Editing Exercise

I meant to post this earlier in the week but I've had some difficulties getting the file to upload. Anyway, following my class presentation of the final project I decided to work more with the footage of the woman in the bathroom. Sam and a few other students said that they enjoyed the style of those edits and so in preparation for the final project and to get some creative ideas flowing, I decided to create a short warm-up editing exercise for myself.


I was trying to channel some Vivre Sa Vie in these edits and the intensity with which the camera explores and investigates Anna Karina. 


Enjoy!


-AB

Woody Allen and Godard!?!

Class!...How have we not posted this on the blog yet??!?!

I actually really enjoyed both Woody Allen and Godard in this interview. Initially I have to say that I was quite skeptical but I found the dialogue between the two directors to be very honest and even endearing.  This is the second interview in a series of three interviews conducted with Allen by Godard.  Both directors seem to respect one another and therefore a somewhat relaxed, albeit awkward, and open discussion takes place between Allen and Godard about television, film, and the influence of both on their creative processes.


Enjoy!


-AB

We meet, we see a movie, we eat, and maybe we have sex

I find that Godard is at his most powerful and perhaps even his most radical in the moments when he is able to capture real and honest human interaction.  For myself, it is these small moments, these intimate conversations, these glances and touches that provide a framework from which the viewer, as a human being, can truly connect with the film, with Godard, with existence.  These small moments that we so often overlook, coffee swirling in a coffee cup, arguing with our partners about intimacy or the absence of intimacy, the leaves blowing in the wind, or dancing alone to our favorite song are the defining moments that connect us to one another and that represent our shared experience and emotions.


The clip from 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her at the garage when the camera ends up focusing in on the tree, the sunlight, and the leaves, calls to mind this scene from The Hours when the character, Richard, a poet played by Ed Harris, is talking about his simultaneous need and inability to express what his life has meant. 



Richard is debating a similar topic as the one to which the narrator in 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her is asking: how is it possible to communicate our day to day experiences? It is the same task the camera takes up in focusing not solely on the action of the characters but the reflection of the sun on the hood of the car, a child crying, and the daily routines at a hair salon.  Although Godard was/is inspired and motivated in his work by politics and current social happenings, I would argue that it is not necessarily in his overt political messages or blatant criticisms of consumerism and society that set him apart as an artist and a director.  Rather, it is the apparent ease and consistency with which he is able to show us what our lives look like and why we should pay closer attention. 


-AB

Godard the Poet

Similar to the thrill one feels while listening to a jazz musician weave together the many sounds and emotions at their disposal, so too does the viewer feel a thrill observing the myriad ways that Godard intertwines text, image, sound, and movement.  As Ian described in his post on Godard and Jazz, there is a certain element of “riffing” undertaken in Godard films which can also be likened to the idea of free writing or stream of consciousness poetry.  Sam mentioned in a previous post that “Godard believes in the necessity of poetry” and his efforts to create poems in his work whether through image, voice, and/or editing are apparent in all of his projects. 


I would also point out that Godard’s desire for poetry, his affinity for aesthetic pleasure and beauty cannot be separated from his efforts to incorporate social, political, and cultural commentary into his films.   In this sense, Godard’s work calls to mind the Epic Theatre, as envisioned by Brecht, that does not allow the audience to forget their surroundings or to get sucked into the cinematic charm (“engendering of illusion”) that renders us passive readers of images on a screen.  Godard lures the viewer in with lyrical and visual poetry and then spits us back out so we do not forget what it is that we are watching, what we are thinking, what we are doing, how we are living, and how our actions affect those individuals and institutions around us.






This clip from Masculin Feminin first lures the viewer in with a beautiful young woman talking about how lucky she is to be Miss 19. The viewer is charmed momentarily by her smile, her laugh, her modesty, her body framed in the window. But Godard brings us out of our visual enjoyment of Miss 19 through pointed questions about politics, war, society, and birth control.  Even the way in which Paul is asking questions are jarring to both the audience as well as Miss 19.



Then we have the opening five minutes of Contempt. It begins with a beautiful wide shot and an epic soundtrack but we are immediately grounded in the fact that we are watching a movie, a production, with actors, cameras, and sound operators. The credits inform the viewer of this reality as well as the fact that the wide shot includes a camera crew that is shooting a tracking shot within the frame. As we move on to the love scene we are still charmed by the music, the shot, the intimacy of the two characters and especially what they're saying to each other. Yet, Godard gently reminds the viewer that this too is cinema, this too is an illusion by changing the color filters over the lens.



This is the trailer that Sam posted of Godard's Film Socialisme.  I really loved this trailer and I found myself totally enthralled by the images in fast forward. However, Godard's use of titles as well as the dramatic music changes kept me attentive and aware of what I was watching as well as wondering about the purpose of each image, location, and the music choices.


True to a poets love and fascination with the world, Godard shares his pleasures and reflections on life with the audience through his choice of beautiful women, imagery, music and quotes. However, Godard does not let himself, nor the viewer get caught up in pure aesthetic enjoyment.  Godard's is an arresting kind of poetry, just as you feel you are falling into a rhythm, or start losing yourself in a shot, with Brechtian artistic purpose he brings us back to reality, back to politics, back to reflecting on our surroundings.


-A.B.