BVA703 Research - Week 6
20/03/2020
Kathryn assured us that everything is as normal for classes because while the world is in the middle of a viral pandemic, it hasn't been extended to an outbreak in New Zealand yet. First Aid courses and our exhibition openings have been cancelled until further notice and there will likely be changes to our internship portion of this paper since it will be very difficult to get an internship from business or organisation in the current economic environment as a result of COV-19.We spent time giving feedback to others whom wanted it to improve their research questions and arguments. I plan to email Kathryn to book a one-on-one session with her. She has also mentioned that we are required to analyse the validity of your sources included in our research mapping with the resources from the SIT Library, which I wasn't completely aware of until now to do for my assessment.
21/03/2020
I gave a go at working on some stuff today, but my mind grew a blank. So I just spent the day resting, hoping I feel better tomorrow22/03/2020
I'm unsure how visual media like film or video could be analysed in the way Kathryn wants us to since the structure is intended for articles and websites, but I'll see what I can do, maybe there are parts of it that can work for visual media.I'm feeling more focused today and I made myself goals of things to work on today. In the end, I didn't end up having as much time as I thought.
- APA reference the blogging quote
- Read eBook on aspect ratio
- Start presentation for 731
- Watch documentaries on Vimeo
I replaced the Collins Dictionary definition of 'blogging' to the definition in the text about 'Blogging as an inquiry'. But I'll get back to the citation later.
I have heard word today that the school climate strikes are cancelled, but they are looking at creative solutions for it to somehow still go ahead in spirit, but I don't know if that will be going ahead in Invercargill. I'm stuck on how to go ahead with the documentary with this in mind, I refuse to change the whole project, and go back to square one. I desperately need advice and direction, so I will consult with Kathryn tomorrow at our one-on-one session.
If I switch to a new premise or genre, I don't know if I can go through it all after my film project last year. I could look back at my story ideas, but I'm more passionate about this documentary.
These are times of extreme uncertainty.
Rogers, Ariel. Cinematic Appeals : The Experience of New Movie Technologies, Columbia University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/sitlibrary-ebooks/detail.action?docID=1321265.
The widescreen format that was developed from the turn of the century to until the 1950's. The industry experimented in that time, but failed
Between 1930 and 1931, Sergei Eisenstein stated that Hollywood needed to adopt a 'dynamic square' format
Widescreen films in the 1950's was liken to tourist spectaculars
'Widescreen' actually refers to all aspect ratios wider than the Academy Ratio (1.37:1)
Well into the 1950's, there was competition between aspect ratios; CinemaScope (20th Century Fox), VistaVision (Paramount Pictures), and Todd-AO.
Compressing a CinemaScope image on film looked like proportionally fitting 16:9 into 4:3
"Gone is the viewer's sense of eavesdropping on activities that are, after all, going on in another room. In CinemaScope, the illusion of the other room outflanks the beholder in his theater seat and overwhelms him with a frontal attack of enormous images and sources"."Strickly for the Marbles",
Time Magazine; June, 8 1953
The quote means that the drama and action unfolding in a film with this aspect ratio draws you into the story's world and away from reality. I tried accessing the URL in the publication's notes references, but it couldn't find the page, potentially because the URL hasn't been accessed since 2013. I went straight into the Time website, found the article and it strangely had the same URL.
I couldn't access the full article because I don't have a subscription. If I use this quote in my exegesis, it will be a complex issue referencing the quote since I found it in the 2013 book, but it was sourced from a webpage that you cannot fully access unless you have a paid subscription.
Looking at this information, there are minimal, direct connection between them and my research arguments.
Could This is New Zealand be potentially an example for one of my arguments?
1950's widescreen format was close in getting to the visual broadness of human vision and visually provoke the feeling of peripheral vision, as well as correspond the sensation of motion.
In How to Marry a Millionaire, Marilyn Monroe was visually compositioned to compliment the use of CinemaScope.
The idea was to bring her to life as a giant in the confines of a cinematic experience and the film was used to further marketing the beauty and uniqueness of CinemaScope, but they were fixating the female figure, almost to a sexual level by doing so. On the upside though, they also tried to prove that framing the human body on CinemaScope could be visually appealing. This couldn't be done in today's social climate (feminism, Me Too movement, modern gender roles)
"CinemaScope's wide, wide screen is going to show you an awful lot of Marilyn, while its curve brings you closer to hers"1953 sexist statement in Photoplay, a womens magazine.
