Class Viewing 1: Nostalgia de la Luz

The last three weeks have involved us, as a class, watching a documentary that has used specific conventions and techniques to achieved a required effect. Each of these techniques are meant to make us think about how we want to make our documentary and think differently than the usual TV docs we are used to.

The first film we watched was called: Nostalgia de la Luz, translated as Nostalgia for the Light. It was a Chilean film by a man named Patricio Guzmán. The film largely deals with the aftermath of the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile.

This film is very interesting because it combines two things: the search into the past of humans by astronomers and the search by the Chilean people who had relatives killed during Pinochet's reign.

 The film opens with a telescope looking at the moon. It takes us on a journey that leaves our world and into the beyond. We are then taken back down to the earth again and shown different pieces of technology, telescopes, that allows us to see into the void that is space. We see the desert, an abundance of history. We finally see a house that someone lives in and lets us known that there is life.

It is a mesmerizing opening and lasts a solid four minutes and could pass for a short film. It speaks volumes itself with the journey it takes us on. I see it as a journey of showing us that there is much more out there than we think. We live on this planet but there is so much more and so much that we do not know. The cosmos is massive and much bigger but these telescopes allow us to see what is beyond us. The desert, dry and no life, could be viewed as an indication that even though we are full of life, we are surrounded by places that aren't. 

These places, like the Atacama desert, are the location of these majestic telescopes that allow us to see what else there is in the universe and it can also be seen that before we existed this already existed.

The opening is also unique in that it is solely visual images and the sounds of the machines, all natural. No voiceover required to tell the story which leaves it open to interpretation, a powerful tool. One that I really want to use in my documentary.

 
 

Directing the Documentary

This is something I've been asking myself a lot this week. With shooting our doc coming up very soon, I really needed to find an answer for it.

Documentary is a great genre and something I wish I looked at far more than I do. It can be so powerful and moving as well as being informative. This goal for our docs is to try and move away from the TV Documentary that is very talkative with voiceover and interviews. Instead of being told the story through speech, we are asked to take the cinematic route and use visuals.

Our documentary features Conor's dad, Rory. An artist and a potter in his free time. We are going to explore his work as a potter. I really wanted to do this when Conor suggested it, as it's so unique and many people are impressed by those who can do it and do it well.

The first question is what kind of story do I want to tell? I guess I'm still not sure. What I do know is that I want to focus on the process of it. There is no voiceover and we've decided to ditch interviews completely which eliminates any speaking, I think this is a good factor.

It's very hard to tell any backstory about Rory with this technique but it will allow us to see the work involved in creating these works of art and how he does it. From start to finish. I feel by opening with where he lives and the local surroundings we are told that this isn't a place of work. It's neutral and it's where he lives. So it's not a chore, so he enjoys it. 

By seeing him start the process and his readiness, we see how meticulous he is and what is needed to make these the way they should be. Use of sound will be important. We want to hear the raw sounds of the throwing, the wheel, the kiln, everything. It will feel more natural and real. I also want to show some finished pieces, what they become in the end, from a simple piece of clay to a finished art project that people want to look at. All from the creativity and the skill of his hands.

Inspiration

I've been trying to watch as many short documentaries as I can the past week and try and understand them and learn from them. I want to post some here and say what I like about them. Some were very powerful and moving which is extremely inspiring.

 The Heat Short Documentary

The first short I wanted to write about is The Heat. It's about a single mum in Brooklyn who wanted some focus in her life instead of having a kid and falling into a marriage. She wanted something to do in her life. It's an incredible short and very inspiring. The doc features a lot of voiceover but visually, it's stunning. It's very good near the end where she talks about the effect of Hurricane Sandy on her life and how she and everyone came through it and rebuilt their lives.

I love her story and how the doc was made. The images where there is no voiceover for about 20 seconds and we see people embracing after the hurricane and her training, to people rebuilding their lives and her winning fights. It's a simple message that people can overcome and do anything if they put their mind to it, regardless of the situation.



This documentary is quite short, around 3 minutes and is about Reindeer Wrangling. It's a different kind of short documentary with no voiceover or anything. It is all visual and dependent on the natural, raw sounds of the surroundings, very much like the documentary we are going to shoot.

