Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould

     While most would not think of Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould as being a non-fiction film in any respect, this experimental movie portrays the true to life essence of who Glenn Gould was. Growing up playing the piano, Glenn Gould was a real life person who explored the ivory keys in new and interesting ways. Known for his eccentric behavior, Gould shied away from the media, only permitting a small handful of interviews to be conducted. Upon watching these interviews, it becomes clear that the portrayal of this maestro is honest and true.

     Documentarians have a sacred rule to portray their subjects. When it comes to making a narrative movie based on another's life, this same rule applies. Although Thirty Two Short Films may not be a purely cinema verite style of movie, it constructs its narrative with the same ideas in mind as a documentary: tell someone's story and have their personality come out. The film combines both non-fiction and fiction as it employs several interviews of people who knew Gould in real life as well as manufactured interactions involving the actor who plays Gould in the film. Audience members will walk away from this film knowing about Glenn Gould, a real man who was nearly unreachable, but became familiar through the medium of cinema.

     Music was a key facet that was central to Gould's being. The makers of Thirty Two Short Films knew that this individual interpreted music in a different way than most people, and they appropriately included sequences of experimental animation to a classical piece. Director Francois Girard commented, ""As Gould was such a complex character, the biggest problem was to find a way to look at his work and deal with his visions. The film is built of fragments, each one trying to capture an aspect of Gould. There is no way of putting Gould in one box. The film gives the viewer 32 impressions of him. I didn't want to reduce him to one dimension." Music was one of the biggest aspects of Gould, the reason why Girard included classical pieces in nearly each segment of this film.
     Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould successfully combines the documentary with the narrative, the conventional with the interpretational. It does not attempt to make a case for Gould, but rather portray the character in an honest way. This movie reminds documentarians that it is okay to experiment with form and discover truth in interesting, unconventional ways.

Beehive Stories

"Carbon County"

     There are so many things going right in this episode. The cinematography, the music, and the simple story combine together to produce a noteworthy show. Rule of thirds apply to most of the shots, but what is most interesting is the use of dutch angles. Although eschew, the frame still reads as beautiful as viewers look at the desert-like surface of Price and see from a different perspective how such a place is attractive. The plucky staccato beats from Micah's score breathe a playful, upbeat pace into the episode. The narrative focuses on one main story revolving around the dinosaur museum in Price. This tight focus on an intriguing aspect of Carbon County keeps the audiences attention while still relating to big ideas such as the lengthy history of life on planet Earth.

"Wayne County"

 
     This episode plays with the creative boundaries documentarians are allowed to pushed when creating their own work. Just like Orson Welles did in F for Fake, the documentarians in "Wayne County" put on costumes and acted for the camera. However, this contrived truth was revealing a more internal truth. People have walked the surface of Wayne County in space suits, pretending as if they were trekking across an alien planet. By recreating these events, the documentarians were fairly representing reality rather than marring it.

Jiro Dreams of Sushi

     There are some who believe that documentary films are never beautiful. Jiro Dreams of Sushi (David Gelb, 2011) is just one example of an exquisitely cinematic documentary. This movie’s technical achievements in cinematography and editing set a standard for future non-fiction films. Director Gelb successfully captures one-of-a-kind moments as he follows sushi master Jiro Ono through his life as a chef in Japan.

            Quick cuts and time-lapses from Jiro Dreams of Sushi reveal the hustle and bustle lifestyle of fish market goers and the hurried activity of Tokyo businessmen and women.  These cuts are set to upbeat, New Age music that is reminiscent of Baraka, which shot several scenes in Japan. These fast paced sequences are juxtaposed with methodical segments that are orchestrated like a symphony. A subject in the film even commented, “Jiro is like the maestro of a symphony.” The crescendo of classical music subsequently followed this remark as well as slow motion shots of Jiro’s apprentices as they prepared the day’s meals. The crew behind Jiro effectively marries the visually stunning processes of sushi preparation with the aurally intriguing melodies of the music. Each piece of sushi looks like art, glistening and inviting as steady shots of the sushi lingers to capture the look of each piece. The use of slow motion shots successfully reveals the precision and technique that accompanies each sushi preparation. Jiro is a beautiful documentary, one that pushes other non-fiction films to achieve the same level of cinematic elegance.

