Last Tango In Prestwich

And finally here it is, a film that was a joy to make and I am immensely proud of. To quote our swanky DVD...Last Tango in Prestwich is a funny, moving and frequently surprising portrait of the lives and loves of the regular at an afternoon tea dance in Prestwich. Alongside their own personal stories of competition, jealousy and loneliness the dancers are also battling to keep their beloved dance hall from being closed down. This film offers a rare insight into an often overlooked sector of our society and reveals there is much more to tea dances and the people who frequent them than meets the eye.

Hitting Home Last Tango in Prestwich from International Media Centre on Vimeo.

A BLOCumentary

I have always loved Lego and am in no way surprised to see a group dedicated to the world famous danish marvel. AFOL (Adult Fans of Lego) is a great short documentary about folk like me whose love of the little blocks never diminishes.

AFOL A Blocumentary from AFOL on Vimeo.

Project Nim (2011)

This new documentary from director James Marsh tells the story of a chimpanzee called Nim who in the 1970s was part of a language and communication experiment to establish if chimps could learn to communicate with humans through sign language.

Marsh uses extensive archive footage and photos coupled with interviews from key people present throughout the experiment. This is a return to the style that Marsh used so effectively while making the Oscar winning Man on Wire and it is something he clearly does very well. The brief use of short reconstructive sequences works well as a glue to bond the footage together without being imposing enough to bring any of the story into doubt.

While the construction is seamless, its the stories that develop which are this films best attribute. While Nim drives the footage early on, it is the people who really captivate the viewer. Marsh chronicles mistake after mistake made be people whose on ambition, selfishness and sometimes stupidity leave the viewer in disbelief regarding the treatment of an animal. I read that this film has become more a film about human nature than animal rights or academic research and thats exactly what this is.

To the Right

Stephen Bannon's documentary The Undefeated (2011) opened in cinemas across the U.S this weekend taking a rather respectable $75,000. Admittedly I did expect more from the conservative film makers portrait of Sarah Palin, once the darling of the American right now on the verge of major TV stardom or the presidential elections 2012.

Its good to see this film out there and I commend Bannon, who in a recent interview identified the need for the right wing media to catch up with that of the left. Liberal film makers are streets ahead of their conservative counterparts in factual film making and in my opinion it is absolutely essential that the right starts to rectify this situation.

At time of publication the film only scores 1.5 on the IMDb rating and reportedly even less on rottontomatoes.com but I think thats besides the point. A figure such as Palin polarises opinions a point which is made more evident by Nick Broomfield's reported yet secretive upcoming documentary focusing on the same figure. Undoubtably Broomfield's film will receive stronger reviews, thats a fact, a sign of a more experienced film maker with an incredible reputation pitching a film to a more likeminded audience

Broomfield's doc will be no less one sided than Bannon's though, it will represent Palin from the view of a liberal film maker for a liberal audience. Palin and other republicans such as Michele Bachmann have reignited the conservative right of America and I believe that now is time for the right conservative film makers and audience to begin a counter.

Errol Morris: Interviews

I recently received the book Errol Morris: Interviews as a gift which has proved to be an insightful read. Here is a collection of transcribed interviews from throughout his career conducted as he releases new films. As his own interviewing technique forms such an central part of his style it is fascinating to read his opinions and views of the people in his films. Morris is very much of the opinion that sometimes the best interviews are when people are left alone, let them speak even if it seems uncomfortable for a few seconds/minutes of silence.

This is an interesting concept, as someone who is inexperienced at interviewing, I am constantly trying to listen and think of intelligent questions and maintain my direction. Also I finds the whole "talking heads" set up in films can sometimes be rather boring. Morris' films however do offer something different from the norm, his characters are at times crazy with what seem to be mundane anecdotes but actually captivate the viewer. Films such as Gates of Heaven (1978) and Vernon, Florida (1981) show such seemingly ordinary people left to just talk and talk by Morris with funny, touching and indeed crazy results!

Gustav Holst

Tonight I filmed with Tony Palmer for his BBC4 documentary about Gustav Holst the famous composer. the filming took place in Whitefield near Manchester with an amazing Band, Besses o' th' Barn. There was a few of us from Salford who went along to the venue and we set up three cameras to capture the footage from a collection of angles in as few takes as possible. I was keen to get onto the sound recording side of things for this as it is something that I really enjoy and the challenge of a Brass Band in a tiny room was to big to pass.

I did make a mistake early on, however I am thoroughly pleased with the final results. The footage will form a small part of Palmers two hour documentary but it should be aired mid march.

Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Here is the trailer for the new Werner Herzog film Cave of Forgotten Dreams, due out in Spring 2011 which documents what are thought to believed the oldest ever discovered cave paintings. The film will be showing in cinemas in 3D which undoubtably will create substantial hype at the time of release.

Helvetica

Gary Hustwit's Helvetica (2007) is a documentary dedicated to the worlds favourite font Helvetica. The films charts the typefaces Swiss origins in the 1950s to its rise in fame becoming brand type number on in contemporary society. It is fascinating to see just how popular the font is as Hustwit seemingly points the camera at any populated city street and inadvertently points out a sign or brand name constructed with Helvetica.

Such sequences are fascinating and the images themselves are constructed very nicely and seamlessly with a great use of the horizontal lines which makes the city scape shots look very poetic especially with the original score by Kristian Dunn. Hustwit also interviews several typeface creators and graphic designers to tell why they love or indeed hate the font.

I have been thinking about interview style and uses a lot recently, the short doc I made recently did rely heavily on the "talking head" interview and it has led me to think about other more creative ways that this can be portrayed. The director wants the information from the participant but as the viewer I think we want to see it happen not be told it by a framed and prepared professional. This is defiantly where this film is lacking. All the participants are very similar and even once the polarised opinions of love it or hate it have been voiced then there is little else for to say. This unfortunately leads to the framed professionals getting a little stale towards the end.

The film rightly features on a top 50 films of the last decade list that I have been working through, and is a fascinating insight into what many would see as a mundane element of our everyday lives.

Tyson

More4 showed the James Toback film Tyson (2008) on Tuesday evening. The film is an example of amazing access to an individual who's career has been at incredible highs and lows over the last two decades. Using original interviews with Mike Tyson, and archive footage of fights and news reports, Toback examines these highs and lows with the first hand account.

At times the audience can sympathise with Tyson as he breaks down in tears whilst recollecting time spent with his coach and mentor Cus D'Amato. However as fame and fortune takes hold of one of the worlds greatest boxers his career takes a roller coaster ride of ups and downs. Toback shows the full extent of Tyson's outburst against a member of the audience at the weigh in before 2002's heavy weight fight with Lennox Lewis. Tyson's homophobic and racist barrage is it seems born out of three years spent in jail, however it also shows that as a man he has difficulty with control and aggression whilst outside of the ropes.

The film serves as a brilliant insight into a man who many believe never fulfilled anywhere near the true summit of his potential. Towards the end, it is clear that Tyson only took on bouts as a way of paying the bills, a fact that he himself seems deeply ashamed by.

Toback uses some interesting stylistic devices concerning the interview. One thing I thought worked very well was the delayed and overlapped audio of Tyson speaking. The build up of multiple voices, delayed and layer behind the dominant soundtrack in my mind brought about questions of mental health. The use of partitioned/windowed shots also brought some fantastic closeup shots humanising such an aggressive and hardcore personality

Tony Palmer

We had a guest lecturer the other day named Tony Palmer who has created some fantastic Music documentaries with the likes of Leonard Cohen, Frank Zappa as well as some great popular music documentaries for the BBC and many many more! This really got me thinking as for a long time I have enjoyed music documentaries and it is a challenge I would one day love to tackle.

Through his discussions he talked about how he was allowed complete access while working with Leonard Cohen, with no industry figures or PR even present for the majority of the filming. In this day and ages, this kind of access would be close to impossible to achieve, nevertheless I do feel that there is still the capacity for some truly amazing music documentaries.

Dan of Geek discusses some really great docs here, with each one have a a true depth that really pushes the boundary of simply following the band around while on tour. Finding and getting access to individuals who are places on such a commercial pedestal and seen as so important is undoubtably a tough challenge. EVen cutting ones cloth on lesser known acts requires such a huge amount of luck, I think the music documentary will be a goal of mine for some time to come.

Job Advice

We had a fascinating lecture today with Sophie Chalk from One World Media who was encouraging us to get involved with making documentary films in developing countries. This was an incredible insight into the sheer amount of planing and production management that it takes to go into somewhere like Afghanistan with a camera. Also Sophie gave us some advise on job hunting and networking which I thought would be interesting to post here so in a years time I can look back and remember a less stressful time!

• Research broadcasters and independent companies and watch the films they have made.
• Produce a taster tape with contact details and skills on the cover of the disc.
• Work experience, production companies, post production houses, facilities companies, anywhere!
• Build relationships in the industry, also look out for a mentor
• Be persistent, send letters (not emails) every week and pester with phone calls!

Lets see how it goes!