8 - Myths and Collective Memory

by Stephanie, Andrew, and Hugo

      This week, our team was assigned the documentaries Pour la suite du monde and Les voitures d'eau. They share the culture of the residents of Îles aux Coudres in the 1960's. These films definitely make us realize how culture is a part of us and keeping it alive is very important.

Pour la suite du monde

      Pour la suite du monde, a 105-minute Canadian documentary film, was created in 1963 by Michel Brault and Pierre Perrault. They followed residents of Île aux Coudres, an island in the Saint Lawrence River, as they were trying to revive an ancient tradition of their people: the whale hunt. This documentary followed the citizens for a whole year which helps us understand not only the complexity of whale hunting, but how they live.

Bringing back whale hunting was not an easy process. Some older residents were against it because they didn't think that the young ones had enough passion. Passion was a must for this process because it's extremely tiring and long. However, the main reason they decided to bring it back was so that the children would experience a whale hunt, thus keeping the tradition alive.

      The documentary is a real inside on the way of life and society in the 1960's. We get to see how they rely on their faith to help them through life and how the church plays a huge role in the development of their society. For example, when they had an announcement to make to the community, they would make it on the front step of the church after the Sunday service to make sure everyone got the message (In those days everyone went to church on Sundays). Also, the priest did a blessing of the whale hunt to hopefully get a good catch. In addition, we see Grand Louis, one of the older residents, get the Easter water for his family and explaining to them its religious significance.

      Back then, they didn’t have our new, modern entertainments systems-tv, video games, Facebook- and had to entertain themselves very differently than what we know. The kids were very inventive when it came to games, they would carve different toys out of wood. Every toy they owned was one they had made. The older people liked to dance. Their dancing style resemble Irish dancing and Scottish jigs. This is also a part of their heritage.

      The people of Îles aux Coudres still use this film to remember how their ancestors lived. For the 50 year anniversary of the documentary, they had a huge celebration. You can read more about it in the following link:
 http://voir.ca/chroniques/cinemaniaque/2012/08/22/pour-la-suite-du-monde-50-ans-plus-tard/  (It's in French, but still very interesting).

Myths and Collective memory

      Pour la suite du monde is all about the collective memory of Île aux Coudres. How do we learn about that island? We listen to what the residents have to say. This kind of documentary can be defined as Cinéma de la parole (speech cinema) which highlights the links between what the people in the documentary are saying and what the images shown in the documentary are sharing. Speech is a key component to this film. The people from this island speak with a very thick accent. This documentary was a way to record it; due to the easy access to mainstream radio or television, their unique accent is quickly fading. Their accent also brings authenticity to the film because the viewer actually gets to listen to the way the Islanders express themselves.

Les voitures d'eau

      Les voitures d'eau is a black and white documentary film--shot and originally released in 1969--that was directed by Michel Brault and Pierre Perrault. In total, the film is nearly 2 hours long; 110 minutes. The film is the third instalment in a trilogy of films (the first film of the trilogy was Pour la suite du monde) where the film creators follow residents of Île aux Coudres, an island in the St. Lawrence River, Quebec, Canada about 6 kilometres from the mainland, in an attempt to document their lives. In the first film, the Tremblay family and their friends use their ancestors old techniques to conduct a cross-island whale hunt. Similarly, in Les voitures d’eau, the Tremblay family and friends in the community build a beautiful wooden schooner (or goélette). At the same time as filming the Tremblay family, Perrault records various social and financial issues encountered by the villagers in their daily lives--more specifically; a dockers’ strike. With new, recent developments of iron-made boats, the demand for wooden boats is decreasing and this creates problems for the builders and navigators of wooden boats living on the island. Before winter, the builders are shown doing repairs and maintenance on the schooners. During the film, Eloi Perron builds a canoe for Leopard Tremblay after initially making a plan, and the entire construction process is recorded by the camera. Eventually, the ending of the season is marked with the burning of an old schooner after it had made it's last trip.

      The third film is shot by Brault and Perrault in the same direct shooting style of the first film and retains the emphasis on the strong French accent. For example, if one of the Islanders was walking, the cameraman follows him and walks with him. If the equipment was too heavyweight, the possibilities of recording would have been more limited.  According to recent studies, the population numbers for l’Île aux Coudres are quickly dropping at a steady rate for the last 80 years. In today’s society, it’s nearly impossible for one small group to be isolated as everyone is so closely linked with mainstream television and radio. Therefore, the thick accent of the islanders is quickly fading and with this documentary, it can stay alive forever. Pierre Perrault himself said his trilogy were “cinéma de la parole” (speech cinema), hinting that the speech itself and what people have to say in the film is nearly as important to the viewer as the actual images. 