The impact of Monroe in the film resulted in her female fan base purchasing beauty secrets and clothes like hers. It provoked intimacy, but a bit unethical to support my research arguments
The first four Cinerama films (This is Cinerama, Cinerama Holiday, Seven Wonders of the World, and Search for Paradise) all start with an introduction or prologue in the Academy Ratio
The Robe (first film released in CinemaScope) started with a newsreel (in the Academy Ratio) on the history of film
Cinerama was eventually applied for both American and Soviet propaganda
There were concerns that Cinerama would sexualise love scenes and that the human body would look 'grotesque' or 'inhuman'
20th Century Fox wanted the framing in CinemaScope to distance itself from being full of amusement park thrills like Cinerama and have it presented in a more subtle and intellectual inclusion of the audiences, as a way to be different from Cinerama.
"Great value of this new approach to films is that it invites the audience to joint [sic] in telling the story, since the watcher may study any part of the huge vista in front of him that he choose".- Leon Shawroy, cinematographer
"On the Hollywood Scene"
Morning Telegraph; September 18, 1953
20th Century Fox encouraged directors of CinemaScope filsm to spread out the actors on screen to fill the wide framing and not relying just on additional cuts and camera angles. This worked well to convey action, it gave more freedom for directors and actors, and show reactions from the supporting cast and extras, which in turn, gave the films to be capable of conveying drama in the CinemaScope format
"With CinemaScope it is quite possible to show five full-length figure simultaneously, with the face of each just, [sic] as large and intimate as now seen on a conventional screen when only one player is given a full close up".- Leon Shamroy
It argues that close ups in widescreen can be just as effective as being framed in a square aspect ratio
Widescreen formats allow for a more extensive sense of distance in the moving image
23/03/2020
I spent time this morning searching for more sources on Google Books and Google Scholar. There were some results that seemed promising, but I need to have a properly look at them this week to see if they could fit into my research arguments that need better examples.I am concerned about my research project with this coronavirus happening. I could include COVID-19 into the drama of my documentary, but that only changes what I am going to do, not how I'm going to do it, which is more important under these circumstances. I'll need to consult with Kathryn and James on suggestions on get around this and salvage my project
Kathryn sent us a form to fill out about what stuff we would need for studying at home (computers, software, Wi-fi), if SIT is locked down as a result of COVID-19.
We watched an important announcement form the Prime Minster in the middle of class. The announcement essentially told us that everywhere in NZ will be in the process of locking down in the next 48 hours and that we will all be self-isolating for the next four weeks. This was a complete bombshell for me because it means my film project is now dead and I don't know where go from here; whether to try and salvage it or go back to square one.
I will email James and Kathryn for advice on Monday. I wont this week because they'll have a lot on their plate at the moment because of the lock down. I did manage to fill out the form for Kathryn and emailed it to her tonight, and I asked about the text message she sent to all of us this afternoon. The message stated the equipment room oncampus would be open tomorrow afternoon for us to get any tablets or other equipment we need for the next four weeks of confinement. I wasn't sure if that included computers with software we don't have, so I asked for clarification in the email. It wasn't safe to presume.
24/03/2020
This morning I was feeling focused, but had difficulty getting myself to get work done because I was either procrastinating or was doing things around the house that I needed to do first. My plan today is to update my blog like I'm doing right now, reviewing what I have done for my research mapping already and that it was done right, and watching documentaries on Vimeo and see if they could be examples in my research mapping.Referencing
Reviewing validity of sources
I ended up having difficulty focusing again after updating my documentation. Spending the day trying, but with no change. I'm not used to studying at home at this time of the week.
I received an email from Kathryn informing us that we will somehow be given access to Adobe software and that the term break has been moved to next week, which means the deadlines after this week have been shifted to next term after the lockdown ends. The only deadline I have worry about now is just my research mapping, which is due on Friday afternoon.
This just gives me more reason to question whether to continue with my film project or not, however I will continue to finish the research mapping as previously planned.
25/03/2020
Today was better. Despite being the last day before level 4 lockdown, I managed to apply my focus into my study and watched a few short documentaries on Vimeo as way to find better examples for my research mapping. Most of these short documentaries were Vimeo Staff Picks.Arthur Cauty | Filmmaker (2020, Febraury 22) The last video store [Video file] https://vimeo.com/393154444
(Arthur Cauty | Filmmaker, 2020)
A mesmerizing experience is watching this documentary. It expresses nostalgia and age by simply and subtly conveying it in the aspect ratio, lighting and colour grading with RGB colours. The music also effective helps direct the viewers emotions on the subject. At the end of it, I wish there was more to the documentary.
