Posts filed under 'Film'
I was watching one of my favorite films from the ’70s not long ago and that got me thinking about our use of torture to extract information from detainees during the dark days of the Bush administration. First, as kind of an aside, I have to say Dirty Harry is a great film. Wonderful music by Lalo Schifrin, beautiful wide angle camera work by cinematographer Bruce Surtees, and of course the iconic title character portrayed by Clint Eastwood. Anyway, back to the topic of torture: The Bush administration claimed its use was justified because detainees possessed knowledge of imminent terrorist attacks. This is the “Ticking Time Bomb” rational best illustrated by any episode of 24. You know the scenario, Jack Bauer has some terrorist tied to a chair and he’s going after them with a power drill and spatula in order to get a confession — usually involving the location of a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles. And Dirty Harry used a similar tactic to extract the location of a kidnapped girl from the Scorpio Killer. But in the case Bush era detainees, there was never a documented instance of a ticking time bomb scenario. Detainees seemed to be interrogated at random, with torture tactics used in no discernible pattern. In some cases, contractors carried out the interrogations. In other cases it was the CIA. Some detainees were tortured, forgotten about, then tortured again weeks later — nothing suggesting an imminent terrorist attack was on our minds.
I think the whole ticking time bomb rational is just barely justifiable from a moral standpoint. It’s on of those things where you don’t want to encourage or even publicly condone it, but I think we’re collectively willing to look the other way when it’s used by someone operating just a little outside of the system (like Dirty Harry or Jack Bauer). However, the torture used against detainees was institutionalized and authorized at the highest level of government. In fact, the FBI felt information could be more effectively squeezed out of detainees using conventional law enforcement style interrogation tactics instead of ad hoc torture methods, so it’s really strange the administration would just ignore the advice of those who had the most experience at the interrogation game. While I don’t necessarily think we need some kind of witch hunt to go after those who approved the use of torture, I do think we need to take steps to make sure we don’t do it again. The last thing we need is another Guantanamo Bay or Abu Ghraib to weigh heavy on our collective minds.
September 18th, 2009
Sometimes you just need to be ambitious — even if said ambition is modest (or even pointless) by conventional standards. In the past, I’ve blogged about Oregon’s forgotten Cold War infrastructure, but now I’ve decided to do something with all this information. So where does the ambition part come into play? I’ve decided to make a documentary short film telling Oregon’s Cold War story by examining abandon or semi-abandon military, Civil Defense, and telecommunication sites across the state. Just to make it perfectly clear: this won’t be a comprehensive study of Cold War’s impact here in Oregon. Only about six sites will make the final cut based on the availability of interview subjects, period photos, and thematic relevance. The goal will be to try and loosely tie all these sites together to illustrate the social, political, and technological changes that took place in mid-century America and Oregon in particular.
I’ve already started collecting contact information for interview candidates and I’m trying to schedule location filming for August. One piece I’m trying to figure out is permissions for interviews and images. Andy was kind enough to provide personal release forms, but I’m still looking for release forms for photographs and motion picture film. As much as possible, I plan on using old archival footage to get around the thorny issue of copyright, but I will still need to get a hold of still photos. As far as filmmaking equipment goes, I’m not going to worry about that until I get closer to actually shooting on location. I figure I can beg, borrow, or steal most of what I’ll need. I suspect some of the exterior shots will be on Super 8. Interviews will have to be digital video, but I’m sure I can figure that out. More challenging will be deciding how to stylistically approach the project. I’ve already decided that I don’t want the conventional voice-over narration for the film. Rather, I would like to tell the story using just interviews. This presents a bit of a problem, since some technical things, like SAGE, will need someone with a level of expertise to provide a non-jargon laden explanation. Finding these kinds of interview candidates locally could be a challenge to say the least.
Here is a question for all you readers: what are your favorite documentary films and why? One of my all time favorites is A Thing of Wonder by the local collective Archipelago. It has an unconventional narrative style and a wonderful dreamlike quality. I’m also quite fond of Errol Morris’ various documentaries. He has an amazing talent for crafting compelling interviews. Another all time favorite documentary is American Movie — I love the way the filmmakers immerse themselves in the subject matter while managing to stay detached just enough to be relatively objective.
I suppose I should start using something like Twitter to document my progress on this project. Once that starts up, I’ll post the link here.
