先不理導演的處理手法,例如可能冇講到早期的early cinema等等…

有幾句說話令我很深刻:

“Generally speaking documentaries are shorter films, and they have to say some thing in the way of a message. They are informational films”.

from National Film Board, 原來以前documentary可以這樣解釋

“see, see and see” “shoot,shoot and shoot” 透過不斷review再review

Jean Rouch, watching Robert Flaherty’s Nanook of the North (1922) and asked his parents if it was a ‘true story’.His father said it was real but that it was acted.

看過電影的最大發現是原來Cinéma Vérité是一種globalize的發展,這種拍攝手法已經應用在不同的範疇上,例如mv和電視劇…

When I reviewed “A day of life in Glenn” again, the outcome was quite different from our expectation actually. The reason to find Glenn was just simple — a chance for us to study other’s life. Glenn was chosen finally because language barrier really hider me to get closer with foreigners, so my original idea was just simply to know one deeper with observing his life rather than conversation.

 Glenn’s circle of friends are artists and musicians, either local or foreigners. After school, he meets friends to chill out, talks about crazy projects, enjoys parties to play music (he is a DJ) and meet new friends. It seems art cannot separate from his life, and he spends much time with his friends/ activities with group of people. Therefore, we expected to observe a day of Glenn stayed at home on Sunday , which should be different from his life in weekdays—enjoys parties and gatherings after school.

On Sunday shooting, Carrie and I tried to set a frame on “how he sensitive to the camera” based on our first reviewing on footage took 3 days ago. We found when the camera was rolling, especially with the moment we silent, he always attempted to give some ideas to push us, and keep scanning to camera unconsciously. Thus, we decided to test his reaction if the camera lasted for a long time, until he could ignore us and the existence of camera. We used a still wide shot to capture his movement and the details of environment, with different angle. The camera would follow his movement until he changed place ,so mini camera was used for higher flexibility. Also, we were supposed not to talk with him if necessary to avoid too much intervene his habit. Carrie stayed here earlier and then I joined later, so that it might give a new action in the scene.

 During shooting, things are little bit changed. Although we have asked Glenn to behave as normal, we could not keep ourselves not respond to Glenn when he “keep asking our plan” and introducing us something during retouching photos. Conversations and interactions between Carrie and Glenn were trying to feel out each other. At first, we thought he is an active and talkative person, but at the end of shooting, he was curious about our feeling and questioned it was just a normal process to let us know more about him, a step to get closer in friendship. He tried to open conversation with us besides being a subject for our shooting… When reviewing the video, my interpretation is: even that situation was created by us to observe Glenn’s daily life, but at the same time, he made use of this chance to observe us as well. Frame has been changed in the process.

Compared to Terrance and Man’s video, both of our target are someone we don’t know too much/ we exactly don’t know before. We have totally different way in presentation. With initial frame to edit, I found our editing was quite easily guiding audience to address some details we wanted to show than other parts, such as conversations shown his pointless about our planning; music played from his computer whole day as our video’s background music… because we afraid that too much information provided would board the audience and made people confused. The editing with blank between was suggested by Carrie, somehow it reflects our understanding to him — even we spent a day with him, these selected images just like fragments to concrete part of his life, and we only know part of his personality. It is not important to arrange sequences in order.

If I have chance to develop, the frame might be his interaction with the surrounding environment and the close neighborhood relationship in the building he lives (some artists/ people who worked in cultural and art sector live in this building too. They hold different activities like cooking day and small music concert inside), which are excluded in shooting due to without permission. If develop according to the initial video,  possible frames are “how art influence his daily life”, “locals and non-locals”.

