I'd like to start this off with the fact that I totally blew my first anthropology assignment this semester. Dr. Durington wanted us to write a "Future Me" letter, where we would write about our expectations for the class and what our initial reactions to our eminent research extravaganza.
I never wrote it. It wasn't on my radar, as I had to read about 70 pages worth of other material for his class.
However, I can re-tribute myself and reflect entirely on my growth over this semester in this blog. I think it's evident after reading it through from September until now that I've become entirely newly aware of certain aspects of urban science, aspects of documenting and filmmaking and their role in anthropology, and aspects of myself as a developing and growing younger person.
My understanding of my environment and myself among the environment is what has strengthened the greatest this semester. I came back from Ireland knowing nothing about my own city. I ended up enveloping myself in it, soaking everything in. I wanted everything that was Baltimore. My relationship to Baltimore has grown, as have my connections within its boundaries. Even my geographical relationship has been greater realized. Coming from the East side is a completely alternate experience to the West. Also, being from the county has its own implications as well. This should have all been apparent to me before, and it was in some respects. But it was never put in a sociological perspective.
I think as a filmmaker and anthropologist, I am developing as well. I honestly haven't tackled the amount of literature I should have, and I'm upset to say it's very difficult for me to absorb the information scholars deliver in articles about visual anthropology. I learn much better from watching and observing footage. I can understand styles and methods better when it's actually visualized. Watching John Marshall's "A Kalahari Family" helped me totally understand everything I felt I should have been understanding all semester.
Everything that happened to me in Greenmount West is the materialization of everything I am learning and understanding. I can't believe I wrote a 26-page research paper that is now the fabric and outline of the film I WILL begin this January.
I already started filming development on the 1500 block of Greenmount Avenue. I've become nervous filming with workers on the lot, so it's becoming more guerrilla, which is fun. I sneaked into the Greenmount Cemetery to get better shots.
I digress, the film is going to be great, and I've already given it the name, "Alex Fox is Off the Grid". I will follow Alex Fox and his personal relationship with his living space in the Annex, the developments in his neighborhood, as well as his love for the Lebow building, which is prospectively being destroyed in coming months. This will play among the thematic nature of the entire redevelopment of Station North.
I'm looking forward to putting my own methods to practice. While I can read and understand other anthropologists points of view on the matter, it really comes down to the situation and the relationships that play out. The camera, in my opinion, needs to find an objective stance among the subjectivity of the relationships between the cameraman and people with whom he or she is interacting.
While I didn't produce anything tangible for this semester, I think next semester I will play catch up and produce some fantastic results with the Media Active Film Festival and my documentary.
Woot!
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Looking at things Differently
It's been a few weeks since I shot video for the Obaltimore Project and my "Day in the Life" project for Matt Durington's Life in the City course. That week was a whirlwind of getting things finished, so I had little time for reflection. However, I did keep a lot of lessons in mind from that week that I want to share now.
I chose my friend David to do both projects on. We have been friends for the past year or so, and have gotten very close while making film projects and being in a fraternity together. I felt I could get honest answers and a comfortable vibe from him. He grew up in Baltimore city and is an artist, so he was a great fit.
The Day in the Life project was done on a day David had a lot going on. He had to finish and start up a project in his ceramics class, then had to go shoot a Dance for the Camera segment in the same building. While I knew the assignment called for it to be done in the city, there was little I could do to control that situation. I was running out of options, and honestly I wanted to shoot with someone that I had built some kind of relationship with.
With my nifty HD Camera, I did my best to try and capture David being as natural as possible. I hadn't shot anything all semester, so it was fun to experiment with angles and positions of the camera around David. I found that David didn't behave any differently than if it was just me and him in the room. The camera made very little difference in his actions. During the dance shoot, I was limited to a very dark space with silhouetted dancers in front of a mesh curtain. I decided to shoot into the light, as that was the only way I'd capture any image. For the amount I needed to edit down to, I was able to capture some great stuff, especially with choreography and David's involvement in the piece. The handheld style I had as well as the addition of silhouetted dancers, I believe, helped this piece paid homage to the piece David was helping produce with his partner, Biz.