It's a majestic short because of the reindeer in it because they always seem to appear only in fiction, but this time they are real. The film was shot in Finland in -18C temperatures and shows the work of these herders that they have done for generations. It's hard to relate to as we know nothing of this process but it is stunning to look at.

Youth - A Documentary Short 

This last documentary is called Youth. It features footage of a photographers friends that he filmed over 4 months and made a short out of it, highlighting the innocence and fun of being that age.

It stands out to me and others I would guess because it makes you think of a time gone by. Being older, you realise that a good part of that time is over. Admittedly some are around my age I would think, it still makes me think of when I was around 16/17. It is a very moving short that jut features strong and powerful visuals.

Processing....

I decided to take some time and really look into the process of pottery so I can understand as much of it as I can, I can't do the documentary justice if I don't understand the process.

I found a very helpful, yet short video detailing the process which really helped. It explains each stage with some visual help.


The first part of the process is called: Wedging. This is where the clay is prepared for moulding. The clay is pushed and compressed against the table to get rid of any air bubbles or creases.

The next stage is the Throwing stage. The clay is then made into the shape of an object using the potters wheel to make pots for example. You can also use handheld items like a rolling pin to make slabs or pinching the clay.

The clay is then left to dry for a few days and reaches a stage called 'Leatherhard.' From here you can cut away excess clay or add to the object by giving it handles or decorate it. This is called Trimming.

Following this, is the first firing called the Bisque Firing. The clay will be hardened after this and is easier for a glaze to be applied.

The glaze is a process itself, where the pot is essentially dipped in liquid consisting of silica and metal oxides, giving it the shiny look. 

Finally comes the Glaze firing which is the last process. This hardens the glaze coating and sticks on the ceramic.

Admittedly this is the process in its simplest form but has given me a better understanding of pottery. 

Production Update

Things are moving a fair bit forward now as we will be shooting this very soon.

A major development is that we have decided to drop the interview aspect from the documentary. We wanted to stray away from making the clichéd tv documentary and decided to focus solely on the craft process.

The theme is about hands and this is a very specific skill that many people appreciate and admire and we want to show that and do it justice. I think removing the interview aspect will make it very visual and cinematic which will look great and make it a little unique from other documentaries.

The only doubt I have about this all is how much of an input I will have in this. It's being very visual which is Conor's passion and he is very good at it but this is vastly different from anything I've done before and as director, it is a little difficult for me to think as one for this project. I know how we are going to film it, so I have a good feeling about telling the story in the edit.

Influences

Here I will post some other short docs we have found that have influenced our documentary:


Two Fires - Short Documentary & Artist Profile</ 

This first video is arguably the chief influence we have found and when we first saw it, we knew it was something like this that we wanted to make.

Admittedly this short has a voiceover playing in it which adds to the story but when we first watched it, it was without audio and it still struck a chord with us. The amazing thing about this video is that it works incredibly well with and without audio. Without it, we are drawn even more to the skill of this potter and glassmaker and with audio we learn their story and how they work together which is very touching.

The shots in this short are absolutely incredible, the smooth tracking shots really stand out and unique shots of the potter wheel.

 

Update

It's been several weeks now since I posted here last and things have moved forward a fair bit.

I have partnered up with Conor for the production of this documentary, I am doing the directing/editing and Conor is doing the camerawork.

Our documentary is to have the theme of 'hands' which can be as literal or as different as you want it to be, depending how you look at it. It's quite an interesting theme to go with I think, but we have been told our docs cannot include voiceover which is a bit unfortunate as they want them to look cinematic and using voiceover can be a cheap trick to advance the narrative.

We have decided to do our documentary about Conor's dad, Rory, who teaches at the BMC but is also a potter. This is a very interesting and cool skill to have and it would make great subject material. From some of the work I have seen, his dad is very skilled at it.

Originally we were going to shoot some interview footage with him and incorporate that into the doc, as you normally would. But the more we looked at it and thought about it, that is no different from a documentary you would see on TV. We decided then to focus on the process itself and the skill that Rory has. We will let the visuals of the potting and sounds of equipment, throwing and the kiln etc tell the story.

I think it sounds like a great idea and visualising it, it looks like it will be great. Conor is a very good camera man and has a great eye for detail and shots so I have zero worries in that department. 

We found some very influential pieces on vimeo that are in the same vein of what we are trying to achieve so I will post them here as well.