in particular, portrays him as corrupt and manipulative shaping the way the spectator will continue to view Blake. Whereas Amy is shown to be sweet and innocent compared to blake, perhaps suggested by the inclusion of the song weaved into the background of the images, it is one of her more honest and open songs and develops the idea that Blake was the negative counterpart in the relationship and was the main destructive influence on Amy. This could be seen as a further manipulation by Kapadia to give the spectator a bias against Blake as a figure, possibly diminishing the objective element of the documentary as the spectator learns more about her and her relationship with Blake. Compared to an observational filmmaker such as Kim Longinottto who has more of an objective approach. Because she is purely just observing and filming, also Longnitto spends less time editing than Kapadia. He searches for archived footage and goes through a long process of editing and cutting all the footage down into a 128-minute film. Kapadia's personal documentary-style makes Amy a more subjective film because he spends more time engineering his work. 

At the very end of the film, where Amy's death takes place, there is archived montage footage of the scene outside her house with the ambulance outside alongside with the voiceover of Andrew Morris, her bodyguard. The first witness to her death, explaining how Amy told him the night before how much she hated being famous. Asif Kapadia assembled the footage and Morris’ voice to magnify how little privacy Amy actually had even on her death bed, she was filmed and photographed, showing no escape from paparazzi even after her death. Kapadia wanted the spectators to sympathise and empathise with Amy, to show her lack of control and abuse of drugs as a form of escapism from the shock of sudden fame, as well as a cry for help and a lack of hope. Kapadia style of personal documentary depicts Amy in a certain way, as spectators we are compelled to sympathise with Amy, through the interviews with Amy loved ones as well as compelling montages of Amy being her charismatic self, but we are also forced to see her at her worse. Therefore at the end of the film, we are left to our own devices of judgment on Amy Winehouse but we are encouraged to feel sorry for her due to Kapadia's personal documentary style. To compare Kapadia’s work with that of another filmmaker, Longinotto and her observational style, Kapadia’s film seems more subjective because he takes more time manipulating his work; more process has gone into influencing spectator response, making it more subjective and leaning favour towards Amy.

in conclusion, my understanding of film has increased because the comparison I made between Longinottos observational style showed how it differs from Kapadia's style in Amy and that allowed me to become more aware of the big spectrum of documentary film differs as a whole. It also illustrated to me how the editing processes differed to make a different ending result of the film.

Discuss how far your chosen films reflect aesthetic qualities associated with a particular film movement.

Discuss how far your chosen films reflect aesthetic qualities associated with a particular film movement. 

sapphire collins

'man with a movie camera' by Dziga Vertov and 'a Propos de nice' by Jean Vigo are my chosen films both of these films are the pioneers of the Constructivist art movement that showcases the conversion of how people view the Bourgeoisie as a defect of capitalism. It encapsulates the uprisen of industrialisation and the increasingly progressive nature people of Russia  (a man with a movie camera). Constructivism art according to its manifesto is  'purely technical mastery and organisation of materials' and that art should directly reflect the modern industrial world. Vertov and Vigo both are constructivist and pioneer the constructivist movement through there films.

Film is a relatively new invention, the film itself is an expression of modernism. Within this context, Vertovs MWAMC (1929)  pioneered the movement and should be considered one of the best films of its time because of its importance in the history of art. It's essentially a time-capsule that allows the modern-day spectator to watch an abstract view on how the people of 1929 dealt with the oppression of the bourgeoisie and their attempt to reject it. Vertov being a constructivist, for him, montage was part of the selection process. The combination of shots would affect the audience, making them aware. He founded the experimental group Kino eye together with his wife Elisaveta Svilova (co-editor) and his brother Mikhail Kaufman (cameraman). They felt the task of the Soviet film was to document reality ‘to reveal the truth’ and were opposed to the fiction film that depended on artifice.

'A popos de nice' was directed by Jean Vigo and photographed by Boris Kaufman (brother of dziga Vertov) the film depicts life in Nice, France by documenting people in the city, daily routines, a carnival & social inequalities. from Vigo's manifesto, he proclaims 'way of life is put on trial... the last gasps of a society so lost in its escapism that it sickens you & makes you sympathetic to a revolutionary solution'. Although its a french film, its heavily influenced by soviet modernism and constructivism-not least through family ties to Vertov, and as such it sits firmly in that genre.