      Similarly to the first film, the camera crew uses lightweight camera equipment, which allows for easy continuous movement and expanded opportunity. The filmmakers also stayed out of the way completely from the Islanders, not wanting to intrude on what they were recording. For example, during the construction process of the canoe in the workshop, the camera crew is able to easily move around while not getting in the way of the builders--everything is captured on film with little intrusion into the lives of the Islanders. A second example of the avantages of an small, unobtrusive camera crew is the ability of the camera crew to film off a small boat; with 5 minutes left in the film, the camera crew is in a small boat with a sail and records two other boats--with a larger crew, this never would have been possible. Les Voitures D’eau was an Observatory Documentary film, with a direct cinema shooting style and small unobtrusive crews. A unique characteristic of the film is the acknowledgement of the filmmaker, characterizing the film as an authentic, yet “cinematic” reality and distancing the characters from the filmmakers. There is also an absolute absence of music (no diegetic nor non-diegetic use of music) and a poetic use of editing.

      While the first film was focused on documenting the revival of the dying tradition of whale hunting, the third film focused more on exploring the social and financial issues and private lives of a community of people that stay outside the general framework of the rest of Canada. For example, towards the beginning of the film, the Tremblay family speaks of how some new boats are now being made from iron and no longer wood and how this eliminated certain jobs for some of the residents (such as the maintenance of the wood). In the year 2000, the Municipality of La Baleine merged back with the Île aux Coudres due to dropping population numbers. With the population numbers dropping every year, the culture, heritage, way of life and unique accent of the Islanders will soon be disappearing--and with this trilogy of films, Brault and Perrault have done a fantastic job of capturing the life of the Islanders so that it will never be forgotten or erased. The third film focused on the gradual disappearance of wooden schoners on the Îles aux Coudres due to faster, cheaper and more sophisticated iron boats and the problems this creates for residents. The film takes a political turn when Perrault and Gosselin pose the fundamental question regarding the survival of a people and its economic integration in the new social and cultural reality of francophone Quebec at that time. The documentary ends on a sad note and an uncertain future looms on the horizon for the inhabitants of the small island on the north coast.

To watch Les Voitures d'eau, please follow this link:
http://www.onf.ca/film/voitures_deau

The culture and the heritage of the Îles aux Coudres

      These films touched upon an extremely important topic; the culture and the heritage of Îles aux Coudres. Especially living in Quebec, who we are means a lot; even today we continue to struggle to keep our culture. Within both films we can see a proud people trying to revive their lifestyle that is slowly becoming extinct due to technological progress. Even with these advancements threatening their way of life, they continue to pursue their lifestyles and keep their ancestors’ ways alive.

      Whaling was a tradition, a way of life, of the past inhabitants, in Pour la Suite du Monde, who lived on Ile-aux-Coudres. Even with changing times, the current citizens decided to revive the spirit of the hunt, to begin whale trapping again. However, the reason they decided to do so was because people wanted to do a documentary about it. We don't think that the citizens of the island had realized that they were slowly losing their heritage. After this, they really wanted to make sure to keep their heritage. The majority of the able-bodied men partook in this quest to relive their pasts. Even during the rough patches they pulled through, all to keep their heritage alive, even today, we do the same. Heritage means something to all of us; it defines who we are, where we came from, what we went through to be where we are today. Just like the proud people of Île aux Coudres, we too fight for our heritage. In Quebec specifically, we work to keep the French language alive, just like they worked to keep whaling alive for the generations to come. In Quebec and in Canada, we definitely feel the influence of the United-States. We think that by knowing this it will allow our country and our province to make sure to keep our culture and our heritage alive.

      Les voitures d’eau also reveals another element of the heritage of Îles aux Coudres. different way of life, still with its own unique background. They continue to use hand-crafted wooden boats, but with time they soon realize that technology is making their lifestyle obsolete, destroying their heritage. Just like their group, there are many things that threaten to severe us from our heritage. Changing times and advancing technology has made family time less “valuable” in the eyes of today’s society when it used to be a huge part of who we are and how we learnt about the world. Just like the wooden boats, these small details of our lifestyle are slowly becoming obsolete as well.