After that shoot, we went back to his house in the city to do the Obaltimore Project and interview for Day in the Life. This was where I started becoming incredibly aware of my questions and the ethical side to documentary filmmaking. I didn't want to stop David from answering any of the questions. I also didn't want to influence any of his answers. When I asked the question regarding Urban Housing, David was confused and didn't know if his answer was legitimate because his didn't know much about the topic. I couldn't honestly elaborate on the topic as well, so I told him his answer was his answer and is what we needed for the project.
Then, when I asked him the question about what he would want to ask Obama, I could not stop his answer, no matter how inappropriate. I didn't think something regarding Marijuana use would be advisable in a project like this, but it was David giving an honest response. If I was to sway him from answering like that, it wouldn't be honest. What is more ethical? Allowing a free flow of ideas? Or censorship?
Then when it came time to film his Day in the Life interview, I decided on a different and more intimate approach. I tried to film him as though I was just standing there having a conversation with him, and the camera was by my side to perhaps initiate the sensation of my relationship to David. I'm glad I was recording when David explained his approach to the interview, because it would be a more free flowing explanation of his life to an audience, and I would be a spectator. I added this into the final cut to retain a sense of reflexivity.
David is one of my close partners that I work on film projects with, so at some point in the night, I was trying to explain to him my new mindset and approach to filming from an anthropological stance. I found that it was extremely difficult to explain myself, as this style is still forming, and I'm still wrapping my mind around how exactly to ethically and realistically portray one person or idea, but I think the formalities and principles are continuing to brew.
I chose my friend David to do both projects on. We have been friends for the past year or so, and have gotten very close while making film projects and being in a fraternity together. I felt I could get honest answers and a comfortable vibe from him. He grew up in Baltimore city and is an artist, so he was a great fit.
The Day in the Life project was done on a day David had a lot going on. He had to finish and start up a project in his ceramics class, then had to go shoot a Dance for the Camera segment in the same building. While I knew the assignment called for it to be done in the city, there was little I could do to control that situation. I was running out of options, and honestly I wanted to shoot with someone that I had built some kind of relationship with.
With my nifty HD Camera, I did my best to try and capture David being as natural as possible. I hadn't shot anything all semester, so it was fun to experiment with angles and positions of the camera around David. I found that David didn't behave any differently than if it was just me and him in the room. The camera made very little difference in his actions. During the dance shoot, I was limited to a very dark space with silhouetted dancers in front of a mesh curtain. I decided to shoot into the light, as that was the only way I'd capture any image. For the amount I needed to edit down to, I was able to capture some great stuff, especially with choreography and David's involvement in the piece. The handheld style I had as well as the addition of silhouetted dancers, I believe, helped this piece paid homage to the piece David was helping produce with his partner, Biz.
After that shoot, we went back to his house in the city to do the Obaltimore Project and interview for Day in the Life. This was where I started becoming incredibly aware of my questions and the ethical side to documentary filmmaking. I didn't want to stop David from answering any of the questions. I also didn't want to influence any of his answers. When I asked the question regarding Urban Housing, David was confused and didn't know if his answer was legitimate because his didn't know much about the topic. I couldn't honestly elaborate on the topic as well, so I told him his answer was his answer and is what we needed for the project.
Then, when I asked him the question about what he would want to ask Obama, I could not stop his answer, no matter how inappropriate. I didn't think something regarding Marijuana use would be advisable in a project like this, but it was David giving an honest response. If I was to sway him from answering like that, it wouldn't be honest. What is more ethical? Allowing a free flow of ideas? Or censorship?
Then when it came time to film his Day in the Life interview, I decided on a different and more intimate approach. I tried to film him as though I was just standing there having a conversation with him, and the camera was by my side to perhaps initiate the sensation of my relationship to David. I'm glad I was recording when David explained his approach to the interview, because it would be a more free flowing explanation of his life to an audience, and I would be a spectator. I added this into the final cut to retain a sense of reflexivity.
David is one of my close partners that I work on film projects with, so at some point in the night, I was trying to explain to him my new mindset and approach to filming from an anthropological stance. I found that it was extremely difficult to explain myself, as this style is still forming, and I'm still wrapping my mind around how exactly to ethically and realistically portray one person or idea, but I think the formalities and principles are continuing to brew.
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