jenny weight, RMIT

Harry and Fraser’s documentary on griefing is very successful, however Fraser raises an interesting point that I myself am in two minds about–the power and appropriateness of using hackneyed devices.

The griefing doco sets itself up as a 1960’s style public service announcement. It uses these hackneyed aethetic signifiers, mainly audio (music and voice-over style) but also superimposes a degraded footage-style filter over the top of the video. Using these signifiers instantly establishes the genre, so it is very successful.

However, they really are hackneyed devices. Not only are we familiar with the original genre which is being parodied, but we have also seen a number of such parodies. What’s more, I heard the theme used on ABC TV just last week. I showed the work to Leo my colleague, and he said ‘oh, that old filter’.

So can a parody of a genre become too successful?

Perhaps where this genre could be taken to is a parody of the parody? By undermining the hackneyed aspects of the genre, showing the audience that you know how hackneyed it is.

I was watching Terry Gilliam’s Brazil last weekend. I’m not one of those ppl who would put it in the greatest top ten movies of all time, because I think that assessment is made mainly on the basis of the design (which is not enough, for me). But perhaps this movie is a parody of a parody, to some extent. It parodises novels Like George Orwell’s 1984 and Kafka’s The Trial, films like Metropolis and of course Nazi Germany.

The parody comes in, perhaps, because Brasil is a perfectly cheesy take on the horror inherent in the above films, books and historical events. Brazil is not a tragedy, but you kind-of feel it should be, morally.

So where is the parody of the parody? I think perhaps because the audience (or at least me) doesn’t ever really care for the characters. The love story is fake, the characters are fake. So the love story is a parody of a love story, which is parodises bureaucracy.

Perhaps with this analysis I’ve converted Brazil into a good film? Well no, not for me. So many levels of parody just means I don’t care.

Get lamp is a doco about IF, mentioned by Harry. I love the nostalgic tone of the interviewees. The genre they created is so transient–is designed to be transient–but the (slightly ironic) depths of that transience can only be plumbed some years after the fact.

We can still see/hear the echoes of the genre all around us (and people do still make IF). If it were utterly gone, there would be no resonance. I guess that’s another level of irony. Only things that are never talked about are really over.

There’s a Chinese saying something about the most successful generals are the ones history doesn’t know about (because they never needed to fight the war).

So argues Harry, (whose pov may admittedly be slightly tainted by his own personal obsession.)

’tis a good thing, will try it for IM2: Torley Linden speaks

I have this idea, I want to make a doco published about a long walk–ie, several weeks–that I might do next year if my leave comes through. I’d want to do a video per day, and I’m worried about carrying laptop, camera as well as everything else on my back for weeks and weeks…

Well, Jonathon might have the answer–using the mobile to publish vids direct to twitter. As jonathon points out, the down side is lack of editing ability.

Jonathon explores the do’s and don’ts of re-enactment in docos, in response to my comments about the role of re-enactment in a recent 4 corners doco. I thought that time round the re-enactment was very manipulative.

Jonathon found an article that summarises them nicely by Jennifer Merin

Emily came across this example of a participatory, social media-informed doco about Starbucks. Makes innovative use of Twitter. Emily concludes

I guess this also shows that such a big company foraying into social media territory is risky. There is always the potential for uncontrollable things like this to happen.

Emily alerted me to this interesting Penguin-sponsored project about online story-telling, We tell stories.

Police slog through 40,000 insipid party pics to find cause of dorm fire from The Onion.