finale project

finaleproject from mayenie jalloh on Vimeo.

Extra Credit

After watching Ricerche: three by Kerry Downy, a thought I had was why at the beginning of the ''non-fiction'' the interviewees who are students were silent for quite some time? Will it be safe to states that it's the filmmaker'signature? I also found it intriguing that the filmmaker said three was not a documentary, then where will it fit, if not a non fiction? Another thing that I have noticed is how the women were a bit 'shy' prior to the question related of their conception of feminism. Such thought provoking question lead to instantly creating a whole other setting, they now were at ease, almost not acknowledging the camera. Downy is influenced by Pier Paolo Pasolini,an Italian filmmaker. As a result she uses some of his techniques such as interviewing people in public environments,always as a group (family,neighborhood ) some of Pasolin's questions. One of the main topic is Sexuality versus other ideology such as sex ,identity, life-styles,beliefs etc... Downy investigate the idea behind one's conflict regarding sexuality based on your gender, race, sexual orientation. Moreover how in the present time, in a all- women's college think of the topic. A take away is an open minded and high tolerance when it comes to sexuality,which is quite different from back in the days. Close ups and pans of both the place and interviewees help the audience sense the excitement of the atmosphere,which is supported by the subject of the topic.

Blog 4

I watched Portrait of Jason by Shirley Clarke. Jason, a gay African works us throughout the journey of his renaissance, sharing his joy, frustration and excitement with the viewers as the film progresses. He is asked by the film maker, what does he do for a living? The close analysis on that scene is used to portrait his answer which is a change of mood. The filmmaker uses different shoots, revealing the severity on Jason’s expression. The extreme and medium close ups attest of the intensity of Jason’s annoyance, marked by the zoom in and out. The filmmaker plays with the lens; therefore details of the shots give deeper information to the audience While answering the question, Jason is playing with his fingers nervously, the extreme close up shows the audience the stress of his forehead. The camera’s light moves next to his phony smile and then suddenly to the level of speed in his speech. Clearly, there is a change of tone, revealing an increase of nervousness. The camera zooms in on his face, and he starts answering the question, the audience notices that the prior zoom in is becoming a zoom out. The lens of the camera points at his facial manner, body language, and tone of his voice. Both the meaning and diversity of the shots of the filmmaker help convey messages. The material and techniques used by the filmmaker allowed the audience to sympathize with Jason’s narration. Also most of the scene ends up by either a blur or a blank black image.