Specifically in MWAMC, Roughly a third of the way through the film, Vertov uses a sequence involving trains and trams in order to showcase communistic expansion and innovation in the Soviet Union. He praises this new technological advance via the use of muscular filmmaking. of the ways this is most prevalent is through the use of split-screen and a canted camera angle. This is reflective of the social hierarchy as the rich on the right get richer whilst the poor on the left get poorer; however, after the Russian Revolution of 1917, which saw the overthrow of the aristocracy, there was a newfound sense of equality, so the canted split screen could be seen as representing the way in which rich and poor were merging.  Vertov was heavily influenced by the soviet USSR government, to incorporate Russian propaganda in MWAMC to display Russia in more of positive light and to appeal to global superpowers. Even though Vertov was governed by the governmental pressures he still was able to incorporate 'film hooliganism'.  Sergei Eisenstein, a Soviet contemporary of Vertov, dismissed him as a “hooligan", due to Vertov’s almost fetishistic experimentation with the possibilities of the medium.

Another example of this would be the very final scene encapsulates the kino group's exploration of the postmodern constructivist movement and celebrates experimental cinema. Vertov uses many intercutting, fast pace shots of a bird's eye view shot of a mass group of people in the centre of Moscow. Vertov wanted to demonstrate his virtuoso film making by using the birds-eye view shot. We then it cuts to Kaufman, with the fast pace moving camera showing the reality of how fast pace life can be.; then onto a low angle extreme close up of Svilova- specifically her eyes -as she edits the film; and a series of shots of trains and other forms of new technology moving rapidly across the screen. This gives the impression that Svilova is watching over the diegetic events of the film; in effect, she is controlling them. The Kino-Eye group believed in experimenting with the potential of cinema to record the truth. Therefore, the editor's role is celebrated here. This final sequence is all about the gaze of Svilova, and also the gaze of the camera lens; it is a newfound way of capturing modernity. Of how the modernist, revolutionary, constructivist vision or the future has taken over cinema, but also the world at large. Vertov's juxtaposition of the clock pendulum and the rapidly moving train - presented via quick, two frames cuts-perfectly encapsulates this aesthetic



in 'A popos de nice'  about a quarter way through, there is a high angle shot of seemingly well-dressed middle-class people walking along the beach. Because the camera is seemingly distant from the civilians this dehumanises them and gives a sense of them being unattainable. Throughout the film, we see more of these shots looking down on the middle-class citizens. Illustrating how he Thinks low of the working-class individuals and highlights his dislike for them. Show the city symphony as represents the population excluding the middle-class, and how the rest of society has a dislike for the middle class due to their elaborate lifestyle and potential arrogance.  


In conclusion, both 'APDN' and 'MWAMC' display aesthetic qualities in there films to reflect the attitudes they have towards the societal issues that they want to overcome and begin to change. Both films have a big part in film history itself. Because they pushed the film to new lengths with new innovative aesthetic techniques such as film hooliganism, muscular filmmaking and meta-analysis in film, and these features have never been seen before. Therefore these films acted as a forefront to pave the way for other filmmakers in the future.

silent cinema: 'man with a movie camera' 'A propos de nice'

MWAMC:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C-2RgK3WwA

A Propos de Nice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ETsLNADFLA

silent cinema

• The 1920s
• cinema should be regarded as primarily a visual medium 
• critics hated the coming of the sound, dialogue-driven narrative was perceived as dragging cinema backwards as a form of theatre.

A propos de Nice (About Nice):
- A documentary about Nice

Unmediated -> not edited to appease certain people, without bias?

Realist vs Expressionist
Realism:
- Representation: As unmediated as possible
- Visual Aesthetic: Simple
- Principle: Respect/Truth
- Intent: Spectator reflection

Expressionism:
- Representation: Highly mediated
- Visual Aesthetic: Highly constructed
- Principle: Manipulation
- Intent: Spectator 'agitation'

APDN: expressionistic -> designed to make people angry about the rich

APDN:
- directed by Jean Vigo, France, 1930
- Silent short documentary
- Photographed by Boris Kaufman (brother of MWAMC's director Dziga Vertov)
- Film depicts life in Nice, France by documenting people in the city, daily routines, a carnival & social inequalities
- Vigo described the film in an address to the Groupement des Spectators d'Avant-Garde: 'in this film, by showing certain basic aspects of a city, a way of life is put on trial... the last gasps of a society so lost in its escapism that it sickens you & makes you sympathetic to a revolutionary solution'
- Although French, heavily influenced by Soviet Modernism & Constructivism - not least through family ties to Vertov - & as such sits firmly in that genre
- Is a montage film
- Mediates to the point where its nearly fiction but its still a documentary
- APDN & MWAMC are both modernist, constructivist & city symphonies films