            Although Jiro is elegant, this film is not without its little flaws. An entire sit-down interview involving subject Masuhiro Yamamoto was largely over-exposed. A window with daylight spilling through the blinds served as a overwhelming backlight which could have been dampened by simply closing the blinds. There were other moments of over exposure such as the segment where Jiro is on a train to visit his parents’ gravesites. The filmmakers could have stopped down without underexposing Jiro’s face. Or, color correction could have improved the situation. Jump cuts that were not covered added onto these small errors in cinematography. Moreover, there were moments that felt highly contrived that felt manipulating. In one scene, a man spontaneously walks into Jiro’s restaurant and asks what the price of a meal is. The man is given an answer of 30,000 yen (US $375), a reply that astounds him as he backs out of the restaurant. This scene felt contrived for several reasons, one being the fact that the man appeared total aware of the camera. He never once looked at the camera or the team of filmmakers behind it. It is likely that the filmmakers were stumped as to how to bring up the price in an authentic way and chose to have someone come in to casually ask how much a meal was.

            These mistakes and manipulations are minimal compared to everything Jiro Dreams of Sushi did right. More than anything, this film captured those moments that reveal humanity at its purest. In one scene, Jiro and his youngest son sit at a table with Jiro in the background and his son in the foreground. At first, the focus is on the son as he comments that Jiro intimidates his customers. An expert rack focus to Jiro shows a large grin play across the sushi master’s face in reaction to this comment. The crew behind this film created strong relationships with its characters to allow them to be boldly truthful, an element which Rabiger takes note of, “A documentary film is the sum of relationships—those that you and your crew forge with participants and those they negotiate with each other.”
     Jiro Dreams of Sushi is a beautiful, standard setting film. Its technical feats dwarf the almost unnoticeable mistakes in editing and cinematography it makes. One of the strongest things this film accomplishes is capture unique, highly telling moments that reveal the characters and their personalities. The elegant, cinematic way in which this story is told set a precedent for future documentaries to come.

"Proud Flesh"

"The year was 2009
In the summer when a line
Was etched on my chest forever.
Heart surgery is hard
Made easier with get well cards,
Yet confused by EKGs and painkillers.
Upon my return home,
I soon learned
How ashamed I was of my scar.
A gruesome reminder of a painful experience
I was not too keen to remember.

Ugly. Awful. Horrifying.

It was once described as a worm.

Because of these names and because of my shame

I hid this mark on my chest

Along with all the rest

Of the tell tale signs of my past.

Scarring. Scars. Scarred.

Words pinned with such negative connotations.

But isn’t it said, 'What doesn’t kill us make us stronger?'

When a horse is hurt, it heals its wound, 

Forming a patch of reinforced, raised skin.

This weaving of sinews renews and sews

Torn bodies like a mended tapestry. 

“Proud flesh” it is called,

Flesh imbued with pride

Equipped with our wounds there is no need to hide

Our histories should be worn on our sleeves 

Like badges of justly earned honor.

Scars are cherished ties to our pasts.

Connections solidified in proud flesh.

Poetess Jane Hirshfield said it best

Quote, “...as all flesh

Is proud of its wounds, wears them

As honors given out after battle,

Small triumphs pinned to the chest—

And when two people have loved each other

See how it is like a scar between their bodies,

Stronger, darker, and proud;

How the black cord makes of them a single fabric

That nothing can tear of mend.” Unquote.

Not only are scars reminders of our pasts,

But the present and future also.

They tie us at the heartstrings,

Making locks of love

Meeting our past to our future.

Bear your scars proudly,

Remember their history

For they are tokens of time here on Earth.

Never lament, don’t ever fret.

Proud flesh will help us not forget.

Proud flesh will help us not forget."

     Our memories are made up by images. Whether they be physical or completely mental images, the things we can see in our mind's eye or with our actual eyes remind us of our pasts. For me, that image is of the scar on my chest. It has been four years since my heart surgery, yet foggy memories of pain and psychological suffering are brought to the forefront of my mind whenever I glance down at my scar. My scar is a gruesome image that carries the haunting memory of an experience seeped in anguish. Yet, as time has gone by, the memory this image invokes has been come less and less painful. I have come to a place of acceptance with my scar and realize that my surgery was life saving rather than life ruining. Although the memory my scar reminds me of has not changed, my perception and feelings associated with that memory have been altered.
     My poem "Proud Flesh" describes my transition from hating my scar to embracing it. At first, I could not stand the way it looked, how it set me apart from everyone else. But after comprehending how my surgery experience was literally life saving, I could not help but gain a respect for how my scar  has strengthened me. It made me push myself harder because I did not want to appear weak. At the same time, my scar taught me that it is okay to ask for help when my own exertions are not enough. The shock of the memory had begun to wear off. Instead, I became proud of the stamina I had that got me through my surgical ordeal and was able to bear my scar in public. My scar became a memento of a past experience that made me stronger, a signifier telling me "You can do hard things."
     Physical images like scars connect our past with our present much like photographs do. Author Susan Sontag describes in her writing "Regarding the Pain of Others" how photographs can embody such sentiments, "The familiarity of certain photographs builds our sense of the present and immediate past. Photographs lay down routes of reference and serve as totems of causes: Sentiment is more likely to crystalize around a photograph than around a verbal slogan."  Seeing is more powerful than just hearing about someone's painful past. It would be a more emotional experience for someone to show another their battle scars compared to simply telling a war story. Through these physical images or photographs, humans can come to a greater understanding as we are able to empathize and listen to each other. 
     In my Fireside Chat, I accompanied my poem "Proud Flesh" with a project that transitioned from blue to red as I "warmed up" to the memory invoked by my scar. The audio also changed from horse galloping to a crescendo of violins to signify my change from running away from my scar to learning to honor it. 
     Images are powerful memory carriers. They tie us to our pasts and teach us how we must act in the present and future. Scars are physical images that are be daily reminders of where we came from and how we can get to where we are going. 

