Blog #4

Kirsten Johnson, as a filmmaker is definitely flamboyant, but not unconventional. All art forms are subjective, just like documentary filmmaking. When she is filming, she is trying to capture life as she views it and how others view it by using techniques that might be intruding. As soon as she walked in the room, I knew that something interesting was about to happen. Some might argue that her technique while filming is intrusive, but she is very respectful and understands when it might be appropriate to film, and when she should probably turn the camera off. She got shots from many different angles, from high to low. For example, she had no problem putting herself on the ground to capture those carrots. She also knew that in order to see how hectic this environment truly was, she had to get into some tall building and capture it from there. Of course, she can watch some films and say 'I know what its like to live in a war infested country,' but she doesn't. She traveled with her camera, as if the camera were her eyes, and if she wanted to see something from a certain perspective, she would physically put herself there.
I loved a line that she said during lecture, "I might not speak that language, but I do speak 'kid'. I don't think that when she set out on her adventure to a foreign country, she thought to herself, 'I'm going to find myself a kid with balloons and put my camera in it to get some cool shots.' It became clear to me that her creative process is not very structured, but fluid. As she moved around the room, she only sat down when she felt like sitting down. Something in that specific area she stopped caught her attention, so she went to observe it. Because she understand's human behavior, she did offer any monetary exchange to those she got to film. She emphasized that sometimes, her best shots are unexpected. It took her 25 years to capture footage that only comes out to be 2 minutes. She was an important reminder that sometimes the best moments in life happen unexpectedly, and that we as humans just want to be heard. Her presentation was overall very intriguing, and I might be a relatively quiet individual, I find that I resonate with her a lot I'd love to build up the courage to do what she does.

Project 3

Extra Credit

"The people I film are in immediate and often desperate material need, but I offer little to nothing material." - Kirsten Johnson 

I find that this is really powerful because I believe humans are intrinsically selfish, and we want things in order to give us the highest chance in survival. Whether it be monetary or not, it's not a bad thing to ask/want/expect things in return for a good or service because we are naturally wired that way.

In Cameraperson, she films both directly and indirectly at a person. When filming indirectly, Kirsten is (usually) not a hinderance in their lives, but when she is speaking with the locals and asking for their thoughts, she is asking for their time and trust. Especially in an area that is somewhat impoverished due to ongoing wars, it is not unfair for residences to want something material in return for their time and space. For many reasons, but mainly she does not want to allow them to think that every interaction with an American/foreigner is a transactional one. The shot where she filmed the balloons, she only asked if she could film did not give the little boy anything in return. She could've bought some or paid him for it but didn't. Another shot that she did not give anything material back to the person was the shot of the elderly Afghan man that was talking about God. In class, she mentioned that given the circumstances, she had to move directly after their conversation so she didn't get a chance to offer anything. (not that she would have). I feel like she does this well in the documentary because she offers a level of compassion and trust in her subjects and only wants to make them feel heard. In the scene where she meets a midwife and she talks about how she delivered many babies already today, Kirsten is really able to capture the joy of the midwife while she talks about what she does. At the end of their conversation, Kirsten simply says 'go get em' and she just moves on to the rest of her day. I can see that the midwife walked away with a sense of happiness and felt like someone cared to hear what she had to say/feel even though she is just doing her job. Another shot that I felt she didn't offer material things, was the shot when she was with the two women in the middle of nowhere cutting down that tree for firewood. She simply asked them what they're doing, how they got there, and why don't they return home. Even though they are clearly in desperate need in material for survival, she didn't offer it because then that would set the expectation that every new information they give Kirsten will result in them receiving more.

Blog 3: Sequence Analysis

Chase Scene -- New York Minute

In this chase scene, we start off with a wide shot, that defines the space and what is happening. As it cuts to the subjects, it zooms into their faces and we can clearly see the horror in their eyes. Zooming from a medium shot to a close up allows for personal experience. The sound that is playing enhances the adrenalin rushing that is probably rushing through the subjects. When the music stops and the addition of the slow squeak that happens in 0:17 works well here because it juxtaposes the fast paced-ness of the city and the rest of the scene. There is definitely a continuous sequence that is happening. The 180 rule is employed here as well-- even thought the camera switches from front view to side view, we can see that they continuously go in one direction. We never see the two subjects edited in a way that cuts from the left side to right side consecutively, because that would break continuity. Instead, if we have a two shot of them running down the streets, it cuts from a shot from the front to a shot from the side, never side to side. Eyeline matches happen when one of the subjects make eye contact with the biker, and as the biker flies towards her, they tumble to the right and the following shot shows the direction. There are a few cut-a-way shots that fit well in this chase scene because we see pedestrians eyes follow the subjects as they run pass them. It adds additional detail that supports the subjects experience as they try to navigate down the crowded street. Cut aways are also a good tool for patching up scenes while editing, if there are certain scenes that don't exactly follow continuity. The angles of the subjects running is also important. The high angle shot comes right after we see a tour bus, probably indicating that someone views them from above, or when they show the dog, and the following shot is a (arguably) slightly from a lower side.

Audio Project

Blog 2: Sound Walk

For this assignment, I chose to go on a morning run. This is in my neighborhood in Queens. My usual cardio is based on the treadmill but I like to run outdoors sometimes when the weather is nice. As most people do, I always need music to get me going during my workouts. My runs are usually filled with heavy bass and fast tempos. This was quite the opposite.

I usually have my music already running when I'm putting my shoes on, but I didn't this time, all I heard were leaves ruffling through the window. As I stepped outside at 6:45 AM on Tuesday, it was different. Some foreground noises I heard was a car engine that turned on behind me. It made me turn my head of course, I guess this is naturally engrained in me as I grew up in the city to always react to car noises for my safety.

Including the leaves around me, other keynote sounds I hear are are crickets. We know that right now is sometime from 11PM to 7AM, when there aren't that many people outside. Crickets could also be a soundmark noise because they usually appear in places that are not "traffic heavy". Sure there are cars running and parked on the street, but I live in a pretty suburban area in Queens. There are lots of tree's and (natural) plans around me; not the stuff thats planted in Manhattan for the aesthetics. The wind is abnormally loud today. Maybe it's because I always have my earphones plugged into my ears. During some moments I felt like I could almost see the wind coming from a certain direction because I was so focused on it. 

My morning runs are usually 30 minutes tops, since I have to rush to school. But since I planned for an hour today, and I didn't have music, it felt a lot longer. As I headed back home, not only did I feel the hunger, but I heard my stomach make the strangest sound. I felt like my stomach was trying to speak to me in a foreign language. I also stopped when I heard a bee buzzing around my ear. It went towards a bright sunflower. 

I have to say that this was a really pleasant experienced. I did a lot more walking/strolling than running because I enjoyed being with nature and taking in everything around me. 

Define A Space