3 movements which influenced APDN:
Modernism
- Strong commitment to the machine, inc machinery of cinema, as a progressive force, promises to create a bold new future
- Culture celebrates invention of whole new way of life; period when 'modern' life = invented
- Looking forward, sense of new/different world under construction & experienced materially & psychically
- In opposition to the idea of films constituting 'art movements', is the idea they're contributing to an international effort to understand through experimentation what's possible within medium of cinema, an understanding informing art cinema & popular cinema equally
- Challenges & progresses what's been done before

Constructivism
- Sergei Eisenstein, greatest filmmaker-as-theorist of all, used his 1st feature (Strike) as a laboratory experiment in power of montage
- However should be careful never to limit Soviet Montage to editing -> better to call moment Constructivism which links developments in cinema to wider artistic innovations of the time
- Constructivism celebrates the machine (inc human machine) with new theories of acting & physical movement based one exploring mechanics of human body & communication -> uses ideas of mechanisation of society -> move to industrialisation

City Symphonies
- A type of constructivist cinema
- Early 20's (when silent era of film-making still in full swing): genre of city symphony emerged
- What constitutes a CS is somewhat fluid but broadly speaker it's defined as a poetic, experimental documentary that presents a portrait of daily life within a city whilst attempting to capture something of the city's spirit
- More specifically, refers to films that are influenced by the form & structure of a musical symphony, although it's debatable as to how many of the films labelled as city symphonies conform to this pattern. The city symphony tag is very slippery -> questionable whether even its most famous example (MWAMC) is a true city symphony

City symphonies is a product of constructivism which is a product of modernism which is a product of expressionism

Montage: puts shots in a non-chronological order, designed to create a specific meaning, idea of collage editing

Need to know what left wing is to help understand Vigo's concepts

Context:
Social:
- '29: Soviet Revolution into & beyond its first decade -> socialist unrest across Europe & world to varying extents
- Ideas about role of work classes rights changing -> power to question wealthy & status quo growing rapidly
- Spain -> homeland of Vigo's parents & when Vigo was young -> under a military dictatorship
- Vigo's father, a prominent Anarchist journalist, imprisoned for political views, dying whilst incarcerated under suspicious circumstances
Historical:
- Prior to Wall Street Cash -> wealthy, inc. those in France, lived highly opulent life styles, v. different to poor & the wealthy's own circumstances post '29
APDN takes a modernist & expressionist view on wealth & the rich -> hypocritical of them
Political:
- By association with Vertov's brothers, Vigo associated with Revolutionary LEF group (Left Front) -> members included Rodchenko, Mayakovsky & Eisenstein -> all prominent socialist film-makers -> Vigo's peer group & people he spent his time with were pro-USSR, pro-Socialist Revolution, very left wing, staunch advocates for fairness, harsh critics of private wealth & riches
A socialist making a condeming film of wealth, riches & capitalism, different to the others in Russia who celebrates the equality through their films
Technological/Institutional:
- Vigo, suffering from tuberculosis, worked as an assistant cameraman for a small company in Nice
- After his father-in-law gave him & his wife $250, Vigo bought his own Debrie camera
- Summer of '29 in Paris: Vigo met Boris & Mikhail Kaufman (brothers of Dziga Vertov). Boris was interested in Vigo's idea about making a film on Nice & them (with their wives) created a script
- Vigo saved ends of film from his work in order to shot APDN & filming underway by year's end
- In the film, Vigo wanted to avoid a travelogue approach & show boredom of upper class in casinos & at the shore + struggle of poor inhabitants in slums
- Vigo & Kaufman unable to shoot inside casinos, instead they decided to concentrate on strength of images & rely on editing phase

One of the very first low budget independent style of filmmakers

'man with a movie camera' by Vertov in 1929

Dziga Vertov:

• Vertov was a pioneer of constructivist. 
• liked montages
• combo of shot affected the audience, making them aware.
• founded experiment group kino eye 
• consisted of his wife(editor)
• brother(cameraman)
• believed that soviet film should document the reality
• symphony
• film hooligan
• city symphony
• muscular filmmaking
• self reflective-meta

