film 202 - Field Report 3 - Part two: survey

Filmmaking today is being overtaken by motives concerning mainstream profiting and less concerning artistic expression.

Film 202 - Field Report 3 - Part two: journal article

This article, titled "Auteurism and commerce in contemporary Spanish cinema: directors mediaticos", concerns the transitional stage cinema is currently facing, such as diminishing theater audiences due to online film viewing, a increasing number of product placements, as well as the overall mainstreaming of cinema, and how certain groups and individual filmmakers are reacting to this. The first topic covered in the article is the growing amount of product placements in cinema due to a more prevalent need for such advertising to compete with the advent and popularity of the internet and television. The article sites Spanish cinema specifically and curtails its scarce market for such advertising - "Nowadays cinema means publicity and that does not come cheap...and there is no money in Spanish cinema for those activities - advertising, publicity and marketing." An online magazine called ClubCultura was formed in recognition of the changes occurring in cinema and offers a way for Spanish filmmaking to gain the advertising necessary for its survival. The website contains detailed information regarding famous auteurs like Pedro Almodovar and Alejandro Amenabar and offers forums allowing for discussion of many cinema related topics. A paradoxical view of this database is explored when the article states, "in promoting filmmakers as auteurs they undermine the usual romantic view of authorship by presenting it as a marketing device." While debate on this topic continues plans are being made to allow films to be viewed on the website in the near future. In the meantime web browser's may enjoy postings by filmmakers who chronicle their current production through an online diary. This kind of networking has created a new relationship between the filmmaker and the viewer - "The filmmaker's webpages make it easy to create and perpetuate a cult of personality around individual auteurs." This website, and others like it, have certainly caught on to the public and may or may not prove to remedy the holes in the Spanish cinema market in the long run. Many filmmakers, like Isabel Coixet, use the Internet as a form of self-promotion allowing for her to distinguish herself from other filmmakers and further her already established status as an auteur. The article concludes with a traditional view of auteurism by saying, "auteurism is, if anything, adaptable, and wherever films are marketed auteurism will surely follow."

For me this article reinforced my notion of cinema’s slow transition to the Internet and the possibilities it may open to the trade as well as complications. The website mainly focused on in this article, ClubCultura.com, puts an emphasis on mainstream cinema and famous auteurs but I would like to see these kinds of online resources used to aid in the promotion of independent cinema as well. With all this attention geared toward mainstream cinema regarding profits and other finances there should be a more prevalent recognition of indie cult followings throughout the web. I am surprised at this and believe much good could come from its promotion throughout cinema. I have always placed films in these two categories – mainstream and independent – and strongly believe that both are necessary to the survival of cinema. It seems too much strain is being put on the mainstream.

Film 202 - Field Report 3 - Part one: "Deeparture"

This piece seemed to work as an ironic displacement between the animals and their natural habitat and between image and sound. I say "ironic" because we generally associate the natural habitat belonging to these animals with tranquility and flowing sounds, sometimes even silence. The deer in particular is an animal that is almost completely silent in nature yet its sound, along with everything else in the piece, is extracted. When first viewing this piece what becomes immediately apparent is the animal's placement out of context in a white room that reflects the silence. What follows is your realization of the lack of sound. In my opinion this film would be nothing if it was presented with sound because then we would only be seeing animals in a white room. The exclusion of sound offers an extra dimension into a realm connecting these animals with their natural habitat. Our common perception of nature as being a quiet and tranquil place is essential to the concept of this piece. Mircea Cantor’s driving force behind "Deeparture" surely came from her own perception of nature and may be related to what Aaron Ximm says in one of his essays, "I ignore and elide over equally natural ways of working with sound (or in sound art) outside of my own experience."