July 29th, 2009
I hate the phrase “they don’t make them like they use to.” It implies we don’t currently have the option of choosing something of quality, when in point of fact we do — we just collectively choose crappy things for a variety of reasons. Take consumer goods made in China, which is something Stacy and I have been talking about since she has been struggling to find a coffeemaker manufactured outside of the PRC. A recent trip to the local Fred Meyer yielded many coffeemaker options, but none made in a country other than China. I believe there are many good reasons to steer clear of a coffeemaker made in China, including the possibility that a Chinese manufactured coffeemaker could contain metals with toxic impurities. I think some of the blame for all these Chinese products flooding our stores should be heaped on American companies, who have been shipping American manufacturing jobs overseas for years to maintain fat profit margins. But I also think a larger portion of the blame falls on all of us for not caring where our consumer goods come from and just buying whatever is on the shelf at our local store regardless of their country of orgin. There are coffeemakers made in countries as diverse as Holland and the Czech Republic, we just don’t buy them because we can buy a Chinese made one for half the price. But if your health is at stake, where is the savings buying something that could make you sick and possibly cost you money for medical treatment?
So how does this relate to screen actors from the ‘70s? I don’t know if it really does, but hear me out as I try and articulate something. Any trip to your local cineplex will convince you we don’t seem to have the same kind of iconic actors that came of age during the ‘70s. The two actors I’m thinking specifically of, because I’m a huge fan of their work, are Warren Oats and Robert Shaw. Of course there are many others who had obtained iconic status by the ‘70s, but I think Oats and Shaw are in an entirely different class. I was watching The Taking of Pelham One Two Three the other night and was left in awe of Robert Shaw’s portrayal of Mr. Blue, the ringleader of a band of NYC subway highjackers. Dito for his portrayal of Captain Quint in Jaws. And then there is Warren Oats, who was great in just about every movie he starred in. My personal favorites are The Wild Bunch, Two-Lane Blacktop, and Stripes. I don’t know if there are any current actors who I get excited about seeing in a film, but maybe Crispin Glover and Steve Zahn are the closest we have to truly iconic contemporary actors. But like Chinese consumer products, we’re happy with our large of selection of films with actors of dubious quality.
G.T.O explains the 455 V8
http://www.youtube.com
Captain Quint
http://www.youtube.com
November 24th, 2008
Tony was kind enough to transfer some of my recent super 8 footage last week on his Workprinter XP. A lot of it was open shutter timelapse shot at night with my Nizo. There is also a short clip of some footage I shot with a modified Nikon super 8 camera I removed the shutter from causing weird vertical streaks across the frame. I’ve been fascinated with shutterless footage after watching Steven Soderbergh’s The Limey back in the day. I’m still fine-tuning the technique though — I think in the future I’ll need to stop the lens down more to get the pronounced streaking and sharper image. BTW, that ambient “music” on the timelapse clips is me rockin the Kurzweil K2000VX and a Lexicon LPX-1 digital effects box.
Night
http://www.vimeo.com
Night Driving
http://www.vimeo.com
Sky
http://www.vimeo.com
Shutterless Footage
http://www.vimeo.com
June 30th, 2008
I recently re-watched Noah Baumbach’s (The Squid and the Whale) 1995 film following the stuck-in-neutral lives of recent college graduates who can’t quite work-up the courage to leave the familiarity of college life. I saw the film when it came out, one year after I graduated college, and wasn’t crazy about it. The movie probably struck a raw nerve, since much of what the main characters go through over the course of the film mirrored what many college grads like myself faced in the early to mid ‘90s. There is Grover (Josh Hamilton), whose girlfriend Jane has left for Prague, but Grover can’t seem to bring himself to join her, preferring the more predictable existence of living with college buddies. Grover’s roommates include Max (Chris Eigeman), who hangs around the house doing crossword puzzles. Then there is Otis (Carlos Jacott), who can’t seem to muster the gumption to get on a plane to Milwaukee and engineering school (he also thinks a pajama top can pass as formal wear). And finally, there is Skippy (Jason Wiles), who doesn’t seem to have any aspirations other than reading all the American great short novels.
