Analysis of Mise-En-Scene

 
For this exercise, I deconstructed segments of the "Salad Story" footage I shot in Israel this past summer to analyze the mise-en-scene--characters, locations, lighting and costumes.

Point of View (POV)

 
This was an exercise in Point of View (POV), where for the most part I show Sharona's viewpoint as she engages in the process of making Persian rice. The piece de la resistance is the tadiq, the crusty potato bottom, which is usually reserved for esteemed guests.

The Long Take

For this exercise I did one long take without cutting, where I followed Sharona, a character in my Iran documentary, shopping at a farm stand. I researched steadying options for the camera, and purchased the Opteka Steadyvid Pro Video Stabilizer system. I’m still mastering how to achieve static and dynamic balance using the system, but it definitely helped smooth out the movement of the camera as I followed Sharona.

Follow Up to Preproduction for Salad Trials

This summer, I shot six salad stories in locations all over Israel—the Northern Negev, the Lower Galilee, and Tel Aviv.  As I reached out to various individuals to ask them participate, my pool of possible subjects changed; one person was away for the summer and another preferred not to participate. I found the experience challenging but I learned a lot.  As I encountered obstacles and faced problems, I consulted with and was guided by my mentor, Michal Goldman.

Michal appropriately summarized the goal for this film: “A salad is a perfect metaphor for the film you’re setting out to make: it’s a mixing of all kinds of different ingredients that still hold their taste and yet, if the salad is well-made, end up making something all-of-a-piece.” She provided me with a useful approach to the interviews. She advised me to “stay close to the salad” with questions that have interesting implications but address the process of making a salad. For example, “Who taught you how to make the salad?” and “Where did you buy the ingredients?”

Here are short descriptions and screen shots of the individuals I filmed:

Merav—a secular Jewish woman living in Kiryat Tivon who works as a manager at IBM in Haifa;

Hadas—a modern Orthodox Jewish woman from a Yemenite and Iranian background, living in Mitzpeh Hoshaya, a religious community in the Lower Galilee;

Hannah—a Jewish artist living in the heart of Tel Aviv, who emigrated from Germany with her parents and sister in 1933;

Hillel—a retired Jewish Kibbutznik, living on Galon, a secular Israeli kibbutz in the Northern Negev;

Amira—a Muslim Israeli woman living in the town of Kefar Romat-Haib in the Lower Galilee;

and Abby—an Israeli-American food columnist and author (Breaking Bread in the Galilee), living in the moshav (settlement) Alon Abba in the Lower Galilee.

The project was a wonderful opportunity to learn how to use my fairly new Canon XA10. Unfortunately the learning curve impeded the shooting quality even though I was somewhat familiar with the camera, had read the manual, and had played around with the settings.  I made adjustments to the f-stop at each location but was often battling bright sunlight streaming into a house. During one shoot, everything was set up and the salad was being prepared when I realized that there was something off with the camera settings—each time my subject transferred cut vegetables to a bowl, the motion was blurred. I tried troubleshooting on the spot. Only later did I discover that I had inadvertently reset the camera when I was adjusting the exposure (the disadvantage of a touch screen!). I decided to shoot at 60i to achieve a television cooking show feel over a filmic look, and I used an external Rode NT3 mic to optimize sound. We turned off air conditioners and fans, in spite of the extreme heat. I was equipped with a small LED light attached to the camera, which created some depth. I realize now that there were inconsistencies to my thought processes: on the one hand I chose a reality TV show look in my camera settings, which ideally uses a three-point lighting set up, on the other hand, I was striving for a verité feel that uses natural light. The latter is obviously easier with the absence of a crew. When I shot at midday, it was very difficult to capture the landscape of the surrounding area because of the bright sunlight and haze.

Shot structure proved to be another challenge. I did try to manipulate the camera and zoom in when possible. Without a second camera, however, it was difficult to shoot cutaways and close ups. The absence of a second camera diminished my ability to properly capture the salad preparation process. Ideally, I’d like to have someone else on camera shooting from the moment we enter the location because so many important nuggets are lost when the camera is not rolling.