James Price

Concerned Citizen

     Homophobia runs rampant in much of Utah and is especially prevalent within Provo.  Thankfully, there are several involved individuals who are trying to cultivate compassion and love within this close minded society.  One of these concerned citizens is named James Price.  James is one of the leaders of a Provo based group called Understanding Same Gender Attraction (USGA).  He has been trying to open up Provo's collective conscious to be aware of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender community and facilitate understanding.
     James Price is a openly gay and Mormon who is not afraid to identify with both groups.  Rather than feeling out of place within either of these communities, James is able to reconcile what would seem to be two contradictory elements of his personal identity.  Through the USGA, James expresses his views on what is means to be a Latter-day Saint and gay and how these two elements do not have to conflict.  James believes that understanding is the key to inclusion, a message he shares to straight allies and gay individuals.
      Our concerned citizen documentary opens up with James Price walking into frame in front of the Provo Library.  Dani Shay's "Superheroes" is plays in the background to notify the audience that the person who is about to speak is trying to do good in the world.  Our video goes on to include footage that was taken from a past USGA meeting that James had conducted.  Shots from Dani Shay's performance were also included to illustrate how James has helped organize events to bring more awareness to the LGBT community.  We talked in class about the need for a connection to weave our community together-- a connection between the material and the subject. James creates a positive support system for people who do not feel connected with their environment. The goal of USGA is not to advocate for one lifestyle over another, but to help people understand what homosexuality is and how it is not something to be afraid of. USGA is not simply a place to find like-minded people, but to cultivate relationships between straight and LGBT audiences.
     This week’s reading, "Human Rights and Culture" by Arelene Goldbard, compared intellectual maturity and emotional maturity and purposed that the only way our emotional maturity can keep up with our intellectual is to experience art, music, theatre, and culture to further connect us with one another. James spoke about how he loves talking with people and answering any questions they may have.  Creating these bonds is what gives way to a cohesive society, something the public is striving for every day.  

     Dani Shay's performance was magnetic and the words of James Price were unifying.  They brought people within the USGA closer as members internalized the words and identified with them. The camaraderie in the room swelled. This emotional connective tissue is what allows different people to maneuver as a working body. Our documentary is only a small glimpse into James’ emotional investment within the Provo community. Even in the face of the social backlash and homophobia, James continues to spread a message of love and tolerance  to all who will listen.  surrounding him.  It’s because of people like him that we can begin to build our own culture.

Political Poster

     In our youth, children are isolated to one-sided opinions.  It is only through education and the exposure to new things can people discover how multi-faceted our society is.  For my political poster, I chose the subjects of evolution and Christianity (in particular, Mormonism).  When I was in sixth grade, our class began to learn about human evolution.  It was my belief that Mormons should shun this theory, which I readily did.  It was not until eight grade that I started to reexamine my beliefs and ask other members about their views on evolution.  Through my series of inquiries, I was able to educate myself to fully understand the complexities of the matter and reconcile two ideas that I had thought were contradictory.

     When we are young, the way we express ourselves is influenced by our experiences.  A Nigerian woman named Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie delivered a TED talk named "The Danger of a Single Story."  Adichie explained that she read British and American literature with blonde and blue eyed characters who ate apples and commented on the weather.  Reflexively, Adichie would right stories about blonde and blue eyed characters even though her community was not made up of any of these individuals.  Adichie noted,"What this demonstrates, I think, is how impressionable and vulnerable we are in the face of a story, particularly as children. Because all I had read were books in which characters were foreign, I had become convinced that books by their very nature had to have foreigners in them and had to be about things with which I could not personally identify." It is fortunate that Adichie went on to discover new things, or else she would still be writing about white children eating apples commenting on the weather.  It is through our exploration of the unknown that we may heighten our understanding of our community and ourselves.