CONTEXT

SOCIAL:

• 1929 the soviet revolution into and beyond its first decade.
• ideas about the role of the new Soviet citizen.
• openness to experiment initiated under Lenin now beginning to close down under Josef Stalin.

historical:

• 1928 Stalin introduced the first five- year plan whose chief aim was to rapidly expand industrial production to bring a vast country into line with western Europe.

political:

• vert associated with the revolutionary LEF group. 1928 the first all-union party congress on film questions criticised 'formalist devices' as used by Eisenstein and others. these were considered to make films inaccessible to a mass audience

technological:

• Vertov had worked on propaganda trains and edited whilst on the train 

institutional:

• early 1922 'Lenin proportion' 75% fiction film 25% documentary film.

man with a movie camera

-meta-narrative

-awareness of its own creation

-mechanically controlling the natural elements illustrating how powerful Russia has become by joining the modern world.

Discuss how far your chosen film or films reflect aesthetic qualities associated with a particular film movement.

Man with a Movie Camera (MWAMC) and A Propos De Nice reflect aesthetic qualities associated with constructivism and Soviet montage. Constructivism is the belief art should directly reflect the modern industrial world. Constructivist filmmaker Vertov was described by Sergei Eisenstein as a 'film hooligan' as he uses unusual techniques labelled as 'unmotivated camera mischief', meaning without any purpose other than being experimental. The constructivist view of Vertov means he would believe that the modern Russians should reject creating art forms based on the past (mainly capitalist Russia), as it stems from the rise of communism in Russia. [last part needs rewording - unclear] This is why he wants to depict the fall of the Bolshoi Theatre to the spectators, as watching theatre was the normality of the bourgeoisie, therefore it's associated it with the upper-class.

The final sequence of the film conveys the constructivist value of disassociating with all symbols of capitalist Russia. One of the key sequences within the finale begins with the 'melting' of the Bolshoi Theatre. Vertov achieves this 'melting' by covering one side of the camera and rotating it left and right with two different shots to create this split-screen illusion. This represents to the spectator the products of Russia's capitalism metaphorically 'melting' at the hands of its believers; essentially meaning the bourgeoisie have brought their own downfall upon themselves. This is displayed as a punishment for the way the proletariat were treated until their rise.

The very final scene encapsulates the kino group's exploration of the postmodern constructivist movement and celebrates experimental cinema. Vertov uses many intercutting, fast pace shots of a bird's eye view shot of a mass group of people in the centre of Moscow. Vertov wanted to demonstrate his virtuoso film making by using the birds-eye view shot. We then it cuts to Kaufman, with the moving camera in dynamic movement; then onto a low angle extreme close up of Svilova- specifically her eyes -as she edits the film; and a series of shots of trains and other forms of new technology moving rapidly across the screen. 

This gives the impression that Svilova is watching over the diegetic events of the film; in effect, she is controlling them. The Kino-Eye group believed in experimenting with the potential of cinema to record the truth. Therefore, the editor's role is celebrated here. This final sequence is all about the gaze of Svilova, and also the gaze of the camera lens; it is a newfound way of capturing modernity. Of how the modernist, revolutionary, constructivist vision or the future has taken over cinema, but also the world at large. Vertov's juxtaposition of the clock pendulum and the rapidly moving train - presented via quick, two frames cuts-perfectly encapsulates this aesthetic.

'A Propos De Nice'

Benji (21:50)

Towards the end of 'A Propos De Nice', Vigo employs cross-cutting between a lady from the bourgeoisie of Nice and an industrial factory. The close-ups of the grinning rich lady, coupled with her jewellery and expensive attire, depict her as decadent and corrupt, whilst the low-angle shot of the factory helps emphasise the grand scale of the new, revolutionary building. The cross-cutting between the two shots forces the spectator to unconsciously compare the importance of the lady and the factory, with the factory being obviously superior. The director does this to discard any importance of the bourgeoisie, which the lady is part of, to inflict his communist views onto the spectator. The long, thin factory tower, in which its size is emphasised in the film, is a phallic object. The spectator's attraction to the factory tower not only would impress them, but the phallic shape also underscores the notion of the patriarchy.

