One video type that really interested me was the compilation video. i have never heard the term, or distinguished anything using this title, so it was interesting to see that videos i thought were just "videos" actually had a title. The video uses a montage like technique to give a certain mood or tell a certain story line with a build up. Although the information in the video is true, this is different than a documentary because there is really limited amounts of dialogue. there is a mixture of narration and dialogue, which switches off based on what the scene is. There are points in the video that consist of minimal sound, and the video clip is so strong that there really isn't any need for it to convey a message to the audience. Something else that i noticed is that many of these videos are extremely dated and the quality of the video is that of an antique type.
I found compilation videos to be the most interesting only because I have never knew much about them. I thought it was awesome how you could make a film solely off of archival videos. The Atomic Caption was a war movie from videos compiled during the 1950's of the atomic bomb. There were interviews found, bomb test videos, scenery shots, advertisements. This was not a propaganda film for the US, solely for people to learn.
A propaganda film is a film that communicates an influencing attitude to its audience that guides them toward a specific side of an argument. This type of film is most often presented in a documentary approach or a fabricated screenplay. This approach is successful for this style film specifically because it conveys the idea that this sometimes false information that is being presented is certainly true. The Nazi Germany film is an excellent example of a propaganda film because it takes the actions of the Germans and spins it into something positive. The film uses language, actions, and bravery to bend the truth of what actually happened. Propaganda films serve the purpose of convincing the viewers on a specific political angle by providing the viewer with substance that may be intentionally false.
The compilation video displayed lots of different footage from nuclear bomb tasting in the American desert. The film, made in 1984, took footage from the 50's in order to recreate the atmosphere of the bomb sites. In the footage, soldiers were put in trenches while bomb was detonated a good distance away. Multiple angle shots were taken of the blast and the soldiers in order to express the emotional duress, fear, and excitement felt about being involved in the testing. The film, however, is not biased towards or against the bomb - it exemplifies reactions to both sides (the necessity & the insecurity) equally, giving a more real-to-life impression for the audience.
The Atomic Cafe is an example of a compilation video. This is because the material utilized in this film is derived from other historical clips and has been assembled together in a single film. The clip that we viewed from this film showed shoulder hiding in trenches to watch a test release of the atomic bomb. The soldiers discuss their reaction to the view and their potential endangerment from the radiation. The rest of the film is composed of similar material that was shot onsite during the war and it now being released for viewing. Because the shot's are from preexisting videos they can therefor be regarded as compilation video. It was not necessarily expected that they would be compiled in this manner or used for this purpose when they were initially shot.
In my example, I saw footage of Nazi gatherings being used against Hitler's objectives. It was paid for by the government to persuade people against the Germans and Axis, thus making it propaganda. Though Americans did not necessarily take the footage themselves, they obtained the material and edited it to put the Nazi's in a poor light. Propaganda is known for taking material and twisting it to be biased. Propaganda film can cause people to take a side through radical filmmaking. Points are presented in a raw way. Whatever is seen onscreen may never actually be seen happening in real life due to the type of editing done with the film to change the order of events. Either way, the Americans successfully used propaganda film to get their point across about the enemy of WWII.
The propaganda film was very interesting to watch. It's amusing to see how older films like those affect people today. Witnessed a teen girls life as the narrator relates to us details that aren't easily depicted in the scenes. The narrator specifically has the job to sell us the propaganda while the actual film egged us on in believing what he was saying was true. Decades ago, many thought that the film was based on real accounts when it was more than likely staged.
A non-fiction technique that I found interesting presented at the lecture yesterday and today in class was propaganda film. The film titled, "Ten Days that Shook the World" directed by Sergi Einstein in 1927, was an example of propaganda film which was presented as truth even though it staged. This film showed masses of people hailing Stalin and powerful Bolshevik revolution phrases. By potraying Stalin as this all powerful figure leading revolution in Russia, people were given a biased and forced message that wasn't even complete truth. This is also seen in the "Are You Popular?" film shown today in class. By conveying to the reader what they should do, directors make propaganda films to sway people to agree with them. No matter how ridiculous their point may be...
