Week 4 [Workshop Notes]

Divorce Iranian Style

Director: Kim Longinotto (2002)

Her films focus on issues concerning women.
The film explores five cases of five different women that are seeking divorce.
It shows the reality of how the legal system affects people's lives.
Minimal voice-over that was used to state facts (female narrator)
Showed Iranian women differently
Sometimes we hear voice of the filmmakers interacting with the participant

Observational Mode:
- Created in 1960s, "the camera freely moved to record what happened as it happened"
- The filmmaker observes what happens in front of the camera
- No voice over to address the spectator

Observation Scenes in Divorce Iranian Style
- The subjects in the film interact with each other, their discussions draws the attention of the spectator away from the film makers (camera)
- The scene represents the actual situation, it creates tension with in the topic

Reading:

"We look in on life as it is lived" - Nichols (2001)

Relating to the works of the Italian neo-realists (1944-52) the characters within the documentary are caught up in "pressing demands or crisis of their own"

How wary are the people being filmed in the observational mode of documentary are aware of the camera.

Editorial control means that there is no true observation as we have selected natural scenes to exhibit to create a specific meaning or ideology.

Types of Shots

• Close or far?
• Static or moving?
• Camera subject to distance, angle, lens type and duration

Long Shot

Close Up

Wide Shot

Medium Close Up

Point of View Shot

Over the Shoulder Shot/Reverse Angle (180 degree arc)

Low-Angle Shot

High-Angle Shot

Pan Shot

Tilt Shot

Pedestal Shot - Camera moves up and down on a pedestal dolly

Zoom Shot

Dolly Shot

Tracking Shot

Crane Shot

Composition (Aspect Ratios)

4:3 (Shooting)

16:9 (Shooting)

1.85:1 (Projection)

2.39:1 (Projection)

Depth & Perspective

- Image perspective is the apparent depth of the image and the spatial position of objects in different planes.

Frame Movement

Image Qualities

Speed of Motion

- Changing by altering the film recording speed or in editing

- Long focal length often slows down the apparent motion by squashing space.

Examples of Observational Films

Grey Gardens

- People were being observed but also interacting with the camera

High School

- Non diegetic soundtrack (Sitting On the Dock of the Bay - Otis Redding)

- Lots of ECU

- No interaction with the camera

Don't Look Back

- Bob Dylan's tour

- Rockumentary

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