       Our society is a very fast past one where money is very important. Because of this, we feel like people don't take enough time to continue on with traditions from their families and from their culture. In fact, religion is often abandoned because people don't make the time to participate in it. Everyone seems to be aware of this problem, but no one want to do anything about it.  

      With the immigration in Canada, there has been a lot of mixing of culture which is a blessing and a curse. More people get to know about different cultures however people seem to pick up only certain elements from each one. For example, when one parent is French and the other English and the child is raised in the west island, in most cases the child will not have French as a mother tongue.

      To conclude, Pour la suite du monde and Les voitures d'eau are two documentaries that are in fact a way to preserve the culture of Îles aux Coudres for generations to come. They used collective memory of the older residents to whale hunt and to built the boats, without them these projects would have been nearly impossible. They are both very goop examples of Cinéma de la parole because the people of the island are the ones telling the story which really adds some credibility to the films.  We feel that these documentaries have a hidden message; they are telling us to keep our cultures alive and authentic. We hope this will motivate everyone to go back and learn about your family's past because our culture is part of who we are and can definitely impact the way we live our life. If you are not convinced, we found a very interesting article that explains the importance of culture and keeping it alive:
      http://www.preservearticles.com/201101173456/important-functions-of-culture.html

7- Heroes and their Quests

Heroes and their Quests

By: Amol, Coralie, Gabriel, and Madalena

Introduction

                 Over the course of seven weeks we have been introduced to various documentaries all conveying different messages and themes. This week we will be discussing qualities of Heroes and their quests. Using a new theory formulated by Joseph Campbell we are able to grasp the concept of Heroes and their quests much better than before. Throughout this blog we will pin point certain actions taken by our heroes, Joe Simpson, Simon Yates and Philippe Petit and find the link between The Journey of the Hero and their actual adventures. 

Touching the Void

Touching the Void, a 2003 documentary film directed by Kevin MacDonald, lasting 106 minutes and produced by John Smithson, depicts the tale of two alpinists, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, in their quest to climb the previously unconquered West Face of the Siula Grande, in Peru. The structure of the movie is what makes it such a success, as actors reenact the journey described in interviews by both Simpson and Yates, which allows for a greater sensorial experience for the audience.

The structure of the movie, which is separated into seven distinct parts, simply reflects the number of days the journey lasted. The first day starts off with both Simpson and Yates leaving the base camp under beautiful weather conditions, to begin what they believe to be a 3 to 4 day climb. They decide to climb up the mountain alpine style, which is an older technique. This method of climbing has Simpson and Yates carry very little supplies; they rely on each other to survive (tied together for security) and must climb up and down the mountain without the assistance of a third party.

After the first day, Simpson and Yates managed to walk the 4-mile long valley which leads to the bottom of Siula Grande, and have gotten halfway up the 6 356 meter face. On the second day however, the weather conditions deteriorated and Simpson and Yates were soon caught in a severe snowstorm. As they approached top of the face, both men were soon caught in what they would later discover to be “flutings”, which are accumulations of deep and loose snow. After ascending only 200 feet in about 5-hours, they decide to settle down for the night. Waking up on the third day, they found clear weather conditions, which allowed them to reach the summit at a faster pace then expected. As they hurried down, running low on supplies, the weather changed for the worst and they were soon caught in a white-out (severe snow storm, allowing for little to no visibility). Consequently, Yates falls off the ridge. Being tied to Simpson and having fallen only a few feet, he quickly climbs back up unhurt, and they decide to rest for the night. In order to climb such great heights they must keep hydrated, only now they have exhausted their gas supply, which was used for the melting of snow.

The clearer weather allows them to descend the face of the mountain at a faster pace. This soon changes however as Simpson suffers a fall. He has severely broken his leg, and is aware that he is condemned to dying on the mountain. Yates however, decides to lower Simpson down the mountain at 300 feet increments using their ropes. While being lowered, Simpson feels the angle of the mountain get steeper, and falls of the face. Hanging off of the cliff, injured and weak, Simpson had no way of either climbing back up the rope or swinging to get a hold of the cliff in order to let Yates lower him down more. Yates, unaware of Simpson’s situation, could only wait for him to take action. After an hour and a half, Yates took the life changing decision of cutting the cord and therefore possibly killing his friend. He settled down for the night, knowing that he had possibly ended his friend’s life. Simpson however, was still alive and was struggling to survive. He had fallen into a crevasse.