1. 從小到大我也沒有一個固定的英文名,因為中文名我冇權選擇,所以希望英文名可能選擇一個合適自己身份,獨一無二的名字, 奈何我在不同階段有不同變化,所以我每2至3年轉一次,這是我選擇自己英文名的原則。因此也希望了解其他人會否把英文名當作再一次身份介定的機會 (e.g. 自己作英文名 / 希望自己更有某些特質,所以改名) 有些人在身分證上已有固定的英文名,他們如何檢視這個身份?日常生活/ 個人習慣/ 行為會否配合自己選擇的英文名?
2.  每星期我會上門到家居經營的美容店做facial(即是在私人家居添置一些器材便做生意)這是個一家四口+一個菲律賓籍傭工的小家庭,那裡地方很不大,做facial的時候2個小朋友圍著媽媽團團轉要她教做功課和撒嬌,但媽媽同時替客人做facial和聊天,身為的士司機的爸爸和傭人在不夠人手下亦要幫忙敷mask… 由於是上門家庭式經營, 不同年齡層的女性客人從早到晚源源不絕……每次逗留的二小時我也很享受聆聽各人的對話,因為地方小的關係,大家說什麼都會聽到,所以這個空間從來沒有停止對話的一刻! (孩子對客人,客人對客人,媽媽對傭人,爸爸對兒女…)

 有些對話模式很是有趣:

例(一) : 妹妹喜歡跟minnie公仔談天,也很聽minnie話 ( e.g. minnie叫她做功課她會立即做, 媽媽叫則不會) ,她卻早已知道minnie的回答都是媽媽扮的,有時媽媽太忙不回應,她會故作氣憤撒嬌道 : Minnie! 我現在跟你說話呀! 你都不理我!!

例(二) : 媽媽十分重視兒子的時間分配,兒子每做一個活動也要計時,限時到仍未完成即不准再做,計時經常在媽媽口中出現

“ “快點做功課!你只餘下5 分鐘!!!” “得30秒!!!””你只可以玩15分鐘電腦!”

例(三) : 媽媽教訓孩子時,喜歡問及客人意見

對話是有趣的,可以看到現代教育模式/ 家庭經營…但未想及如何發展…

Number of scenes:

1. Talent show for inmates (beginning, singing in middle part, end)
2. Birthday Party
3. Activities of inmates in hospital
4. Conversation between inmates and psychiatrist
5. Process OF搜身­­­­
6. Old inmate singing “ China Town” ­­­­
7.  Bullying to inmates

Editing:

These scenes are not arranged in order and Jump Cut is always applied in the film. Just like a fragment from different people (warden, the psychiatrist, the social worker, the guards, the inmates…their interaction between different roles) to construct everyday routines in hospital. The editing keeps audience to maintain critical thinking to observe their lives.

 Use of Shots:

A. Wide /medium shot to close up:

Wide / medium shots are used to show the whole environment of a particular scene or induce a situation, and then gradually zoom in, and focus on individuals’ reaction and facial expression. To me, the close up shot emphasizes “individuals “rather than representation of a group of “mentally ill inmates”, these display the diversity of so called “criminally insane” which are defined by psychiatrist and the society in that generation. I find inmates there were come from different ethnic and ages, some of them seem as well as normal people (e.g. a young inmate who argued with psychiatrist), some of them maybe abnormal or marginalized from the main-stream society… As an audience, I can observe people live there do not represent they have illness, but for different reasons. This challenges public’s conception to problematic “mentally ill inmates”.

B. to extreme close up:

Extreme close up shots help audience to address on characters’ subtle change of “Facial expression” from their action/ gesture/conversation. The suffering and unwilling facial expression from silent inmates emphasizes how they treated without respect.

 In the scene of “Conversation between inmates and psychiatrist”, the extreme close up shot of Inmates’ eyesight and the action of psychiatrist’s mouth, we can distinguish what are their position in.( Inmates, passive, powerless/ psychiatrist, aggressive, powerful)

C. Long take:

It often existed in how guards and warden treated inmates e.g. the process of Bullying. Tension and hierarchy between guards and inmates exists– even inmates tried to resist order from guards through yelling and screaming, they still need to obey. Long take of following inmates’ step also allows me to see the environment of hospital( e.g. a cell with no toilet/ empty ) and the atmosphere here — lack of privacy (naked inmates) and some of them tried to cover their sexual organs with their hands, but in this case, I think it is resulted from inmates’ awareness of existence of camera—some kind of Shameful , no alternative way to escape.