Xander, Josh, Abi (18:40)

Roughly a third of the way through the film, Vertov uses a sequence involving trains and trams in order to celebrate communistic expansion and innovation in the Soviet Union. He praises this new technological advance via the use of muscular filmmaking and experimentation of different individual elements in the film. One of the ways this is most prevalent is through the use of split-screen and a canted camera angle. This is reflective of the social hierarchy as the rich on the right get richer whilst the poor on the left get poorer; however, after the Russian Revolution of 1917, which saw the overthrow of the aristocracy, there was a newfound sense of equality, so the canted split screen could be seen as representing the way in which rich and poor were starting to merge.

The Kuleshov effect, in which meaning is created via the juxtaposition of shots, is evident in the cut between the bicycle and the train in the same sequence, in which we can see old technology compared to new technology. Constructivism was influenced by Italian futurism, an art movement that celebrated movement, dynamism and new technologies. In the same way, Vertov dismisses the old technology of the bicycle and praises the new transport of trains. This technological advance reflects constructivism within the Soviet Union. The next scene starts to speed up whilst we see trams move past multiple times. This reflects time moving very quickly as society starts to speed up with new advances in life. This is a celebration of the Soviet Union advancing at a quicker pace than other countries, reflective of the ideal that Vertov holds of the trains and trams presenting the ideas of society moving forward and advancing. See passing in the foreground, these new modes of transport overlay traditional architecture in the background – a classical portico and Russian Orthodox church – which represent the 'old ways', as run by the bourgeoisie. These methods are seen as outdated and Vertov tries to get that idea to the spectator through his work; that bourgeoisie preoccupations must be superseded by the ‘new’.

Furthermore, in this sequence, Vertov uses a split-screen technique – itself a technical innovation – to make a horse and cart 'disappear'. This new 'split-screen' technique was created by filming the scene with half the lens covered and repeating with the other covered. Therefore, the horse seems to disappear under one half of the screen behind as Kaufman advances forward. This is reflective of the constructivist and futurist inspirations behind this film: the idea of leaving the old technology such as horse and carts and moving forward to modern, equal society, with technological advances such as trains and tram leaving behind the social hierarchy that plagues the society in the past.

How has an ideological critical approach given you a deeper understanding of binary opposites in the narrative of your chosen film?

How has an ideological critical approach given you a deeper understanding of binary opposites in the narrative of your chosen film?


fish tank plan:

2 scenes
mother and daughter scene dancing -end of act 3
mia and Connor sex scene -end of act 2 climax of the film

we need to talk about

In both fishtank directed by Andrea Arnold and we need to talk about Kevin directed by Lynne Ramsey there ideological approach to feminism given a deeper understanding of binary opposition. The recurring themes of binary opposition that appear in a fishtank and talk about Kevin are old vs young, man vs women, and parent vs child. Binary opposites allow the spectator to dissect the underlining messages in the film such as the societal ideals put on women, which puts them in a position of inferiority.

Specifically, in fishtank the sex scene between Mia and Connor, this was the halfway point through the film, in terms of the classic three-act structure, it took part in the midpoint climax of Act two.
in this sequence the audience is encouraged to view Connor from mia perspective, this is because of the cinematographic effect. specifically, when mia is standing and Connor is reclining backwards, the camera is angled down but within Mias line of sight. This effect encourages the spectator to identify with mia by distancing from Connor, thus seeing him as an object. Also, Mia is constantly in the shot, there is no singular shot without her in this emphasises her importance in this scene and full focus should be on her. In this scene, the binary opposition is old vs young. This is emphasised through the camera shots of Mia's non-sexual, innocent body parts such as her ankles and hands and lack of visuals of the genitalia during a sex scene. Arnold did this to represent Mias youth and to exemplify that mia is still a child and Connor is an adult preying on an underage girl. Also, the closeup of Mia's damaged ankle reminded the viewer of when Connor acted very paternally by helping her when she was hurt in the lake scene. This furtherly aligns the spectator with Mia's confusion on whether she sees Connor as a father figure or a potential partner. Also begs the viewers in questioning Connors true intentions for her and question if he is using his male dominance and power to abuse her naivety and innocence so he can please his sexual desires.


