Last week Paste declared their 25 Documentaries of the Decade. To be honest it was a bit of a disappointingly obvious list, in terms of safely including most of the biggest docs of the decade. Every film on their list is a great documentary but there were also a great amount of other films that possibly should have seen a mention.
I tried to limit to 25 but it's just impossible. This isn't necessarily in any order, I hate the idea of saying one is better than the other, especially when you're talking 10 years of filmmaking and also the sheer ...
Top 15 Documentaries of 2009
1. Antoine
(Laura Bari, Canada, 2009) - website - trailer
As usual I couldn't stick to convention and pick 10 or 20, but this is the list that just appeared when I began writing down the documentaries I've loved most this year. I know there are some big films missing but there are a few that I haven't had a chance to see (Collapse, Objectified and Best Worst Movie being three in particular that I'm itching to get hold of.)
As with the decade list this isn't in any order, I still can't bring myself to do that. All of these films I ...
Research Process: Clip – Encounters at the End of the World
My friend, and filmmaking partner, Jemma has set me the task of showing her documentaries she hasn't seen so that we can look at visuals and filming techniques for a documentary we are currently in the research stage for. Jemma has largely always focused on current affairs TV docs, as that is her main area of interest, and has little knowledge when it comes to feature documentaries. I don't see this as a bad thing and it means I get a chance to re-watch a lot of films I love, so I've begun trying to think of particular films or ...
Remembering Dennis Stock
Magnum Photographer Dennis Stock sadly died today.
Stock started his career as an apprentice to Life magazine photographer Gjon Mili and joined Magnum in 1951. Although best known for his intimate portraits of James Dean he was also a prolific Jazz photographer taking some of the most iconic Jazz portraits in history for his book Jazz Street. in 1968 he founded the production company Visual Objectives and shot several documentaries but returned to Magnum to serve as president of Magnum's film and new media division in 1969 and 1970. Stock generated a book or an exhibition almost every year since the ...
The video below has been pinging around the interwebz for a few days now and I can’t help but post it as I have more than a soft spot for any form of animated typography. The type during the Jimmy Carter speech in Gonzo elicited an embarrassingly audible whoop when I first saw that film.
Inspired Mag have accumulated a mammoth 15 examples of kinetic typography based on popular films here. They do get a little same-y after you watch a few but the Rocky video is the crowning glory of the bunch.
My favourite use of this is still the Harvey Milk speech which is just down below:
This week I took part in the third podcast I’ve been on in as many weeks for First Showing and Film Junk. I’m not entirely sure how this has all come about but it’s been a great, and interesting, experience. I’ve never been overly chatty in public, much more someone observing and listening, which is largely due to ingrained shyness on my part. Trying to overcome that and enjoy the opportunity to speak about what I love the most has been really useful, and although I’m not the most chatty guest hopefully that’s something I’ll overcome with time.
One thing that I’m very conscious of is making background noise, it’s a bizarre situation as usually you move, drink something, change position etc during a normal conversation, whereas during the two hours or so of the podcast you have to be acutely aware to make as little sound as possible, especially as my mic even seems to pick up the sound of my clock ticking in my room. This leads me to having to focus on something else whilst listening to what everyone is saying.
Last night seemed to create some sort of teen-textbook Jeff Bridges love-in in doodle form (I don’t ‘heart’ Bridges, I think it may have been my Tron excitement manifesting itself).
If you are so inclined the podcasts are here, here and here
I’m completely swiping this from Ingrid Kopp’s excellent blog From the Hip (highly recommend you subscribe to it, she kicks ass).
The Bechdel Test is based around the simple premise of taking any film and asking 3 questions:
1. Does the film have two women with names in it?
2. Do these two women talk to each other?
3. Do they talk to each other about something other than a man?
Welcome to In One Eye, Out the Other! My name is Charlotte and this is my blog for anything and everything that I love/like and an ongoing portfolio of my work.
I'm 26 and have spent 20 of those years in education, studying a large range of things from Media Technology to Graphic Design, Photography, Motion Graphics, Web Design, New Media and most recently an MA in Documentary.
I'm a filmmaker and photographer and I watch, write about and programme documentaries.
I live in London with a very large old cat, Henry, who is quite partial to ham sandwiches.
My First Film
I've finally had the time to start re-editing the film so a new version will be up again soon. The film is a portrait of Hunstville, Texas which is home to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and the state execution chamber. It looks at the love/hate relationship the residents have with their greatest employer and the stigma of the executions.
The production diary here
and stills from the shoot are here
