At first I hated this film. It sort of warmed on me a bit when it came together towards the end. However it just felt too much like “a documentary” for my liking.
The idea was cute enough – but the narrative and the visual rendering of it didn’t transcend anything other than generic TV documentary. There was nothing singular or idiosyncratic in the filmmaking which is what I personally look for when I sit down to watch a film. In an anodyne world of formatted TV and trend-following commissioning, I’m desperate for violent individualism and for filmmaking that is a breath of beautiful idiosyncracy. So whilst competent and solid controlled and clean – for me this film veered towards TV orthodoxy with regard to its catalogue of shots, it’s editing and its voiceover.
Ask yourself this when you watch a film: ‘Could a number of filmmakers have made the same film given the same subject matter? Or could that filmmaker and that filmmaker alone have produced the final product?’ That’s kind of what I¹m looking for in films. What are you looking for?
Comments
HI there Lee,
I made this film and am would appreciate a bit more info on what you mean by it didn’d transcend anything more than TV doc? It’s always good to get feedback as constructive crit can only serve to help strengthen my next film. When I made Photographic Memory I wanted it to be the voice of a many people so perhaps this detracted from me (as the filmmaker) imposing enough of a distinctive voice on the piece (i’d be interested to hear WHY you think this to be the case though). It’s a traditional rendering of subject matter and unfort as you have only been able to see a tiny version of it. It was shot on Super 16 and I had a big screen in mind (as I assumed this is how the films would be judged. Watching all these films on a larger medium would perhaps give you a diff impression of them. Only had a day to edit it also so falls down on the edit a bit I accept. Anyway look fwd to getting some feedback – as I say I find comments from all v helpful (and try not to take bad ones to heart too much!).
best,
LL
I felt the original idea wasn’t translated well onto film. A dry voice-over did nothing more than convey what had been done. Which is a real shame since the idea itself was quite good.
Hello again,
I just watched my film via the web (the only version you would have seen) and sadly (perhaps because the film comprises mostly of photo collages) realise how much is lost in comparison to the actual 10- bit uncompressed version that I have. It’s sad as I made a real effort to make a good film for the competition and i’m not complaining but feel I need to state my case in response to your comments as it’s only fair! The film just looks utterly flat and staid on the web. The sweeping camera movements at varying speeds are lost through compression (it’s v jerky on your version) and half the audio track did not upload properly (this also adds a huge amount of atmosphere to the film). I wanted Photographic Memory to be about sound, camera movement and photographic texture- all lost on the web version. The voiceover sounds flat and the music withered. I am more than happy to post a DVD so you can see the real thing. I suppose it’s the age old question of how much we lose from relying on the web (perhaps an interesting discussion thread for the blog in itelf!).
Honestly not complaining but just a bit disheartened as it is a lovely little film in the flesh.
Lara
Hi Lee,
Your review of this film got me thinking. It sounds to me like you value form far over substance. Or am I mistaken?
I personally really liked the originality of the concept and idea behind this film; but because this is only a fragment of the full production it is impossible to say how well it worked as a project because what we have to judge is almost a trailer for the main film. Although, as Lee says, lara appears to have adopted a traditional documentary style for the look of the film, this is not a bad thing as far as I am concerned as this type of documentary appeals in the way that it encapsulates so many diverse views of the same place and therefore brings to the viewer a reminder that we really do live in a world where it’s perception of reality is so different for everyone while at the same time having many apparently underlying common agreements on that reality. In some ways the film being a cut down version of the original is probably what lets it down in a way as she was unable to convey the full potential of the film in 3 minutes. I found her own comments thought provoking and would have liked to have heard a few examples of the emailed comments that came back with the pictures. On the whole I did enjoy the film and would really like to see the full version of it.
This film was awesome. I loved the fact that you only revealed the extent of the massive wall of photographs right at the end.
The signage at the beginning looks great and adds real production value. The photos you highlight in the film offer a rich portrait of the people and architecture of modern London and present us with a celebratory view of familiar sights.
The script avoided being pretentious or obvious and breathed life and meaning into the images we were seeing.
I think that it takes an accomplished and talented filmmaker to bring together the stories of 180 people into a three minute film. For me it only hinted towards the wealth of stories that you must have gathered and I hope that there will be a web site to accompany the project where we can read some of the more interesting tales alongside the relevant photos.
I disagree with Lee’s comments about the voiceover as I felt that it was very natural. I hate the idea of using fakery in documentary voiceover. You are portraying as much of yourself in the tone of voice you use, as in the images you select. I think that putting in a personal element was one of the ideas behind this competition and to put on an act of intonation for the voiceover would betray you and the personal nature of your film.
As a fellow filmmaker and an avid fan of documentary I enjoyed watching your film several times over to appreciate the work that went into making it.
Nice film – keep it up.
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