Kit Trowbridge: An example of documentary essay would be Sans Soleil by Chris Marker. A documentary essay like Marker's uses true documentary footage while allowing the filmmaker to comment, in this case very creatively, on what he has seen. While Marker uses actual footage that he shot, the way he pieces it together is by creating a character to describe what is being shown. In this way I felt that Sans Soleil was a much more intimate film than many documentaries because it had a very personal aspect. In the film, Marker used a lot of repetition, such as showing shot after shot of sleeping passengers on a Japanese train while a woman voiced over. This type of repetition of people really expressed a collective experience. Also, seeing someone sleeping is a very intimate experience, so being presented with this view of everyone further enhanced the personal aspect of this documentary essay.
The film about dating was a propaganda file. The film was about high school popularity and dating. It kind of showed an everyday life of the high school students when a new student was in school. The film talked about why certain people were popular and why others were not. It then went on to talk about how dating should be handled in school and what steps students should take to have success in getting a date with a girl. The film was narrated by an older man. after every statement the narrator would make the film would then show the students acting the example out. This is a propaganda film because It was a government film that was meant to teach kids how to do things the way that the government thought was appropriate. It showed certain morals that they thought the students should have. I loved how it was showing the girl who thought she was popular because she "parks" with all of the boys, but then the film showed the boys talking about how they didn't like that she did that because then they didn't feel "special." It was like the government was trying to tell students not to be promiscuous because they boys don't like it and you won't be popular. so there are many things in this film that were meant to manipulate students into thinking a certain way about dating and popularity, which makes this a propaganda film.
The compilation film which we watched was titled "The Atomic Cafe." Compilation films are films that are created solely by using archival footage that the filmmakers have not shot themselves. What is interesting about compilation films is the way in which they take many different bits of footage that were shot for various different reasons and audiences, and through editing, bring them all together to create an understandable new message for a new audience. By revisiting footage of atomic bomb tests two decades after they were shot, the filmmakers were able to show an honest view of the past. They did not have to rely on interviews or re-enactments, which can be scripted or staged in ways that might not truly reflect the history that the filmmakers want to portray. This technique helped them to create a work that came across to all viewers as deeply authentic.
Ive experienced many forms of the non-fiction film techniques listed, but one that is rarely seen is the is the style of the compilation video. I find it fascinating that you can compile a group of archival videos together, and make a cohesive piece of film based off of other footage. I think that is the art itself. Making the separate shots work together without having shot the footage yourself seems to be a tricky and time consuming task, but when done properly, the outcome is a beautiful video that effectively gets a message across, and also the idea that you can pretty much create any senario you would like, using old footage. The nuclear bombing video, was so convincing that I actually thought it was one piece of film that had been recorded. To me, this is the sign of a successful compilation of video.
Sergei Eisenstein's "Ten Days That Shook The World" is an example of a propaganda film. Lenin commissioned Sergei to do this film in order to glorify the Soviet Union. The reason why this is a propaganda film and not a documentary is that some parts of the movie are staged and fictional. However the film was presented as history. Not only is this considered a propaganda film, but also a film montage. Eisenstein jumps from one scene to another, to create a sense of tension which ultimately builds up at the end. Many of the shots are of people shouting that working class have conquered, or statues of kings falling down. This shows that this was definitely a propaganda film because it clearly favors the side of the working class.
Compilation video is a technique used in the video The Atomic Caption. Unlike propaganda film, cinema verite, or sometimes even documentary films, compilation video doesn't try to sway the viewer to any particular opinion. They don't use inflammatory imagery or dialogue to evoke any particular opinion from the viewer, just to educate them. This technique uses archival video to create a montage to educate the public.
Among all the selected examples, I think "Meshes of the Afternoon" works really well with the technique of cinema verite. I first saw a woman sleeping on a chair. And then the stories goes on with the dream that she had. The dream was about her trying to catch a man, finding the objects in her room, and finally getting awaken by a man when the woman was trying to kill her with the knife that was hidden under a pillow in the room. When she was waken by the hooded man and found the same objects in the room, she realized that everything happened was her dream. I think the whole plot works really well with the cinema verite technique that this particular film includes both naturalistic techniques and cinematic devices. I think the beginning and the scenes when she found out that everything was not real were made with very naturalistic techniques while the scenes when she dropped the keys, found the objects in the room (knife), the shadows in the very beginning, and many other scenes were used as cinematic devices.
