Notes from class - 10/27/2014

Watched student film, Master of the Brewniverse

•  Lots of talking heads
• Not a lot of broll
• good interviews
• nice throwback to Laverne and Shirley
• good use of music
• photos
• Change in music for intensity
• lots of good change...
• interesting way that the director took letters and created montage. 

Reading notes: History Authority and the Documentary Form

“English-Language Documentary in the 1990s and Beyond—Reality Bytes” in New History of Documentary Film (2011) by Ellis and McLane


Essay Film

Paul Arthur: "The essay has emerged as the leading nonfiction form for both intellectual and artistic innovation" (2003)...

"Existing schoral contributions - - suggest it is a hybrid form, which crosses boundaries and rests somewhere in between fiction and nonfiction cinema"

Reading Notes: Lane, Jim. (2002) “The Convergence of Autobiography and Documentary: — Historical Connections” The autobiographical documentary in America, Chapter 1

• 1993 - PBS POV shows Silverlake Life: The View from Here - an autobiographical documentary. 
• Autobiographical documentaries are "about oneself and one's family" and "the subject of the film and filmmaker often begins with a level of trust and intimacy never achieved or strived for in other films (John Stuart Katz and Judith Milstein Katz
• Three influential characteristics mark the movement
• "these works reveal how documentary can be a site of autobiographical subjectibity"
• "the rigorous placing of the self in the work complicates how nonfiction film and video represent and make references to the real world"
• " in more than thirty years since the form was established in the 1960s, autiobiographical docs have revealed an array of formal possibilities)
• They changed the way we as viewers look at documentary. 
• Authors of auto-docs are not celebs. Average everyday people
• It allows for underrepresented voices to be heard
• they produce an "unofficial" history
• They share a change in literature as well... I think around this time memoirs became popular as well.. (by non-celebs)
• The access to new media (video cameras,etc) has allowed "documentarists to reverse the homogonizing effects of mass technology and mediation"
• These docs provide alternative discourse to ones who have funding... 
• "Before the late 1960s - the dominant form of autobiographical documentaries was observational
• ---According to Bill Nichols, Voice is crucial to understanding autobiographical doc. "The viewer perceives autobio voice as the organizing force behind the doc's presentation"
• 
  

Documentary Notes: The Punk Singer

Synopsis: The Punk Singer is a 2013 documentary film directed by filmmaker Sini Anderson and produced by Anderson and Tamra Davis. The film is about feminist singer Kathleen Hanna who fronted the bands Bikini Kill and Le Tigre, and who was a central figure in the riot grrrl movement. 

My Notes:

I remember when this film was first campaigning for money through Kickstarter. I knew of Sini Anderson through her involvement with Queer spoken word groups in San Francisco. The campaign was successful, she made the movie, and everything should have been great after IFC bought the movie. However, she had a lot of issues with supporters from Kickstarter when she didn't send out the rewards beyond the first tier (lesson to be learned... budget!) 

The Film:

Like the previous film that I reviewed, The Punk Singer was a documentary about an important figure in the 90's music scene (and beyond). Kathleen Hannah was the lead singer of Riot Grrl band - Bikini Kill and electro-pop feminist band, Le Tigre.  

The film was well edited with music and performances bringing you and in and out of interviews. Like the Hit So Hard documentary, it was a who's who of feminist rock idols... Kim Gordon, Joan Jett, Carrie Brownstein and more women were interviewed and discussed their admiration and the important way that Kathleen made it possible for women to feel safe at rock shows. Women up front was a constant call at Le Tigre shows and men were ushered out the door if they didn't comply. 

I keep comparing this film to Hit So Hard because it has so many of the same elements. The interviews, the way that performance footage is intermixed with intimate interviews with the subjects themselves. . .

In the middle of the doc, there was even a great segment about the history of feminism. 1800s, 2nd wave, 3rd wave, Rebecca walker speech. 

1992 - Feminism was supposedly dead according to Time magazine, and has someone said, Kathleen was this angry bisexual grrl who used her sexuality and power to make people listen. 

There was also a great clip from an interview in Bust magazine with Kathleen Hanna and Gloria Steinem.  They talked about how women were always pitted against each other in the media. How the media twisted feminism. There was so much hate towards Kathleen. Again, this is pre social networking. I can't even imagine what would happen if Bikini Kill happened today. Would she get death threats and other crap that feminists have to deal with today?

The film takes a severe turn into depressing events. . .

Throughout the movie we had music backing up every interview. . . 

Then... the music stops... and Kathleen starts crying. 

Before this we saw Kathleen getting sick from something, but nobody knew what it was. 

She finally figured it out. She had late stage lyme disease. 

She finally had doctors who took the time to figure it out. 

There is a really amazing scene later on when she takes her medicine and has her husband (Beastie Boys' Adam Horoviz) film her while her body is reacting to the medicine. It was one of the most uncomfortable scenes that I have ever watched. It was so raw. . .and sad... 

The film ended up on a high note as she performed (after feeling better) in NYC at a benefit. 

Overall, yes, I was very interested in the topic, and yes, Sini Anderson had ACCESS. I don't think this film could have had any chance of being as interesting if she didn't have access to the subjects. It could have been a nice history lesson on Riot Grrl Culture, but without the interviews with Kathleen, especially, this film couldn't have been made. 

Class Notes: 10/6/2014

Documentary Notes: Hava Nagila The Movie

Synopsis: Hava Nagila (The Movie) is a documentary romp through the history, mystery and meaning of the great Jewish standard. Featuring interviews with Harry Belafonte, Leonard Nimoy, Connie Francis, Glen Campbell, Regina Spektor and more, the film follows the ubiquitous party song on its fascinating journey from the shtetls of Eastern Europe to the kibbutzim of Palestine to the cul-de-sacs of America. High on fun and entertainment, Hava Nagila (The Movie) is also surprisingly profound, tapping into universal themes about the importance of joy, the power of music and the resilient spirit of a people.

My Notes: 

I picked this film because of my interest in cultural Judaism. I thought that this would give me a lot of ideas for my own piece. Boy, was I not into this documentary, at all. 

First, it was interesting during the first part of the film. The director provided personal anecdotes about the song and growing up as a Jew on the east coast. However, it turned from this personal narrative into a dry, "history" lesson. 

She lost me when she went into the history. I would normally be interested in history about jewish culture, but this documentary seemed to need a good editor. She kept interviews in that went on and on and when she did cut to the "history", she did it in a tone that wasn't funny. I think she thought she was being humorous, but it wasn't interesting at all. 

It makes me think. . . am I too young to watch this documentary? Is this something that my grandparents would have loved? Were the pop culture references too outdated for someone my age? If that is the case, then this documentary was made for the baby boomers and above. I don't see a wide release for this film. ..