On the morning of the fifth day, Yates continued his journey down until he reached the cliff. It became clear to him why Simpson could not take his weight off the rope and saw the crevasse Simpson had fallen into. He continued his decent and soon reached the base camp where he had to psychologically deal with what he had done. Simpson, who slowly woke up that morning, called out to Yates but it was in vain as his friend was no longer there. He had two options: Try to climb the crevasse or lower himself deeper to find an exit. Unsuccessful with the first option, he lowers himself even deeper into the crevasse and luckily finds another exit point he could reach. Shortly after noon, he finally emerged to the sight of the immense glacier.

His journey was not over; he still had to walk across the 4-mile long valley and the glacier with a broken leg and a shortage of food and water. He luckily found Yates’ footprints and followed them, crawling down the glacier. The overall task of crawling for miles was too much, but Simpson showed signs of extreme courage as he broke down the task and set realistic goals for himself. After clearing the glacier, he must make his way through boulders and rocks in order to get to base camp. He knew he had to hurry because his physical and mental states were quickly deteriorating. Every step is a struggle, pain runs through his leg. He struggled on and later that day, found running water, giving him strength to push on. He continued his decent, the following day and as night fell, fog slowly settled in. He was now drifting in and out of consciousness and had difficulty moving any further. He made it to their waste field.  Joe began calling out Simon’s name and to his surprise, was heard by him. Yates heard someone calling his name. He could not believe it was Simpson but got out of his tent to investigate. He found his friend lying a hundred yards from the camp.  He had managed to survive his ordeal.

The Hero’s Journey

In Joseph Campbell’s book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces he explains the monomyth, or more commonly known as, The Journey of the Hero. Campbell formulated his theory with the analysis of multiple myths. His formula was shortened done into three sequences. The first part of a Hero’s quest is “Seperation” where a hero must leave his ordinary world to practice and gain skills that will help him prevail. Once he has received all the training he can get he is initiated into the quest and must battle his/her way through obstacles, this constituent is called “initiation”. Once they have completed and vanquished their quest, the hero returns home with the prize or feeling of redemption. The “return” brings the hero back to square one, their home where they live life as an ordinary person once again.

In Touching the Void the status quo would be Simon and Joe living their lives in England. Having a passion for mountain climbing, they decide to set their own goal; to be the first people to climb the west face of Siula Grande. Along their journey to Peru, they meet a gentleman named Richard Hawking who remains at the base camp to assist them when they return. They leave base camp to conquer their quest. The higher they climb the more they struggle for survival as unplanned weather conditions are thrown their way and the gas tank is emptied. Their moment of crisis occurs once Joe has fallen off a cliff and breaks his leg. They must adapt to their new situation, in order to climb down the mountain alive. After being pulled down to quickly and having the mountaineers shouts be muffled by the howling wind of the snow storm, Joe is thrown off a cliff, and hangs in the void for more than an hour, above a crevasse, Joe unable to get himself back onto the mountain, plummets to his “so-called death”. The decision to cut the rope was not a pleasant choice. In most myths a hero’s return is always a majestic and joyful one, but in Simon’s case he must deal with the criticism accompanied by his decision to cut the rope. They return home safely, and are directly brought to a hospital for medical attention. 

Man on Wire

Man on Wire, a 2008 British documentary film, directed by James Marsh and produced by Simon Chinn, presents the extraordinary story of a man pursuing his dream at all cost. The movie, which is constructed in a similar way to Touching the Void, in the way of having interviews conducted asking the main characters to tell their story. Along with these interviews there are reenactments of their story. In the case of Man on Wire draws emotions from its viewers, allowing for a sensational experience.

Philippe Petit, a French high-wire artist, dreamed of walking across the World Trade Center (WTC) since the age of 17 and finally did at the age of 25. The movie shows how difficult of a journey it was to reach his goal. It all started when he read a news article about the possible construction of two buildings, which would become the tallest the world had ever seen. He knew that there was a slight chance he could achieve his goal but believed in it anyway. He practiced his skills as a high-wire artist and eventually became extremely good. He undertook his first life-changing walk when he crossed the towers on the Notre-Dame Cathedral. After successfully performing this act, he was hooked and knew he would one day achieve the cross between the WTC.