Yesterdays lecture was very helpful in understanding different film techniques as well as elements of film history. Propaganda films are extremely interesting to me. I find it fascinating how a sense of morality and behavior can be made to seem superior to any other way of behavior. Propaganda films are extremely biased and one sided. The chosen point of view is shown to be the right way and only way of action. People who do not agree with the propaganda and portrayed as lesser human beings. There are often large blocks of text that accompany the images. Some of the nazi propaganda films show scenes that glamorize nazism. Cheerful and bright music is often played along with the images, telling the viewer how they should feel. A better way of life is often conveyed in propaganda films. Propaganda films often have a "voice of god" narration technique and talk down to the viewers. They assume the the viewers have no thoughts or opinions of themselves for the intent of these films is to brainwash the viewers into conforming. This method of talking down to the viewer in turn causes them to assert a submissive view to the information being shown. The viewer is taught to simply be one of the masses. Simply one person in a large mass of people that have no choice but to conform to the propaganda being conveyed as truth.
In the film from the lecture the propaganda film was about Nazi-Germany. A propaganda film is used to sway a viewer into believing a certain way. During the film they promoted these ideas in order for people to want to stand up against it. Propaganda films are very influential during times of war and controversy because they can have a lasting effect on the viewer. They persuade the viewer to believe what they are saying and sometimes deliberatley lie in order to convince people to believe what they do. THey also twist other materials that may have been used to persuade the counter argument. This example of Nazi- Germany is an example of propaganda because it tries extremely hard to persuade people to join their fight against it.
Propaganda film "Why we fight" was a propaganda film that the US government made to persuade people to go to war against the Nazis during World War two. It is interesting to see the film used film footages about Nazi to criticize it because the original piece they came out didn't have the intention at all. The choice of the piece and the way the editing goes can give the film a whole different meaning, especially made the film a very important media for propaganda campaign.
Compilation videos have stood out to me most when learning about non-fiction film. I find it interesting that one can create a successful film solely using shots from other sources and arranging them in an order that makes perfect sense. The narration is the only aspect of the film technique that is directly from the producer. Atomic Cafe is an example of a compilation video. In this film, scenes from different sources involving nuclear bomb explosions and soldier's explaining their experience with the bomb are included in an order that makes sense. This way, the audience can get a better feel for what was happening, because there are shots taken from multiple angles and different reactions are shown. This ensures the audience that they can create their own interpretation of the event.
The first video style that was shown to us was a Cinema Verite. Cinema verite is a style of documentary filmmaking that conveys realism. In the lecture, before we see the film, there was a slide saying truth equals powerful, which made me curious about cinema verite. We saw the Lumier Brothers film, and it was just an ordinary life.There were crowds of people coming out from the building, and people eating. It showed that cinema verite deals with simple lives and surroundings. I liked it because it was not staged or anything.
The Atomic Cafe, like other compilation films, is made up completely of found footage - film that was taken in the past by other people, for other purposes. This technique of non-fiction film-making can be very powerful; it takes the viewer to another time and place, often representing the memory of a past event. By using found footage, the essay makes references to the past, as evidence for the purpose of the film. In The Atomic Cafe, footage of an atomic bomb test and interviews with soldiers gave a feel for the understanding of the bomb when it was first made. This contrasts sharply with the general views today, and a point is made: we are allowed to see an example of the depth of human folly and how it evolves over time. Another example of someone who uses this form today is Michael Moore, although he employs the "documentary essay" style much more prominently to tackle the issues he does, he also incorporates a lot of compiled video so that about half of each film is built from messages from the past being used as evidence now. By using found footage, often interviews or propaganda from the past, non-fiction film-makers can make a powerful statement.
One video type that really interested me was the compilation video. i have never heard the term, or distinguished anything using this title, so it was interesting to see that videos i thought were just "videos" actually had a title. The video uses a montage like technique to give a certain mood or tell a certain story line with a build up. Although the information in the video is true, this is different than a documentary because there is really limited amounts of dialogue. there is a mixture of narration and dialogue, which switches off based on what the scene is. There are points in the video that consist of minimal sound, and the video clip is so strong that there really isn't any need for it to convey a message to the audience. Something else that i noticed is that many of these videos are extremely dated and the quality of the video is that of an antique type.
