Viewing Non-narrative films

The first film I watched was Symmetry: https://vimeo.com/22564317 2m 54s
It presented a very simple idea – balance. There was a narrative, it was just a view of life in terms of the way things go together.

• Yes, there was a journey, or the many journeys that we take in life. This caused me to reflect on my life.
• This was achieved by using a split screen showing a pairing of things, objects, animals, people, which in most people’s minds are associated.
• There was a delay of four or five pairs before I got the hang of the film, from then it was very simple to understand. First I thought it was about opposites but then realised that it was more, it was about balance, i.e. one thing counteracts another.
• The most memorable pair was the final one with a new-born infant crying and an old man lying dead on a hospital bed with a continuous tone from his heart monitor. The ultimate summary of life.

The next one was called Record  (2m 33s) https://vimeo.com/72287275. This was bit more complex at first viewing with four different scenes shown in rotation a the camera panned clockwise as if on a record turntable (the film starts and ends with the pickup arm being placed and lifted from the record.

• Two of the scenes were do do with discord, a young couple arguing in an bedroom and two old men falling out over a game of chess.
• The other two scenes were about harmony, a party where people were enjoying themselves and a dance studio where two girls are rehearsing a duet
• As the scenes changed the discordant people were reconciled and the record in switched off showing the dance studio. The party winds down showing a near empty room.
• I was trying to find a link between the scenes and the final caption “Hello,  again” forged the link and I thought, old enmities forgotten friends reliving the good times. Three act narrative.
• The film was an advert for Lincoln Cars – a re-launch I would guess.

• The “making of” video is here https://vimeo.com/73003033 The film was less direct in its motivation, the four scenes were different ways in which people respond to music. The lyrics of the music are what gave me my idea; “We used to be so happy, I miss you”
• Not really an advert but an initiative by Corporate America:

“The Lincoln Motor Company is proud to partner with Vimeo to explore new collaborations with emerging artists. Join us as we say, “Hello, Again” to classic ideas. What we reveal just might surprise you.”

Project 16–Other narratives

Documentary
Telling Documentery

For this category of documentary I chose a BBC film celebrating the history of  the Sea King Helicopter. I will tabulate the structure as I saw it and try to analyse what the film maker had in mind when planning the narrative. The interesting thing about this narrative is the way in which the editing allows the threads of the story to be intercut.

Sea King  - Britain's Flying Past

This seems to be a fairly straightforward narrative, charting the history and significant achievements  of the Sea King Helicopter squadrons and the crews that operate them. It has a linear narrative with an introduction to its military and civilian roles, followed by a chronological account of the important and formative events that has made this aircraft so successful in both of its roles. The climax combines the military (ZA298) and civilian (London 2012) roles in delivering the Olympic flame to the Tower of London.

Documentary

Asking Documentary Narrative Structure
Horsemeat – The insider
Jennifer O’Leary investigates a criminal conspiracy to export horses unfit for human consumption into the food chain. (BBC Northern Ireland)
The documentary uses covert surveillance footage, filmed reconstructions, face to face interviews with officials, horse charity workers, dealers, an anonymous insider’s testimony and the reporter’s voice overs to investigate who is involved and how the authorities have no effective control of the Horse Passport system in the Republic of Ireland and Ulster.
This is a complex narrative. I have attempted to show below, how the story is told and a brief outline. I have fitted the story into the 3 Act model as I see it.

Act 1	Act 2	Act 3
Threads 1. Introduction to the investigation and footage of the anonymous Insider giving his story. 2. Narrator questions the validity of the passport system.   3. Horse welfare charity worker tells of the imbalance of the numbers exported for slaughter into the human consumption market.   4. Explanation of the system as it should be.     5. Questions emerge concerning two abattoirs, in England and Republic of Ireland and horse dealers in Ireland.	Climax Builds Insider tells of sick horses being administered Phenyl Butizone and Cortisone so they can stand in the lorries just hours before slaughter USPCA mount covert surveillance and get a break through and arrests in Scotland for Horse cruelty. Forged passports and microchips seized. 2 Men imprisoned in Scotland Chief Veterinary Officer tries to defend system. Other charities mount their own operations to trace the source of horses in the Republic No checks of individual passports at point of exit from Ireland Inconsistencies in stories from English abattoir concerning a dealer. Whistle-blower in RoI contacts DEFRA with concerns about Horse Passports in Irish abattoir.	Hanging Question The Insider claims that he took forged horse passports to a contact in the Republic’s D of A. They were handed back and he was told “leave the mess to sort itself out” Department of Agriculture in Dublin claims it is not aware of DEFRA’s concerns despite a multi-agency meeting at Aintree Racecourse in 2011. Horse welfare charity workers have contacted authorities many times over 8 years concerning the numbers and condition of horses corralled for export in Ireland. There is no resolution to this narrative, just the revelation that there are more questions still to be answered in light of the European Food Crisis and the fraudulent inclusion of horsemeat into beef products.