 Months after this first success, Philippe Petit read a second article about the World Trade Center, which described how the towers were going to be built. Philippe Petit could not have been any happier. This meant that his dream was now tangible, and that it was now possible for him to undertake such a task. His training continued as the towers were being built and in 1973, he crossed the Sydney Harbour Bridge, in preparation for his task the following year. Being that this act was once again a success, Philippe Petit grew more confident and prepared for the World Trade Center act. After visiting the towers and gathering information and help in order to achieve his quest, he decided that he was ready and travelled to New York City for what would be his culminant performance. That day however, it seemed obvious that he would not be able to reach his goal. He had not prepared enough for the task at hand and would surely fail if he attempted. Reluctant, Philippe Petit travelled back to France and this time, prepared himself better.

A few months later, he was back in New York City, happy with his preparation and ready as he would have ever been for the performance. After sneaking in both towers of the World Trade Center at night, Philippe Petit and his team prepared the wire for the event. After dropping the wire and having to pull it back up, Philippe Petit was finally ready for his lifetime goal. It was now morning and although exhausted, he decided that he had to take a leap of faith and climb on the wire. His act, consisting of a total of eight crossings, lying down on the wire, kneeling on it and waving to the crowd below, ended when he realized that he had achieved his dream: he would not die to extend the moment any longer. After being arrested and charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct, Philippe Petit returned to France where he continued his career and passion as a high-wire artist.

The Hero and his Quest

As we mentioned previously, the topic of this blog revolves around the hero, and their quest. A hero is someone who experiences a life changing journey, leaving his or her “ordinary” world and entering a “special” world. Every hero gets called to an adventure, with a bit of help they depart on their journey leaving their ordinary lives behind. Throughout their journey, the hero is faced with challenges and obstacles that they have to overcome. There is a moment where we see the hero’s weakness but he pushes forward, to beat their goal. Man On Wire relates to what we learned in class because Philippe Petit does something no one has ever done. Philippe begins his journey by setting a personal goal, which is to place a wire between the Twin Towers and walk across it. One day Philippe was reading the newspaper and saw a picture of the World Trade Center and had an inspiration of attaching a wire from one building to the other.  In order to achieve his goal he must prepare by separating himself from his immediate world and to focus on enhancing his wire walking skills. As practice, Philippe decides to walk across the clock towers of Notre-Dame church in Paris, and later on, walk across a bridge in Sydney, Australia. It takes him and his partners several years to prepare for the performance. Not only must Philippe practice, his friends along with him must create a concrete plan to break into the towers and set up the equipment. These preparations are part of the quests “initiation” along with the actual performance conducted by Philippe. Once he completes his stunt, he returns to his life on the ground and is welcomed by fans and news reporters asking for explanations. After clearing his name of the charges held against him, he returns to a life of fame and recognition, and is showered with appreciation and respect for his stunt.

The Hero within Ourselves

These films both exemplified the qualities that every human being possesses: heroism. Every individual can be a hero, it's just a matter of showing it and expressing it. Joe and Simon were both normal individuals that carried out daily routines just like the rest of us, with the exception of their mountain climbing hobby, but they were heroes. Joe from Touching the Void and Philippe from Man on Wire both had to face an excruciating situation, but they ultimately persevered and showed their heroism. Being a hero does not necessarily mean that one must slay a dragon to save a princess or has to save a planet against an evil villain.

For Joe, he broke his leg, faced dehydration, faced a seemingly dead end but despite all that, was able to escape with his life. He motivated himself by setting small goals to show himself that it was in fact not impossible. He is a hero because he was able to conjure his will power and continue moving forward. Being strong minded forced him to move ahead and to push harder and harder for survival. Although his strong will to live was based on his fear of dying alone, he managed to use it in his favor.  His body was prepared to stop him from progressing but it was his mind, wishful thinking (finding Simon) that had him hop along till the base camp. They are qualities which we all possess, but often only use when a certain situation arises. Similarly Philippe, in Man on Wire, did something perceived to be impossible. Getting to the top floor of the buildings was impossible because it was prohibited by law to these people. So, he improvised and used hideouts at night to install equipment and disguised himself to have access and take photos. Like Joe, he showed ingenuity and found a way to achieve his goal.