Even/Odd. (2019, October 9). America, as in us. [Video file].
https://vimeo.com/365364540
(Even/Odd, 2019)
Being a collaborative documentary with each sequence done by different filmmakers about different parts and immigrant cultures of America, it provides unique and personal applications of cinematography and the Academy Ratio with each sequence.
It doesn't need interviews because it manages to do just fine with voiceover over dramatised and authentic footage as an alternative. It's a good example on how to depict themes as actual characters, which would be an interesting to experiment with
Themes - fear, religion, culture, nostalgia, discrimination, prejudice
1st sequence (Motherhood) - ominous and gray colours
2nd sequence (Faith) - Monochrome with elements of French New Wave
3rd sequence (nostalgia) - strong themes of identity, and vibrant culture. Vibrant Polaroid-esque colours used to symbolise the vibrant culture and the 80's nostalgia
4th sequence (Love) - ominous and gray colours, but done to suit another, unique perspective
5th sequence (Love) - vibrant colours and is only one place, a conversation. A social commentary to end the documentary and it fundamentally summarises all the stories.
I could do a similar structure for a documentary on how COVID-19 has affected Invercargill, but I don't know when this is going to end and when people will feel comfortable or ready to disclose their experiences or emotions on this subject.
Norton, A. (2015, August 25). How to age gracefully [Video file].
https://vimeo.com/137249858
(Norton, A., 2015)
Bregel, J. (2020, January 20). Chunyun [Video file]. https://vimeo.com/386037115
(Bregel, J., 2020)
Themes - community, the human condition
The Academy Ratio makes you feel like you seeing from the perspective of your own memory of experiencing that event or that of a CCTV camera. It manages to experiment with abstract compositions in provoking visually contrasting and artistic looks to the documentary. It's not a documentary where narration is needed because this is one where the film speaks for itself. It manages to apply drama by showing one of the best examples of slice of life in drama in everyday life in this particular place, rather than leaving the filmmaker to dramatise certain elements.
Life outside the airport, heightening the drama and provokes a sense of sadness and discomfort. It becomes less welcoming and intimate compared to the airport part of the documentary, but then it changes the tone very quickly by being more about community and returns to its intimate use of the aspect ratio. Its bland colour grade also provokes and support the drama.
It's a film that makes it about community on purpose because that's what the subject is about. People travelling in Asia for the purpose of spending with family in a particular time of a year.
I would describe this documentary as a surreal and atmospheric work of art. A moving image with the modern art mind of Picasso, Van Gogh, or Pollock.
I could do a documentary like that, but the question would be what the subject would be and whether it could convey drama like that.
Influenced from my research, I have finally come up with a final research argument which is that a widescreen format like 16:9 or CinemaScope can effectively work for multiple close ups in the same framing.
My plans for tomorrow are to send an email to Kathryn and James about my project, finish my research arguments and key terms, plus citations.
26/03/2020
Luther. (2019, December 24). Stay close [Video file]. https://vimeo.com/381331390Uses multiple aspect ratio, but primarily uses the Academy Ratio. It uses either 2.76:1 or 4.00:1 aspect ratio to make dramatized live action sequences (close ups of people running, fencing practice, skyscapes, riding on a train at the end) look sleak and cinematic. Not all the live action sequences are in 4.00:1 or 2.76:1, there is a medical sequence in the Academy Ratio.
In using either 2.76 or 4.00:1, it's makes raw, handheld close ups look clean.
The Academy Ratio used in this film allows consistency between the forms of mixed media (film, animation, video, archival footage). The fingermarks and scratches in the animation sequences help them look alive and moving.
The drama in this documentary comes from the conflict, flaws, and progress of the main subject's journey and fencing.
9:16 - footage from a cellphone
A majority of the documentary uses archival VHS footage with voice-over.
The Academy Ratio express an intimate and personal account for the main subject, almost autobiographical.
Cinematographers - Luther Clement and Shuhan Fan
Start again (1972)
https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/start-again-1972/overview
A TV documentary on NZ's counter culture movement (hippies, communists, anarchists) that still holds up and like Chunyun, it's very artistic and focuses more on the visuals and let them speak for themselves. It also uses more voice-over than talking heads type of interviews
It explores the flaws of democracy - how the majority agrees could be socially accepted. I think this is good social commentary of the time, especially prior to MMP government in New Zealand
Naturally, it's in 4:3 and black and white because that was the standard for New Zealand television in 1972
Engaging parts of the documentary are communes building a dome-shaped housing and using the same materials to build a glider. What makes it also engaging is that it doesn't really use location sound (likely due to being filmed on a Bolex 16 mm film camera and budgetary restrictions) and manages it to make it work with voice-over and music instead.
