First animation experience

When I started to work on my documentary animation project, I made a trial version of an animated piece that influenced the aesthetical choices for my final work. Here you can check the video itself. As long as I had an interview with my hero already, my primary task was to create the visual scape for the sound. However, I did not want to illustrate the words of my hero directly, but create the atmosphere of the culture and place in which she was living. In this small piece I brought to the scene as much objects and symbols as I though is necessary to pay tribute to the simplicity as a guiding principle for the organization of the animation.

“The aesthetic rules defining a world should be as few as possible (but no fewer). The more elemental and simple an environment, the more exciting and visually rewarding it is when we introduce changes to it.” (O’Reilly) (1) This quote applies to the animation creation a lot because the main idea of the  experience of animation is the aesthetical pleasure from the way in which the images are changing. So, the main aesthetic decisions for this introductory piece appeared to be the use of natural materials such as fabric (for the doll and flowers), dry berries (for the rain), pieces of moss (for the clouds), threads (for the sun); use of traditional music to create pasing, concentration on two main activities such as doll composition , appearance of the clouds and raining.  The last fact appeared to be crucial for the animation because its influence of the viewer depends a lot on the clarity in which it stresses the change on the scene and avoide its overcomplication with objects that are not necessary for perception of the creator’s idea.

As for the technical part, I made 296 photos. Next, I used Photo Mixer program for animation creation where it is possible to set up photo’s duration and the number of frames per second. So, for this piece I used the duration of 1 second and 24 frames settings. This program downloads photos quite long, but it works for the short pieces of video. However, later on it appeared to be much more easier to create animation in Adobe Premier because it downloads the photos to the program faster.

1. OReilly, D. (2009). Basic animation aesthetics. Available at: davidoreilly. com (accessed 20 April 2016).

Subjectivity in ethnographic film

Having read the article “The subjective voice in ethnographic film” by McDougall, (1) I got more questions than answers on the issue of subjectivity. According to the author, it exists in different modes such as subjectivity of the filmamker who makes choices on the content of the film and its representation and subjectivity of the character who is supposed to represent his/her culture or social group. What is more, as long as film “lives its full life” while screened, the mode of the spectator’s subjectivity of interpreting arises. At the same time, subjectivity cna be treated as a product of the filmmaker’s work and the quality that we associate with this work. In the last sense it can add positive or negative shade to our evaluation of the film. But what understanding of subjectivity in its different variants can give us for the film perception as viewers?

As for me, quality ethnographic film is the one that uses different modes of subjectivity to reach its goals, not to restrain the freedom of artistic creation by burdens of scientific approach. “Them and Me” by Stephan Breton is a film of this kind. Firstly, it is a great example of the participatory cinema in which adoption of indigenous view by the filmmaker, his real interest in the social institutions of the Wodani such as a monetary systme of kipe enriches the understanding of the life of a tribe. Director is not seen in the film, but we see the members of the tribe in his daily communications with him through the eye of camera. This subtle presence of the director brings certain doze of reflexivity to the film because his relations with the tribesmen provoke questions not only about the ways in which they live but also the ways in which different cultures can be compared, ethics can be applied in the setting with values different from European ones. Secondly, common experience of the tribe is depicted through the talks with individuals. Really, there is no such thing as a collective mind that experience the events, it is usually people who are capable of this. And the director is very skilful in asking questions that lead characters to describe the reasons of their actions that they normally never think about.

Last but not least, “Them and Me” benefits a lot from the way in which Breton approaches the issue of subjectivity. He uses it to create the very new reality that appears on our eyes in the processes of communication between him and tribesmen. They now his purposes of filming them and they appreciate his openness. Nevertless, the film, intentionally or unintentionally, omits depiction of women’s and children’s experience in the tribe. We learn about it through the narratives of men. It can be a creative decision or a necessity to obey the social mores of the tribe, but it makes a picture of the tribe to be one-dimensional. From this point new questions on subjectivity arise – should an ethnographic film promote such values as gender equality, freedom of speach, human rights? If it creates very new reality in the mutual cooperation of the derictor and subjects, why not to bring new values to it, not to be ethnocentric and impose those values, but to be attentive to the spheres of reality that are always neglected?

1. MacDougall, D. 1998. The Subjective Voice in Ethnographic Film. In MacDougall Transcultural Cinema. Pp. 125-139. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press