I also struggled with composition and framing. In some cases, because of lighting and camera angle issues, the individuals did not prepare the salads where they normally do in their kitchens. As part of the set up, I asked the subjects lay out the ingredients in advance before shooting began.

The most difficult challenge was connecting with an Israeli (or Palestinian) Arab. I realized that it was important to include Arab perspectives after reviewing the critiques of my Iran doc from the residency. I had to step out of my comfort zone and start approaching friends to arrange for me to meet someone. Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting from dawn until dusk, proved to be another challenge because it fell during most of my stay and only ended a week before my departure. I learned that it would be too dangerous for me to go to the Palestinian village near Tel Aviv to meet with a woman who was reputed to be a good cook, and the only way to interview her would be for her to come to my friend’s. I was surprised to learn that my liberal Kibbutznik friends weren’t connected to any Arabs. After talking through options, my good friend and author Sagi Melamed (Son of My Land) connected me with his friend Zachy, who arranged for me to film his wife Amira.

I struggled between controlling the content of the interviews and letting the subjects take the lead. I developed a set of questions in consultation with Michal, but found it difficult to juggle my roles as a director of photography and producer. Some talked more than others and one person shared her personal history in great detail. Three subjects chose to make a chopped salad of tomatoes and cucumbers—the most popular salad in the country. In my blog post on July 19, I wrote that some call this “Israeli salad” and others “Arab salad.” Michal commented that “in Israel/Palestine even salad is politicized” and this is worth exploring. Merav who made such a salad called it “salad.” When I tried to push her to label it, she stuck to calling it “salad.”

While I learned a lot, my overall feeling about the experience of shooting the salad stories was that the planning and filming processes were too rushed and intermingled. Before my next visit, I’d like to have a longer and stronger preproduction process based on a thorough examination of the footage. I’ll definitely use the footage I have to cut something together—possibly a fundraising trailer, maybe something more. I’m meeting with Michal this week to plan the next step.

   

   

First exercise: To recut an existing Hollywood film into a new story

This exercise proved to be quite challenging—and many more hours of work than I anticipated. I had a digitized copy of Mel Brook’s Young Frankenstein from a previous work project that I decided to use. I struggled to come up with an idea. First, given my documentary inclinations, I used footage from the film to create a travel log of Transylvania from the 1930s, the period of the Young Frankenstein story. I patched a few clips together and realized I’d need to embellish the cut with outside photos and information. This cut would lack a story arc and dialogue. Then I decided to work on a horror cut of the existing story, stripping it of all comedic elements but maintaining the story line. Neither of these were sufficient to fulfill the objectives of creating a new story, cutting new dialogue, and restructuring shots.  The version I ended up with does tell a different story, in spite of unavoidable continuity issues. I’d love feedback!

Residency Summary Fall 2013

Suggested Resources

1.    Judith Barry’s work, Cairo Stories, as an example of an innovative artistic installation giving voice to the stories of Egyptian women from Cairo.

2.    Shirin Neshat’s work to stimulate some ideas of how I can further incorporate graphics into my Iran doc. Her film, Women without Men, about the 1953 British-American backed coup in Iran.

3.    The documentary work of AIB MFA graduate Rinat Harel where she has a conversation with her mother, an Egged bus driver in Israel, about the constant threat of being blown up.

4.    The work of Mona Hatoum, a video and installation artist of Palestinian origin.

5.    The works of Arab-Muslim women living in the West, Zineb Sedira and Ghada Amer, and Jewish women artists who deal with Palestinian issues.

6.    The artwork of Shimon Attie, a photographer and installation artist who has explored the relationship between place, memory and identity.

7.    Christian Boltanski as an example of an artist who emerged after World War II and has felt the burden of telling what happened.