     In a news story from Christianity Today titled "Creation of Evolution? Yes!", Francis S. Collins, head of the Human Genome Project, was interviewed concerning his thoughts on his Christen faith and Darwin's theories.  Collins noted that God is not limited by space or time and he finds that our discoveries of the evolutionary creative process are completely in line with the Scriptures.  Collins was then asked, "If evolution is true, don't atheists have a point?" Collins then answered, "No...This leaves out profoundly important spiritual questions, such as why we are here, if there is a God, and what happens after we die.  Those are questions that science is not really designed to answer. You have to look in another place, using another kind of approach. And for me that's faith."  To believe in evolution does not make one an atheist.  It can simply means that they consider evolution to be the path by which God took to create man.

     Considering this path has not been condemned by the LDS church.  In fact, the theory of evolution has been widely discussed as a possible means of the Creation among prevailing church members.  There have been several statements throughout the years that make it clear that man was created in the image of God, but it is unclear as to how Heavenly Father accomplished this.  In my poster, there is a Darwin fish and the angel Moroni kneeling down, extending an arm to the creature.  This depiction reflect my reconciliation between my faith and my belief in evolution and how they can work in tandem.  I chose the quote, "...all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have a love one to another" because if members are followers of Christ, they will be accepting and loving of our different beliefs.  So much hate crime has been produced out of disagreements among Christians and evolutionists.  It is a contradiction for members to hate people for their believes since Jesus so often preached the opposite action. Our prophets leave it open to our own interpretation of the scriptures and science to decide how humankind came about.  This open interpretation allows us to investigate avenues of understanding we may not have attempted to tread before.

     It is understandable that we parrot our parents' opinions when we are young.  However, as we mature and discover different patterns of thought, one must come to their own view of the world and how things have come to be.  The power of a single story is great, but the might of many stories is even greater.

a related poster

Come At Me Bro

Monologue...Loki "Puny God"...Desperate
FFXII Battle Music
Punching
Fight Me
Bruce Lee Yelling
Good is Dumb
Sword  Horse
Mr. Freeze and Magneto
DBZ
Joker Soundboard
Wilhelm

Unite
I'm sorry, Dave
There is still good in you
Wilson, I'm Sorry
Love means never having to say you're sorry
"Concerning Hobbits"
Beautiful Friendship

In most films, there is often a “good guy” and a “bad guy.” When these two forces of nature clash against one another, it is common for the antagonist to be killed off or rendered completely inert.  It is not often that we find these two characters reconcile with one another or work out their differences.  We examined this phenomenon within our Webspinna Battle and demonstrated that the villain does not always have to die in the end. It is better to take the peaceful path of reconciliation rather than opposition, a sentiment not often championed by popular media.

Our Webspinna Battle starred Melody Chow as the villain and Kyle Sawyer as the hero. We found audio clips to banter back and forth with one another, clips that were either said by beloved good guys or despised bad guys. These clips were not in our control as much as we would have liked, but this element of spontaneity and on-the-spot ingenuity were a fun element to the battle. Our Webspinna Battle took a non-violent position in regards to enemies. The audience who watched our Webspiina should realize that murder/killings do not have to be a part of a film's climax or resolution. Failure by the hero or the villain is not necessary; film can better portray reconciliation as a character either apologizes or comes together with another, rather than being simply killed off.

  In our creative process we first decided on what we were going represent, Heroes VS. Villains. Then we went our own way and compiled a bunch of material that we thought would be useful and came back together to discuss what we found. We gathered clips and sounds from YouTube and soundboards across the internet. After we compiled a great deal of clips, we found a theme that we could use as the reason for us to fight along with a great banter that would work well in the theme, which was a fight for freedom. However, in the end we wanted to show that they could find a resolution without fighting.     We were inspired by Pogo's work, "Upular" being the prime example.  We did not wish to make our Webspinna simply a cacophony of noise.  Like "Upular," our desire was to create something with a progression that made musical sense and did not leave the viewers wanting to plug their ears.  It was easy to see why DJ Spooky's "Rhythm Science" was amoung our week's reading since it was arranged just like a soundboard.  But what DJ Spooky utilized instead of sounds were definitions of words that had been arranged to delight the viewer.  We felt that our project would be different from DJ Spooky's work in that we would make our samples more cohesive rather than random.       
It is better to reconcile with one another before reverting to violence.  So often, this passive path is swept to the side as people are more in favor of a more aggressive road.  Our Webspinna Battle demonstrated that forgiveness and love among former enemies can be a climax in and of itself rather than an elongated fight sequence ending in a death.  "Upular" and "Rhythm Science" pointed out the importance of cohesion among our content. As we remix and create something new out of chaos, something unique is brought forth which may offer insight into what ought to be versus what is.