Kicking and Screaming has actually aged far better than its contemporaries, like Ben Stiller’s Reality Bites. That film attempted to cover all those Gen-X issues Newsweek reported back in the day. I’m sure some compare this film to those of Wilt Stillman, but I think Baumbach is a better filmmaker. I certainly like the characters in Baumbach’s films better than in Stillman’s. Those guys in Kicking and Screaming are flawed in ways almost all of us can relate to — whether we want to or not.
May 7th, 2008
I meant for this be a more comprehensive recap of this year’s PDX Film Fest (also known as the Portland Documentary and eXperimental Film Festival), but the sad truth is I only went to the Invitational on Saturday night. That means I missed the new karaoke video thing on Friday night and Andy new film The Pull in the local shorts segment. But the Invitational was fun like it always is. It was weird going to the Hollywood Theater instead of the Guild, but the screen seems bigger and the seating more plentiful. This year’s line-up was notable for the number of films that featured excessive strobing – like those Japanese cartoons that made headlines a couple of years ago. I didn’t see anyone overcome by seizure, but I did end up fighting a slight headache at the end of the program. And I got skunked at bingo again this year.
The after party was at Pagoda, that funky Chinese restaurant not far from the Hollywood. The award ceremony took place in the lounge, which is quite small and maybe not the best place for this sort of thing. Despite the crush of people, I still managed to have fun drinking w/ Tony at the bar and talking to Andy’s dad.
May 6th, 2008
A couple of months ago, thieves lifted my treasured Bell & Howell DR-70 16mm movie camera from my office in downtown Portland. It’s been a tough decision, but I’ve recently replaced the Bell & Howell with a Russian made Kiev 16-U, another clockwork camera. I thought about getting a Bolex, but my past experience with that particular type of camera was less than positive. I also considered getting another DR-70, but I thought I’d try something with a reflex viewfinder. For those readers unfamiliar with the concept of reflex viewing, it means the user can see the picture coming through the lens. This probably seems like a trivial thing is this day and age of digital cameras and LCD viewfinders, but in the case of motion picture cameras, this is difficult to achieve. In Bolex made cameras (and most super 8 cameras for that matter), a prism diverts light from the lens to viewfinders. There are two problems with this method. First off, the diversion of light means less is actually hitting the film. Secondly, the image in the viewfinder tends to be dim, making the camera difficult to use in low light settings. Professional movie cameras use a spinning mirrored shutter, which solves those two problems with the prism method I just mentioned. Unfortunately, the engineering being spinning mirrored shutters is quite complex, so it’s something you usually only see in high end professional cameras. But thanks to the collapse of the Soviet Union, cameras using this type of technology can now be found on eBay for relatively low prices.
So what do I like about this new camera? Right off the bat, the reflex viewfinder. It’s great for framing close-up shots. Also, the ergonomic of the camera are surprisingly good despite how it looks. The removable grip has a built in shutter release, so you don’t have to stretch your finger to get the film rolling. I also like the aesthetics of this object – it looks like something Soviet Cosmonauts would have taken with them into orbit back in the ‘60s. OK, here is what I don’t like. I don’t like the non-standard lens. I would have been nice if they would have made a lens mount compatible with Western lens, like the K-3 does (m42). I have a bunch of c-mount lens that would have worked great with this camera. I also don’t like some of the parts in the film path, which are plastic instead of metal. These same parts are polished steel in the Bolex and Bell & Howell. I guess I won’t know how well this type of film path works until I get some film back.
January 6th, 2008
Tony and I went to the Shorts I program of the Northwest Film & Video Festival on Friday night and it was one of the best shorts programs I’ve ever seen. The evening started out a little shaky w/ the 15 minute long Diggers, a straight up narrative about two gravediggers talking about those they’re putting six feet under. It was well acted and all, but the ending was a bit pretentious and I hate it when a short film has a minutes worth of credits. Things picked up quickly though w/ Brian’s Creamery Birds. The highlight of the evening for me came in the middle of the program w/ Modern Measure by Matthew Lessner of Nehalem. It’s an homage to French New Wave cinema, except a Taco Bell takes the place of a Parisian cafe. The film was proudly shot on 16mm B&W on a Krasnogorsk-3 Russian camera and it looked perfect for the subject matter. Oh, the French narration was hilarious. The shorts program concluded w/ the excellent Patterns II and III from Jamie Travis of Vancouver B.C. I don’t really know how to explain these films, other than to say they incorporated stop motion animation, singing, and just general strangeness.
November 12th, 2007
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