ReplyDeleteI found compilation videos to be the most interesting only because I have never knew much about them. I thought it was awesome how you could make a film solely off of archival videos. The Atomic Caption was a war movie from videos compiled during the 1950's of the atomic bomb. There were interviews found, bomb test videos, scenery shots, advertisements. This was not a propaganda film for the US, solely for people to learn.
ReplyDeleteA propaganda film is a film that communicates an influencing attitude to its audience that guides them toward a specific side of an argument. This type of film is most often presented in a documentary approach or a fabricated screenplay. This approach is successful for this style film specifically because it conveys the idea that this sometimes false information that is being presented is certainly true. The Nazi Germany film is an excellent example of a propaganda film because it takes the actions of the Germans and spins it into something positive. The film uses language, actions, and bravery to bend the truth of what actually happened. Propaganda films serve the purpose of convincing the viewers on a specific political angle by providing the viewer with substance that may be intentionally false.
ReplyDeleteThe compilation video displayed lots of different footage from nuclear bomb tasting in the American desert. The film, made in 1984, took footage from the 50's in order to recreate the atmosphere of the bomb sites. In the footage, soldiers were put in trenches while bomb was detonated a good distance away. Multiple angle shots were taken of the blast and the soldiers in order to express the emotional duress, fear, and excitement felt about being involved in the testing. The film, however, is not biased towards or against the bomb - it exemplifies reactions to both sides (the necessity & the insecurity) equally, giving a more real-to-life impression for the audience.
ReplyDeleteThe Atomic Cafe is an example of a compilation video. This is because the material utilized in this film is derived from other historical clips and has been assembled together in a single film. The clip that we viewed from this film showed shoulder hiding in trenches to watch a test release of the atomic bomb. The soldiers discuss their reaction to the view and their potential endangerment from the radiation. The rest of the film is composed of similar material that was shot onsite during the war and it now being released for viewing. Because the shot's are from preexisting videos they can therefor be regarded as compilation video. It was not necessarily expected that they would be compiled in this manner or used for this purpose when they were initially shot.
ReplyDeleteIn the first films by the Lumier Brothers, we were able to see snippets of every day life. Though it seems like an overly simple film, it was such a new idea and medium for people of the late 1800s. In 1895, they released "Cinématographe" which was comprised of shots from every day life. First there were the people coming out of the factory, people getting off of a boat, a baby and parents eating, and finally the man with the hose in the garden. This film was part of Cinema Verite, or Actuality Films, which were recording what actually happened in the world. The Lumier Brother's often used wide shots to depict a sense of space and the environment and group of people as a whole. The film that we watched works particularly well with the cinema verite idea because it is a collection of shots from everyday life and events, with nothing staged or scripted. The people did not act & they filmed what was happening in the world around them. They were kind of like the first primitive documentary, raw & real.
ReplyDeletePropaganda film
ReplyDeleteIn my example, I saw footage of Nazi gatherings being used against Hitler's objectives. It was paid for by the government to persuade people against the Germans and Axis, thus making it propaganda. Though Americans did not necessarily take the footage themselves, they obtained the material and edited it to put the Nazi's in a poor light. Propaganda is known for taking material and twisting it to be biased. Propaganda film can cause people to take a side through radical filmmaking. Points are presented in a raw way. Whatever is seen onscreen may never actually be seen happening in real life due to the type of editing done with the film to change the order of events. Either way, the Americans successfully used propaganda film to get their point across about the enemy of WWII.
The propaganda film was very interesting to watch. It's amusing to see how older films like those affect people today. Witnessed a teen girls life as the narrator relates to us details that aren't easily depicted in the scenes. The narrator specifically has the job to sell us the propaganda while the actual film egged us on in believing what he was saying was true. Decades ago, many thought that the film was based on real accounts when it was more than likely staged.
ReplyDeleteA non-fiction technique that I found interesting presented at the lecture yesterday and today in class was propaganda film. The film titled, "Ten Days that Shook the World" directed by Sergi Einstein in 1927, was an example of propaganda film which was presented as truth even though it staged. This film showed masses of people hailing Stalin and powerful Bolshevik revolution phrases. By potraying Stalin as this all powerful figure leading revolution in Russia, people were given a biased and forced message that wasn't even complete truth. This is also seen in the "Are You Popular?" film shown today in class. By conveying to the reader what they should do, directors make propaganda films to sway people to agree with them. No matter how ridiculous their point may be...