The video below explains certain scenes and scenarios which occur during the walk across the twin towers. It is a great clip because we have both, the director’s perspective and Philippe Petit’s perspective on the film and on his work. It answers the question “Why?” without really answering the audience’s question. 

Being a hero is someone that can defy the odds and portray "god-like" qualities and abilities to achieve a goal. The quest is often what makes a hero. Throughout the hero’s quest there are obstacles they must face, which may fool them and make them do something impossible. A broader way to look at it is that the life is a quest, in its own; that we all try to conquer in our lives and every single person must apply qualities such as perseverance, hard work, management in order to live happily and successfully. But there are also smaller experiences, like the ones Philippe and Joe had, that are quests that can change a person's life. Both films, in which we see those experiences, we can understand how Joe and Philippe conquered their respective quests because we see firsthand, that these people displayed extraordinary qualities in the face of challenges presented on the journey and we realized that we too, though it may seem impossible, can exhibit the same heroism. 

These films truly show us all that we have the ability to be heroes. If there are situation, or quests as Joe and Philippe experienced, that truly challenge you beyond what you think are your limitations, it will provoke you to surpass those and make you learn something about yourself. What we saw with Joe and Philippe were life changing moments, but we may conduct acts of heroism without even knowing it. Organizing social fundraisers to support a certain group of people is a form of heroism, because you may not be changing your life, but your changing the lives of others for the better all while achieving a goal you set yourself. Or on a broader context, a fundraiser that helps needy children across the planet is also an act of heroism. We all achieve such acts almost on a daily basis, we organize our ideas so that the goals can be achieved and we ultimately help ourselves and/or others become better people all while discovering something new about ourselves.

Conclusion

Heroes can be any one of us, we do not need to be dropped into a radioactive substance to gain super powers or be bitten by a radioactive bug. All we need is our will power and our passions to lead us towards our goals. A goal to one person is a quest for another. We are aware of our strengths and weaknesses and are capable of pushing ourselves forwards and will accomplish our goals. Ordinary people are heroes because they manage to find something worth doing that will make themselves push and grow as a person. It is the little things which create a heroic image of certain people. When we were younger adults would ask us who are hero was, we would answer our mother or father because they were capable of many great things in our child eyes. Now that we have grown into adults the term Hero has changed because our eyes have given us knowledge of the world around us. In a figurative sense hero means Batman, Harry Potter, Hercules etc. but at the end of the day we realize the people we look up to, our models, whether they are celebrities, business men, family members, they are the true Heroes. 

6 - Sound and Silence

Sound and Silence

by Aileen, Erin, and Alexandre

Music plays an important role in our lives; it has the ability to alter our moods for better or for worse. In most big name Hollywood films, the movies are scored with great soundtracks to exemplify drama, tension and comedy on screen. But what if the director chooses to create a movie without speech or sound? In silent films, we are able to explore how sound changes our viewpoint for the images on screen. The films Window Water Baby Moving, Berlin: Symphony of a Great City and Night and Fog all use sound in unique ways. In silent films, the images on screen were powerful enough to stand on their own. The films which used rhythmic music complemented the images and actions on screen in a soothing yet nonobstructing way.

Window Water Baby Moving

            The short documentary film Window Water Baby Moving, directed by Stan Brakhage, was released in 1959. The film documents the birth of his first child, Myrrena. After months of editing, and delays by unexpected problems such as Kodak seizing the film, Window Water Baby Moving was released as a 13 minute experimental short film, which is an artistic practice incorporating both visual arts and cinema.

The film’s opening immediately invites viewers in by its portrayal of intimate behavior that is being exhibited by Brakhage and his pregnant wife. Through the use of extreme close-ups and fast-paced clips and images, Brakhage portrays the feeling of intimacy and tenderness. Some scenes include images of his wife’s swollen stomach, as the couple’s clasped hands graze her skin. About halfway through the film the delicacy of the previous scenes is replaced with raw footage of childbirth at its core. Viewers are now witnessing the birth of a child, usually a rather private affair, at a very close range.

In class we touched on themes of sound and silence. The exclusion of sound or music in the film Window Water Baby Moving was entirely intentional. Without sound, we are required to create in our minds a soundtrack of our own. With the absence of sound, there is also a feeling of awareness that occurs not only when regarding the film’s content, but also with the space in which we are sitting and with whom we are sharing the experience of observing the film.