8.    The Fog of War by Errol Morris as an example of a film where the character, Robert Mcnamara, struggles with himself.

9.    Documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman’s very direct verite engagements with different communities.

10. Documentary filmmaker Ross McElwee, who inserts himself explicitly in the story, and the story ends up being about his struggle to tell the story and the conditions of that struggle.

11. Ori Gersht’s beautiful video of a Holocaust survivor dancer, Will You Dance for Me? The theme of the darkness and the light of her experience is very powerful.

12. Jewish philosopher Walter Benjamin, a strong influence of Ori Gersht’s.

13. Matthew Nash’s 16 Photographs at Ohrdruf  about the photographs his grandfather took when he liberated the first concentration camp Ohrdruf in April 1945. It’s both the larger cultural story of the liberation and the filmmaker’s story.

14. Jean Luc Godard’s use of text on the screen.

15. Harun Farocki’s film about a Nazi worker on the train to Auschwitz.

16. The German director Michael Haneki who doesn’t use music in his narrative features.

17. AIB MFA graduate Steven Gentile’s animated film A Pirate Named Ned.

Issues and comments raised about 7-minute sample of Uprooted: Memoirs of Jewish Iran

A.    General Comments

1.    It’s extremely well done for what it is given that it’s my first documentary. [Michael Newman]

2.    I have really interesting material, it looks good and it’s solid. [Gregg Bordowitz] 

3.    It’s a great subject, a human subject and it flows well. [Jason Pramas]

4.    It's very compelling and it parallels a lot of immigrant stories to America--coming over as a teenager without your parents to escape the horrors of the homeland. [Sarah Barr]

5.    It comes out very professional; I could see it on PBS. It’s very engaging; it sucked me in. [Julie Amrany]

B.    Agency and Point of View

1.    Who is the agency in this film and what kind of responsibility does the agency have in this presentation? The agency is who is speaking and the kind of responsibility that person has in the presentation. There are many layers: the individuals’ and also my subject position. As a part of the agency, what is my responsibility in this film, especially when dealing with the persecution of a minority in the context of global politics? [Sunanda Sanyal; Assya Makawi]

2.    I need a stronger point of view, which is something I can learn from looking at films, documentary and narrative, so that my film is more compelling. [Deborah Davidson] There’s no sense of me in the film, my engagement in the subject, or my point of view. I may want to pull back and say it's not about me, rather it's about these people. Implicitly I feel it's a story that should be told, and that comes across, but viewers don't know why I’m telling the story on any kind of personal level. [Michael Newman]

3.    Most of my experience has been in the realm of making film tributes, and this film is very much a tribute as it stands now. I should speak my voice and not the voice of “This is the right way we make film tributes, so this is very much a tribute.” [Ben Sloat]

C.    Content

1.    I shouldn't separate this story from the Palestinian issue. Unless my audience is completely into accepting anything that is pro-Jewish, there will always be an elephant in the room, and that is the question of the State of Israel vis a vis Palestine, because Iranian Jewry is a minority endorsed by the State of Israel. It should be more than a film about ethnic identity; it should also be about politics. [Sunanda Sanyal]

2.    Don’t oversimplify the history preceding the Islamic Revolution even if the characters see the past through rose-colored glasses, idealize the leadership of the Shah of Iran and turn a blind eye to his human rights track record. It’s not about good side and bad side—I should avoid this dichotomy. [Sunanda Sanyal] Show contrasts and contradictions to the characters’ perceptions. The characters’ idealization of the past and loss of what they left behind yields an inability for them to depict the past as it really was. [Ben Sloat; Gregg Bordowitz]

3.    Think about what the film should be communicating in addition to the history of these people. [Michael Newman] The film fits into the larger global discussion of displacement and dislocation. This can be a template for any diaspora community anywhere—Cambodians living in Canada, Somalis living in Maine. Displaced people have this rosy view of the past that may or may not be real. There are idealizations and forgotten nuances, but the paradoxes, complexities and contradictions are really important. [Ben Sloat] What can make me want to bond with Jewish Iranians more specifically than being displaced? [Molly Painter]