ReplyDeleteKit Trowbridge:
ReplyDeleteAn example of documentary essay would be Sans Soleil by Chris Marker. A documentary essay like Marker's uses true documentary footage while allowing the filmmaker to comment, in this case very creatively, on what he has seen. While Marker uses actual footage that he shot, the way he pieces it together is by creating a character to describe what is being shown. In this way I felt that Sans Soleil was a much more intimate film than many documentaries because it had a very personal aspect. In the film, Marker used a lot of repetition, such as showing shot after shot of sleeping passengers on a Japanese train while a woman voiced over. This type of repetition of people really expressed a collective experience. Also, seeing someone sleeping is a very intimate experience, so being presented with this view of everyone further enhanced the personal aspect of this documentary essay.
The film about dating was a propaganda file. The film was about high school popularity and dating. It kind of showed an everyday life of the high school students when a new student was in school. The film talked about why certain people were popular and why others were not. It then went on to talk about how dating should be handled in school and what steps students should take to have success in getting a date with a girl. The film was narrated by an older man. after every statement the narrator would make the film would then show the students acting the example out. This is a propaganda film because It was a government film that was meant to teach kids how to do things the way that the government thought was appropriate. It showed certain morals that they thought the students should have. I loved how it was showing the girl who thought she was popular because she "parks" with all of the boys, but then the film showed the boys talking about how they didn't like that she did that because then they didn't feel "special." It was like the government was trying to tell students not to be promiscuous because they boys don't like it and you won't be popular. so there are many things in this film that were meant to manipulate students into thinking a certain way about dating and popularity, which makes this a propaganda film.
ReplyDeleteThe compilation film which we watched was titled "The Atomic Cafe." Compilation films are films that are created solely by using archival footage that the filmmakers have not shot themselves. What is interesting about compilation films is the way in which they take many different bits of footage that were shot for various different reasons and audiences, and through editing, bring them all together to create an understandable new message for a new audience. By revisiting footage of atomic bomb tests two decades after they were shot, the filmmakers were able to show an honest view of the past. They did not have to rely on interviews or re-enactments, which can be scripted or staged in ways that might not truly reflect the history that the filmmakers want to portray. This technique helped them to create a work that came across to all viewers as deeply authentic.
ReplyDeleteIve experienced many forms of the non-fiction film techniques listed, but one that is rarely seen is the is the style of the compilation video. I find it fascinating that you can compile a group of archival videos together, and make a cohesive piece of film based off of other footage. I think that is the art itself. Making the separate shots work together without having shot the footage yourself seems to be a tricky and time consuming task, but when done properly, the outcome is a beautiful video that effectively gets a message across, and also the idea that you can pretty much create any senario you would like, using old footage. The nuclear bombing video, was so convincing that I actually thought it was one piece of film that had been recorded. To me, this is the sign of a successful compilation of video.
ReplyDeleteSergei Eisenstein's "Ten Days That Shook The World" is an example of a propaganda film. Lenin commissioned Sergei to do this film in order to glorify the Soviet Union. The reason why this is a propaganda film and not a documentary is that some parts of the movie are staged and fictional. However the film was presented as history. Not only is this considered a propaganda film, but also a film montage. Eisenstein jumps from one scene to another, to create a sense of tension which ultimately builds up at the end. Many of the shots are of people shouting that working class have conquered, or statues of kings falling down. This shows that this was definitely a propaganda film because it clearly favors the side of the working class.
ReplyDeleteCompilation video is a technique used in the video The Atomic Caption. Unlike propaganda film, cinema verite, or sometimes even documentary films, compilation video doesn't try to sway the viewer to any particular opinion. They don't use inflammatory imagery or dialogue to evoke any particular opinion from the viewer, just to educate them. This technique uses archival video to create a montage to educate the public.