Another key scene in Fishtank is at the end of act 3 where Mia and her mother both dance in synced and have what seems to be a restoration of there relationship. The dance almost seems like a tribal reconciliation of love and understanding between them, and the binary opposite of mother vs daughter is resolved. The dance was so in sync it resembled a reflection. Arnold may have used the dance to symbolise mia entering womanhood. this means mia has come to the stage where her mother can no longer facilitate her and mia no longer wants or feels the need to be mothered and looked after by her mother. But instead a man(billy) the reasoning could also be because of Connor and Mia's relationship. The dance may also symbolise her mum contentedly wanting her to leave home. The long cuts between the shots made the scene more intense and had a more realistic feel, and gave a sense of sincerity and genuineness between mia and her mother. However in Oedipal terms, the female child never fully stops the desire for her mother. Instead, in order to conform to society, she must simply suppress her desire. This can be seen in the dance that Mia and Joanne share together. a mating ritual that in this case stands for the consummation of desire between mother and daughter. But after this scene, Mia goes off into the sunset with billy and therefore becomes normalised in society.


In we need to talk about Kevin the scene in act 2 where Eva tries to impersonate a mother figure and attempt to establish a relationship with Kevin by playing with him by rolling him a ball. the binary opposition is mother vs child and memory vs truth.  Both characters are mirroring each other by the way they're sitting on the floor a metre apart, this gap symbolises there lack of relationship. they're are also positioned in a medium close up over the shoulder shot-reverse-shot before cutaways reveal them to be in a medium closeup in posing stances. Kevin 'taunts' Eva by copying her facial expressions and bodily actions. Also in terms of mise-en-scene, the room is decorated with African heads presumably from Evas travels from her youth before Kevin which would represent her personality. the Shot reverse shot makes both characters seem intimate however the cutaway shot reveals how separate they actually are and this symbolises the illusion of Eva trying to perform the maternal role due to the social pressure to conform to the patriarchal society. Previously she has gone against the patriarchal ideals, being the main breadwinner and travelling solo around the world shows her independence and lack of strings attached. However, it seems Eva has to be there out of necessity and not out free-will. Also because Evas unreliable narration its hard to distinguish memory and truth, from her recollection Kevin 'taunts' her, however, this could be her manipulating the story so it makes sense for the reasoning behind why Kevin committed the crime. The spectator response is encouraged to align themselves with Eva simply because it's her story. However Eva is an unreliable narrator, she represents Kevin as a predestined murder who has innate psychopathic tendencies, but an active spectator may have found a fault within her storytelling and choose an alternative idea of why Kevin committed the crime.



Another key scene in we need to talk about Kevin is the golf scene in which Eva invites  Kevin to miniature golf as part of there date night. Eva and Kevin have a recurring conflict throughout even into his adolescence. This idea is demonstrated through the mise-en-scene specifically through costume and colour palette and framing. Kevin is wearing a blue t-shirt and a red jacket whilst Eva is wearing a purple jumper. These colour are monochromatic with blue and red combining to make purple, emphasising that, regardless of how much Eva resists it, she and Kevin are similar. Also Kevin top is very small for him, it was presumably an old shirt he wears from his younger adolescents. This could mean Kevin wants to feel looked after and comforted like a child, and he is carrying on wanting to feel comforted because he had a lack of comfort as a child. This is also implied via the framing with each other. the binary opposition in this scene is mother vs child 
Eva wants to establish a relationship with Kevin by materialistically taking him out for dinner and golf. This shows she cant spend time at home with him normally or else it would seem abnormal in their relationship.  instead, she needs a whole intense day out to rekindle a relationship that was never there. After  15 years of mothering him and she still trying to have a relationship shows she is trying, but it could be too late is the relationship already ruined from the beginning. from Kevins confused facial expressions throughout the date, it seems as though he doesn't know how to react to the attention he's getting. the spectator response is still aligned with Evas unreliable narrated point of view.


in conclusion, in we need to talk about Kevin and fishtank the ideological role of feminism plays a role of establishing binary opposites, in ways both films convey women struggling to come to terms with conforming to societal standards of the patriarchy that women need to uphold. in the fish tank, the struggle is within mia as she is in the never-ending cycle of needing to settle with a man is seen as the end goal. However in we need to talk about Kevin the nuclear family is disrupted therefore the social ideal is disrupted, arguably because Evas always felt comfortable being independent rather than a stay home mother. Therefore, she disrupts her own families live to relive her prime time as an independent women. Another binary opposite could be found between the two films which are conformity to the patriarchy vs nonconformity to patriarchy