4.    The characters describe the history of the period but their emotions are totally even and flat; alternatively the film could be a psychological profile of the characters, and the events can be alluded to in the emotional resonance of their story. It would be much more interesting to do something emotional and metaphorical, that’s more about me, Wendy, as a person and them as people, rather than be so closely wedded to the tradition of how a documentary is made. How can I cull more information out of the characters? The characters should be much more individualistic, complex and distinct, and not just victims. Inside their idealized past, I should delve into their concerns, what it meant to be a Jewish person rooted in the Middle East but not Israel? I’m afraid of being offensive and exploitative, but I should make decisions after the fact. Get the raging anger and then have a conversation about it. It’s as if I have a high degree of self-censorship before I even film, and as a result, I’m losing the heart of the matter and the result is flat. Where do I come in because so far my voice is very neutral or completely hidden? I should more directly engage with my characters. [Ben Sloat]

5.    What do I want to figure out visually? [Ben Sloat]  Suggestions for making the film more visually interesting: Having two characters engaged in an intimate conversation or making the object of the samovar more prominent in the interview by having the character looking at the samovar or showing the samovar and just hearing the character’s voice [Deborah Davidson]. What objects or significant interactions can you tell stories with? [Molly Painter] How can I make it more graphic? I had moments of it; the clip of the woman sitting in the middle of the grass, dressed in a Hijab, all in black, was very graphic. [Bobbianne Greggory-Dorr] Explore the possibility of filming in Iran. [Michael Newman] I was really excited by the carpet scene as being a part of who they are. [Molly Painter] A successful piece of art reflects out to the audience, so you want the images to speak. [Deborah Davidson]

6.    Identify other stories within the Hebrew tradition that might help structure you. Since Esther’s tomb is in Iran and the Book of Esther takes place in Persia, tying that into the story would be really powerful. Esther should be a character somewhere in the film. [Gregg Bordowitz]

7.    I’m taking on a certain responsibility to tell this story even though it’s not my culture. I should look at artists who have had similar aspirations to tell stories that are a part of their identity. [see Suggested Resources No. 7; Deborah Davidson]

8.    In the editing process, it's good to have a period of saying “yes” to everything, which will lead you to include surprising material. You'll surprise yourself, and that material will end up being the documentary. [Gregg Bordowitz]

9.    The music component at the beginning of the 7-minute sample is jarring; you might want to examine your intentions [Sarah Barr, Ben Sloat] The music makes the story predictable. Are there other ways in documentary where you can create a lead in to emotion without those things? Can silence be used more? What about the non-sound? For example, the pauses in the interview showing how they’re trying to remember and that the memories are distant or can we learn something from their posture? [Jonathan Macagba] There are documentary filmmakers who are against music for its manipulation. Make some studies of the use of music in film by listening to the sound tracks. [Judith Barry]

10. What other historical events will I include? For example, the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88), the Iranian Hostage Crisis (1979-1981). [Sarah Barr]

11. Include Hafez’ poetry and his themes that resonate for this story. [Gregg Bordowitz]

D.    Audience

1.    Who is my audience? Will it be a highly selective and pro-Jewish? [Gregg Bordowitz]

2.    What do I want the viewer to gain from this documentary? Should the viewer have to think and negotiate the material or do you want explicate everything for the viewer? [Ben Sloat] 

3.    Think about issues of broadcasting versus narrow casting. One possibility is to first make the documentary for people who are in the video and then broaden the audience to include people who know people in the video, and then anyone else who might be interested. People are interested in other people’s stories. [Gregg Bordowitz]

E.    Style

1.    I could do an experimental documentary of the Jews of Iran, using all sorts of materials, like text on the screen. Right now it's a very conventional documentary, with the camera zooming in on the photographs and the headshots. The style of documentary might depend on the audience I want to reach and how I want it circulated. The film is interesting in terms of its importance obviously, in terms of its content. If I’m dealing with history and memory that hasn't really been dealt with on film before, obviously that's important. It's not an innovative artwork in its form, but then if I made it that I wouldn't get it into those places where I might want to distribute it, like television. [Michael Newman]

2.    In a way it moves away from the traditional documentary, looking at how people reconstruct their past, which may or may not be accurate. There may be fantasy or desire involved [Michael Newman].