Also, with sound, the film might have been too intrusive; looking and listening to raw footage of a woman giving birth would have been too much for some sensitive audiences to handle.

There is a kind of honesty in creating a film without sound. There are no obstructions in what we are feeling for the images we are seeing. Music, just like images, stands alone and allows us to take on certain moods. By refusing to pair music with his film, Brakhage has left us with nothing but the raw intensity that we are supplied with through the blunt images on the screen.

Berlin: Symphony of a Great City

Berlin: Symphony of a Great City is a black and white silent film, directed by Walter Ruttmann. It was released September 1927 in Germany. It focuses on the events that unfold during one single day in Berlin in 1927. The film is divided into five acts, each depicting a specific time of day; from early morning before anyone has risen, to deep into the night. Each act was paired with a musical score to reflect the mood of the scenes composed by Edmund Meisel, but the score was lost until 2007. In 1993, a score by Timothy Brock was made for the film – this composition was the one we listened to in class. In 2007, the movie was rereleased to the Berlin public with its original score. 

The film depicts everyday life, and portrays one day as a cycle. Act 1, starts the film by showing, mostly male factory workers heading off to work. The city starts to get for the rest of the people who are still sleeping. Once everyone is awake the city will be ready for the day to come. In act 2, white collar workers are starting to head off to work. The women are getting their children ready for school. Not only are humans starting their day, but machines in general are on the move. In act 3, the city is at full function. Everyone is in their proper location, and performing their respective tasks. Next is act 4, when the city slows down for lunch. A class division is prominent in this act because we see the wealthy population enjoying a fancy meal out, while the blue collar workers are sitting outside eating a bagged lunch. After lunch the factories and employees are back to work. At the end of the afternoon, the day is over; men are washing their hands, cleaning themselves after a day’s work. The city starts to relax, but people stay out to enjoy leisurely activities such as sports and entertainment. When night arrives, in act 5, the people of Berlin are shown enjoying fine entertainment at the local theater. There is dancing and large productions, also juggling and trapeze acts.

Every occurrence that is filmed is seen as just another everyday affair. The way Ruttmann achieves this is by showing many different images one after the other, so that we may take a rather holistic approach to the film instead of seeing each scene as an isolated incident. There is also a sense of time passing while watching Berlin: Symphony of a Great City. Since we are shown every detail in a day in the life of Berliners, we get the sense that we just lived through that day as well, and that we are involved in that lifestyle. Different dynamics in amplitude and frequency are recorded to capture and retain the attention of the audience. The pieces composed by Meisel and Brock are also split into separate acts to mimic the daily lives of Berliners. Music used to be the only time based art – there is no still sound, as there is an image or photograph. Berlin: Symphony of a Great City, being part of the genre of Avant-garde film, depended on musical theory for its effect on an audience.  

In class we discussed how similar the “cycle” of a day is today in relation to 1927. Workers still flood the streets, trains and take to their automobiles when the sun rises. They still attend work and provide themselves with some form of entertainment when work is done. They still go out at nighttime to see shows and live performances. Every day life still has the same basic structure, only minor details have been altered like the source of the entertainment, what types of occupations are available, technological advances and a more obvious factor – the fashions!

Night and Fog

Night and Fog (Nuit et brouillard) is a French documentary short film, directed by Alain Resnais, which portrays the history of Nazi Germany’s death camps. It was made in 1955, ten years after the liberation of Nazi concentration camps. Night and Fog was written by Jean Cayrol, a survivor of the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp. The music was composed by Hanns Eisler, an Austrain composer, and the film was narrated by Michel Bouquet, a famous French film actor. The documentary features gruesome images and footage of the hellish world of dehumanization and death contained within the grounds of Auschwitz and Majdanek. The thirty minute documentary shows the truth behind the barbed wired gates.

 While Michel Bouquet is speaking, the director takes the audience from lush meadows to wired fences with high watch towers, and finally into the heart of the camp. After each description the narrator refrains from speaking, letting the powerful images progress. As the film develops, historical documents from the war are presented with present footage to show the effects the war had on the surrounding area. Even though the 1955 footage was in colour, it does not look at all “colourful”.

