Lecture discussed capturing “reality” on camera and how we watch films.
Scenes from various Edison films showed how even the first camera adjusted reality - scenes were staged for the camera, blacksmiths were just Edison's workers, and street scenes had everyone very conscious of being filmed, changing what they were doing.
Goldthwait Family Home Movies (Bobcat Goldthwait, 2008) showed two things: how home movies of the 1950s and 1960s altered "reality" in similar ways as Edison, and joked about the pretentious nature of DVD commentary tracks. When a camera is present, people act different. The commentary plays as if it was all a constructed reality, with method actors, special effects and baby suits.
Clips from Faces (John Cassavetes, 1968) showed a heightened reality, a feeling of seeing real people and events although the film is completely scripted. Handheld camerawork and soft focus suggests that we are in the room with the characters. Stuttered dialogue and people talking over each other simulates real talking (yet the script was followed closely). Cassavetes' goal is to pass realistic emotions to the audience through characters and events that can be related to, rather than capturing a pure reality.
“Devotional Cinema” Nathaniel Dorsky, (pgs 1-48)
“Movies as Politics” Jonathan Rosenbaum (pgs 81-90)
recommended additional readings:
Faces and the use of time: http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/01/16/cassavetes_faces.html
Quotes by Cassavetes: http://www.industrycentral.net/director_interviews/JOHCAS01.HTM
Faces and the use of time: http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/01/16/cassavetes_faces.html
Quotes by Cassavetes: http://www.industrycentral.net/director_interviews/JOHCAS01.HTM