3.    Think about moving away from the chronological, linear style shown in the sample. [Jonathan Macagba; Sarah Barr] I characterize my style as creating collages by piecing things together; perhaps moving away from the linear style and inserting more images and vignettes will give it more of a collage feel. [Sarah Barr]

F.     The Context of the AIB MFA Program

1.    How does my documentary relate to the art discourse in the AIB MFA Program? Can we categorize conventional documentary style as art? Should the format and presentation of my work be more complicated than documentary? Should it incorporate different planes? In this discourse, I have to determine where I want to locate myself. Is my aim to create a PBS style documentary? I’m adopting the straightforward conventions of how documentary is made, and within the rubric of the AIB MFA Program, there’s an invitation to push what is done and that would help me enormously. I’m in a program not necessarily to shape the object—i.e. the footage I already have--but to push my point of view over the two-year period that I’m in the MFA program. Here at AIB we have self-expression. The storytelling in my clip is straightforward in time and presentation, but it’s not for communicating in the art world. Generally, how can the AIB MFA program serve you as a documentary filmmaker? [Sunanda Sanyal, Ben Sloat, Michael Newman; Molly Painter]

G.    Presentation

1.    As part of my presentation, I should investigate different ways to display video. [Nina Earley, Julie Amrany]

Suggestions for Future Film Project, Salad Stories

Salad Stories: Film what my experience actually is. I should start a practice where I have a camera with me all the time, so for example, at breakfast if I have an inflammatory conversation, that’s recorded. Also push toward something that’s unpredictable, not prescribed. It would be incredibly valuable if I could do something that’s about my actual experience. How can I use my skill set in this very resonant set of themes I want to work with? How can I reevaluate what my experience actually is outside of the constructions and proprieties of the right way to do film. What is my way? What is my voice? [Ben Sloat]

Summary

On the one hand, my first residency at the MFA Program of AIB/Lesley brought up numerous challenges ahead for my work-in-progress documentary Uprooted: Memoirs of Jewish Iran. On the other, it reinvigorated and motivated me to see this work to completion. Instructors and students alike offered important feedback and suggestions that have stimulated my thinking on how to proceed in terms of style, content, audience, and presentation. For the fall semester, I will revisit the footage and imagery to edit together a rough cut and wrestle with the issues of broadening the subject matter within reason, appealing to a greater audience, moving away from traditional documentary style, heightening the artistic sensibility of the film, and finding my voice. This film, however, will definitely not be about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as that would take the subject matter off-course.

On a broader level, the critiques brought up a concern I’ve had all along, which is how as a documentary filmmaker do I fit in to the art discourse of this MFA program. Up until entering the program, I followed the classical documentary format in the development of my work, like that shown on PBS. The venues I envisioned for screening my work were festivals, television and theatres. Museums and the art world never entered my thinking. The philosophical question, “Can we categorize conventional documentary style as art?” has resonated for me since the residency. For now, my goal is to achieve a middle ground. For example, I will experiment with more visually creative ways of telling the story of my Iran doc with the material I’ve already collected.

Finally, my residency experience has helped me think of how to grow and develop my skills more broadly as a director/producer/editor. Avoiding self-censorship in the interview process, finding my voice, stepping away from the tribute style, are some examples. Additionally, my assignment for this semester to learn the language of cinema by reading, watching films and doing video exercises (deconstructing and recutting a Hollywood film and exploring mise en scene, the long take, shot structure and point of view) will build my skills and help shape the content of my current and future work.