27/03/2020
Analysed sourcesContinuing on from...
https://jerrywestawayscreenarts.blogspot.com/2020/02/bva703-research-analsying-sources.html
Rogers, A. (2013). Cinematic appeals: The experience of new movie technologies. Columbia University Press.
The author is highly qualified on this subject, having a BA in film studies and philosophy, a PhD in cinema and media studies, and currently holds the position of an associate professor in radio, television, and film at Northwestern University's School of Communication in the United States. She has written other publications on cinema like On the Screen: Displaying the Moving Image, 1926-1942.
Rogers has not been referenced by other authors, to my knowledge, there are no clear spelling and grammar errors in her text. The information she has collated are up to date to the time of the book's publication, which was in 2013, and since there are no newer editions of the publication, there is no information from beyond 2013. More recent information is not factually important in her case, unless there have been new historical discoveries or a dramatic change in social bias.
Overall, I have found the information in her publication to be reasonably factual, balanced, objective, theoretical, and two-sided. Since the publication is affiliated with an American university, it could be fair to say that it may have an institutional bias, but then again, I could be wrong.
Rogers does include bibliographies of referencing notes and a table of index. From the looks of it, she collated an appropriate quality of theoretical and practical sources to extensively support her findings, they all seem to be both reliable and relevant to the subject.
A majority of references mention where she got her sources, but then there are some sources like quotes (the Shamroy quote in my research mapping) are unclear or vague about where they originated from.
This academic publication is relevant to my project because it provides me with a theoretical insight on aspect ratios, especially widescreen formats. It also supports both one of my research arguments and two of the key terms in my research mapping.
Barnes, N. (2017). Blogging as a method of inquiry. Reconceptualizing Educational Research Methodology, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.7577/rerm.2236
Blogging as a method of inquiry is a journal article from Reconceptualizing Educational Research Methodology. The article was written by Naomi Barnes, who is a literacy lecturer at the Queensland University of Technology's School of Teacher Education and Leadership.
She possesses a philosophy doctorate from Griffith University.
She has had many years of experience in secondary education, and government, religious, and independent sectors in Australia. Her background seems to support her expertise.
The writing style in Barnes' text seems to suggest that it is multi-purpose and have a balance of both personal and factual. There are no clear spelling or grammar errors in her text to be found. Information on the journal is not completely clear, but it leads you to an open access, online archive at the OsloMet University Library, but the language of her article and articles by other people in the journal suggest that the journal is either scholarly, academic, or theoretical.
The purpose of this text is to inform and persuade the reader on the academic blogging, as well as its many functions and/or purposes. Barnes also has a published background in authoring multiple journal articles on education, social media as a research tool, and research methodologies for publications like Critical Studies in Education, the International Journal of Research and Method in Education, and so on.
Barnes' article was published in 2017, it includes a list of recent and up to date reference sources that support her views and some come from other journal articles, which makes her text very much a secondary source. The information in her text is a balance of Barnes' cultural bias and what is balanced, objective, and factual. I am unclear whether the topic of the journal article is two-sided.
This journal article is relevant because it provides me with an insight on online blogging and appropriately defines the methodology stated in my research mapping.
Hellerman, J. (2019, February 22). An aspect ratio guide for every filmmaker. No Film School. https://nofilmschool.com/Aspect-Ratio-Examples-For-Filmmakers
Aspect Ratio Examples for Filmmakers is intended to inform their online readership (No Film School) about historical and contemporary uses of aspect ratio, as well as how it can generally work on social media. The article was published by Jason Hellerman, a writer for No Film School, and is also a screenwriter, story editor and consultant for commercial productions. He studied film production and English at Penn State University, and possesses a MFA in screenwriting and film theory from Boston University.
Hellerman has authored many online articles on the subject of film for No Film School. It is not known whether he has been referenced by others, but it is likely though. He seems to have a moderate amount of spelling and grammar in his article and writes in a professional, yet informative tone and style. Being a technical and general source, there is no conventional APA referencing, but instead he links other people's work (videos, websites, online articles) to support his findings.
The multiple sources he refers to in his article are fairly recent and up to date, they come from a range of publishers, and come in different forms as well. The information in the article is a balance of factual information with objective information that is common in technical texts. This article seems to be one-sided because its purpose does not demand for opposing facts or opinions.
Because Hellerman's sources are a mix of video essassies, tutorials, mini-documentaries, it seems to be a rough balance of reliable and questionably unreliable sources.
This online article as a source is relevant to my project because it simply defines the purpose and origin of the Academy Ratio, which is one of the key terms in my research mapping, and provides me with an outline on aspect ratios.
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