As the film advances, it takes the audience through a history of the concentration camps. In 1933, when the Nazis took over in Germany, concentration camps were built, creating new businesses all over.   As the film continues to show the war’s development, gruesome images of starvation, abuse, and living conditions are displayed on screen. In 1945, by the end of the war the camps had turned into crematoriums, killing over 1.3 million people in Auschwitz alone. Over 17 million people, including Jews, Soviet POWs, disabled people, and homosexuals died during the Holocaust.

The film begins by stating that even a peaceful landscape, a road where cars and peasants and couples pass, a resort village, can result in a concentration camp. Night and Fog is different and honest – an uncommon trait amongst most popular cinematic movies. Unlike most Holocaust films, Night and Fog is unique because the director, Alain Resnais did not presume to speak for the victims within the concentration camps. Instead the voiceover by Hanns Eisler, which was very poetic despite the horrors on screen, was filled with a sympathetic awareness of the audience’s unwillingness to accept or grasp the horrors within the camp; “[…] useless to describe what went on in the cells… Words are insufficient.” (Night and Fog)

In Night and Fog, similarly to Berlin: Symphony of a Great City, and the others viewed in class, music plays an important role. These films depend upon musical theory for their effect. As mentioned in class, sound must exist in time. The composer of Night and Fog was well aware of this fact because even as still pictures were shown on screen classical music played in the background, with interchanging dynamics and instruments. Every piece was elegant and dramatic to match the mood of each picture. This helped the viewer grasp the sorrows that went on within the camps. Like sound, the world will never be still. Together the combination of voice-over, music and silence leave the viewer feeling calm but aware of how important it is to remember the past. Without music, the film would have been too intrusive, and would have left the viewer feeling aggravated and upset. 

“We pretend to take up hope again as the image recedes into the past, as if we were cured once and for all of the scoured of the camps...We turn a blind eye to what surrounds us and a deaf ear to humanity’s never-ending cry.” (Night and Fog)

What Sound Brings to Movies and Our Everyday Life

The films Berlin: Symphony of a Great City, Night and Fog, and Window Water Baby Moving were all made before the 1960s. They are all very artistic, avant-garde experimental films. These film styles incorporate musical theory and visual arts to affect their audiences. Even though Window Water Baby Moving is completely silent, it is still incorporated in the category of Avant-garde because its use of silence is what gives the film such profound affect. All films require the viewer to evaluate the images presented on screen in great depth. They make the audience look at images which are both poetic and gruesome.  They make us realize that we occasionally have to go back to the root of things to understand and acknowledge details that can sometimes be overlooked, like the way music makes us feel, and what stories images can tell us.

The lack of modern sound technology in old films simplifies what we are watching and shows us that music, just like words, can guide our understanding. The directors of the films we watched in class shape the sound and pictures to manipulate the way they want the audience to feel.  In modern day cinema, sound is present in nearly every film and piece of media. Whether it’s scored with an amazing soundtrack or simply dubbed over with a laugh reel, sound is important. Sound and visuals are the perfect marriage because they both enhance an experience. Seeing and hearing are two extremely important senses that we rely on as humans to absorb what is happening around us. When we watch a film, we are completely consumed in that world, and we use our senses to do so.

Directors are aware of how manipulative sound and music can be which is why soundtracks are carefully constructed to enhance the mood in the scene. For example, in Pitch Perfect, the characters are always making reference to the Breakfast Club as the best scored movie of all time. The Breakfast club would have never remained an all time classic if it wasn’t for the soundtrack put in place. After all, music withstands the test of time.

Sound not only plays an enormous role in our lives and how we perceive things, but it is also a beautiful thing that we take for granted. It unites those who truly appreciate it. So whether you tear up every time you hear Beethoven’s 5^th Symphony, or you rocked harder than anybody else at that Metallica concert of ’03, sound is a universal tool through which we can all communicate and comprehend the world around us.

The films watched in class are an amazing introduction to Avant-garde and experimental cinema. Each one of them offers their own unique artistic styles, seen through music and image. Berlin: Symphony of a Great City uses sound to set a room tone, and create a sense that time is passing. It helps create continuity between the images. Soundscapes present within the film Night and Fog are synchronous with the images and commentary, which help enforce the message that we must never forget our history. All of the films reinforce the relationship between visual arts and sound. Window Water Baby Moving, Berlin: Symphony of a Great City and Night and Fog transform our vision of the world by suggesting another way to understand a series of images without the use of speech. After all, rhythmic music is the same in every language.