D. Soundtrack

Without a traditional soundtrack, location sound and musical scenes of Titicut Follies helps create atmosphere —such as a lone trombone player mournfully soloing, the screaming tantrum of a inmate, a wordless tat-tak rhythm, an elderly inmate singing “Chinatown, My China Town“over flickering image of singer in TV( I love this scene, they were singing totally different song in different time and space but he enjoys at that moment so much. His sudden silent and smile implicitly to the camera at the end … so touching!)

Review:

After our first meeting, he was so willing to share his story to us.

But we found that when we did not have some actions to him, such as asking him questions about himself/ his art, shooting, or give any response, his eyes would scan to the camera, and keeps asking us what to do next.

We guess he might have an expectation of our project, so he, how he can cooperate to us and even provided some ideas on this project so the audience could know more about him in different ways like way of shooting/ selection of scene.

Approach:

Therefore, we decide to test how sensitive of his awareness on camera and us in his daily life. This is our flame.

We will set a still shot, following him, and he just being himself as normal.  We are observing his daily life through camera rather than interview.

We won’t give any response but the shooting keep going on, until he loses his interest to us and the camera.

Carrie will try to start shooting earlier and then I join later, so that it might give a new action in the scene. (If he got used to Carrie existed in the scene.)

Frame 1: On location shooting

There are at least six cameras and videos surrounding the two people who wear the white suit. These equipments are professional ( gun mic, 170 DV cam, DSLR…) which are mainly used by broadcasting industry  rather than non-profession users. This reflects the level of importance in the event. The event might be about something which attracted the public attention, such as petitions, complaints, discussions or arguments between the black shirt man and the two white suit men .But, and yet, the topic might not reach the level of hot issue yet. Otherwise, more flashes and microphones with name cards should be found.

Frame 2: composition and gesture

From the photo, people from close to far, they are all focusing on the two people who wear the white suit, which placed in the middle –right of the photo. The view of sight directs me to think these two people should be the key element in the event. The man with black shirt and hat and one of these two white suit men are interacting, but the gesture and sight of another white suit man (he didn’t look at him) provides the signal of refuse. It seems these white suit men have higher authority than the people surrounded. Therefore, when they exist the place where people are not expected they would exist, they become the focus of other people (even foreign people), and they have authority to refuse and stop other people’s action.

Frame 3: Causeway Bay

We can see the background is Lane Crawford which located at Times Square in Causeway Bay. The main type counters in Lane Crawford and Time Squares are the well-known and expensive brands. The place represents a consumption of upper class in Hong Kong. The picture of crowded square shown a large variety group of people included, like teenagers, the elder, foreigner. .. It shown Causeway Bay is a place with high mobility, and one of the complex districts in Hong Kong. If the event existed in other place like industrial area or residential area, the people surrounded might be far different.

Why ?

I met him in a very occasional chance (He could not find TV studio and then I lead him), and sometimes we met at SCM. I just want to know more about him through this shooting because I think life of foreign student who have been in Hong Kong is different from exchange student. But, due to my poor spoken English, it is difficult for me to know a foreigner in deep.

Actually, Carrie and I were confused about “frame” of subject. But we decided to meet him and have some talks first, we even do not know his background ….. Maybe the “ frame “ will be found out within our conversation.

The yesterday meeting with him made me very nervous, I even couldn’t speak anything. I doubted whether it was related to the difference in language? Yea, might be. But my reflection was, either local or foreigners, someone who has an identity of Artist made me nervous, they were socialized, they were brave to express their opinion, they have a clear mindset…   But for me, it is difficult to organize myself, I cannot give any response immediately during shooting or interviews… for me, it is the problem I found yesterday.