ReplyDeleteAmong all the selected examples, I think "Meshes of the Afternoon" works really well with the technique of cinema verite. I first saw a woman sleeping on a chair. And then the stories goes on with the dream that she had. The dream was about her trying to catch a man, finding the objects in her room, and finally getting awaken by a man when the woman was trying to kill her with the knife that was hidden under a pillow in the room. When she was waken by the hooded man and found the same objects in the room, she realized that everything happened was her dream. I think the whole plot works really well with the cinema verite technique that this particular film includes both naturalistic techniques and cinematic devices. I think the beginning and the scenes when she found out that everything was not real were made with very naturalistic techniques while the scenes when she dropped the keys, found the objects in the room (knife), the shadows in the very beginning, and many other scenes were used as cinematic devices.
ReplyDeleteYesterdays lecture was very helpful in understanding different film techniques as well as elements of film history. Propaganda films are extremely interesting to me. I find it fascinating how a sense of morality and behavior can be made to seem superior to any other way of behavior.
ReplyDeletePropaganda films are extremely biased and one sided. The chosen point of view is shown to be the right way and only way of action. People who do not agree with the propaganda and portrayed as lesser human beings. There are often large blocks of text that accompany the images. Some of the nazi propaganda films show scenes that glamorize nazism. Cheerful and bright music is often played along with the images, telling the viewer how they should feel. A better way of life is often conveyed in propaganda films. Propaganda films often have a "voice of god" narration technique and talk down to the viewers. They assume the the viewers have no thoughts or opinions of themselves for the intent of these films is to brainwash the viewers into conforming. This method of talking down to the viewer in turn causes them to assert a submissive view to the information being shown. The viewer is taught to simply be one of the masses. Simply one person in a large mass of people that have no choice but to conform to the propaganda being conveyed as truth.
In the film from the lecture the propaganda film was about Nazi-Germany. A propaganda film is used to sway a viewer into believing a certain way. During the film they promoted these ideas in order for people to want to stand up against it. Propaganda films are very influential during times of war and controversy because they can have a lasting effect on the viewer. They persuade the viewer to believe what they are saying and sometimes deliberatley lie in order to convince people to believe what they do. THey also twist other materials that may have been used to persuade the counter argument. This example of Nazi- Germany is an example of propaganda because it tries extremely hard to persuade people to join their fight against it.
ReplyDeletePropaganda film
ReplyDelete"Why we fight" was a propaganda film that the US government made to persuade people to go to war against the Nazis during World War two. It is interesting to see the film used film footages about Nazi to criticize it because the original piece they came out didn't have the intention at all. The choice of the piece and the way the editing goes can give the film a whole different meaning, especially made the film a very important media for propaganda campaign.
Compilation videos have stood out to me most when learning about non-fiction film. I find it interesting that one can create a successful film solely using shots from other sources and arranging them in an order that makes perfect sense. The narration is the only aspect of the film technique that is directly from the producer. Atomic Cafe is an example of a compilation video. In this film, scenes from different sources involving nuclear bomb explosions and soldier's explaining their experience with the bomb are included in an order that makes sense. This way, the audience can get a better feel for what was happening, because there are shots taken from multiple angles and different reactions are shown. This ensures the audience that they can create their own interpretation of the event.
ReplyDeleteThe first video style that was shown to us was a Cinema Verite. Cinema verite is a style of documentary filmmaking that conveys realism. In the lecture, before we see the film, there was a slide saying truth equals powerful, which made me curious about cinema verite. We saw the Lumier Brothers film, and it was just an ordinary life.There were crowds of people coming out from the building, and people eating. It showed that cinema verite deals with simple lives and surroundings. I liked it because it was not staged or anything.
ReplyDeleteCompilation Video
ReplyDeleteThe Atomic Cafe, like other compilation films, is made up completely of found footage - film that was taken in the past by other people, for other purposes. This technique of non-fiction film-making can be very powerful; it takes the viewer to another time and place, often representing the memory of a past event. By using found footage, the essay makes references to the past, as evidence for the purpose of the film. In The Atomic Cafe, footage of an atomic bomb test and interviews with soldiers gave a feel for the understanding of the bomb when it was first made. This contrasts sharply with the general views today, and a point is made: we are allowed to see an example of the depth of human folly and how it evolves over time. Another example of someone who uses this form today is Michael Moore, although he employs the "documentary essay" style much more prominently to tackle the issues he does, he also incorporates a lot of compiled video so that about half of each film is built from messages from the past being used as evidence now. By using found footage, often interviews or propaganda from the past, non-fiction film-makers can make a powerful statement.
Zoe Allen-Wickler