After yesterday shooting, I realized there was something new for shooting him from reading the footage :

1. I’m interested in artist life (especially how foreigner get into local HK art) actually, Eugeen , for me is easier to get into this circle because of his student identity.
2. His photography, an important source to see himself
3. He likes to know more about himself through other people describe what he is

He wanted to find out something interesting from this project, too. We still haven’t planned for the next step…

But we know we need to…

3:05pm

4:05pm

5:05pm

6:05pm

7:05pm

8:05pm

9:05pm

10:05pm

11:05pm

I wanna observe the change of my home’s rubbish bin because rubbish for me, is something I do not want to face. Actually, I cannot endure the smelly mixture of corruption so I always leave immediately after I throw rubbish…. I seldom observe the change inside but rubbish bin inside somehow can reflect my family member habits. The contradiction pushes me to face something I do not want to face.

My finding from Rubbish bin@ holiday (23/9)

1.      Most rubbishes are produced by my father.( e.g. cigarette, tissues, HVS)

2.      The relationship of Cigarette and snack

3.      Most rubbish cannot be decomposed. (e.g. plastic package)

4.      Time of changing rubbish bag

23/9 is public holiday after mid-autumn festival. My observation started from 3:05p.m. to 11:05 p.m. resulting in 8 photos captured. Domestic rubbish from my home was mainly produced by my dad. I think the reason is my parents used to stay at home whole day in weekends or a short holiday. They take rest and do thing as less as they can on that day. For example, my parents used to skip dinner after having an abundant lunch with my uncles. Sometimes they order take away or having snakes at night instead of cooking by themselves. The plastic boxes in 5:05 p.m. picture was mine because I found nothing to eat in my home, so my boyfriend bought a tea set for me. Therefore, rubbish in weekends is mainly non-biodegradable comparing to the rubbish in weekdays.

As for the relationship of Cigarette and snack, my dad used to take some snacks before smoking, and smoking represent that the change of action. Based on the photos, he was sleeping during 5-7p.m., so he would smoke once he woke up (i.e. at 8p.m.).

Their way of taking rest is similar to most Hong Kong people —- watching movie or TV programmes. I find that most middle-aged people are fans of local TV dramas. My parents used to record TV programmes by videotape once they go out, even we can review any TV programmes on the internet nowadays. Like my mum, she starts doing housework after TV dramas in golden time finished.(i.e. News Roundup start), so the plastic bag changed finally at 11:05p.m even though the bin was very full during 9-10p.m. In holidays, my parents watch movies in the afternoons and then review TV dramas capturing in weekdays in the evenings. I guess this kind of enthusiastic was related to the growing background of middle-aged people. In 70s-80s, TV was the high-technology and watching TV has become the main entertainment, it involves a kind of TV culture in their generation. In this way, meaning of TV is different from computer even computer is multifunctional.

Frame 1: on location shooting of a TV programme

It is a TV programme shooting on the street. The programme introducing HK famous tourist spots, so the destination of this episode is Time Square. Cameramen, crew members and fans surrounded two celebrities and director. The man with black hat and black shirt is the programme director who was giving guideline (the notebook) to the two celebrities, dressing with formal suit. They were the MCs of this TV programme, so they started the programme with given a wave to the audience facing video-cameras. Two photographers were taking stage photos.

Frame 2: an inspection visit in Causeway Bay

Two governors inspected Causeway Bay which attracted lots of reporters and journalists from different media. The man with black hat and black shirt is the petitor who would like to hand in an appeal letter directly to the two governors with this opportunity. However, they refused to accept any requests from the petitor. Tourists and residents were interested in this messy scene.

Hi ,it’s Zero =D Sorry for using the old blog but I will update it ASAP. I don’t know whether I can type chinese in this blog.

It is difficult for me to transfer a lot of researched data into an artwork through the experience in CIL bulletin and City urban Critique in the last year. I really want to fix this problem because it is the important element of artwork development in the future I think.

Also, I am interested in courses about cultural studies under city development =] I hope my FYP can get deeper into this field.

And…would like to know see more about the world wif diff methodology… coz… I’m thinking of my religion.  

By the way, I enjoy this course with discussing sth I concern/ sth ppl easily ignored  in this society.