WEEK TWELVE
Well here I am at the final week of the program. Is it too cliche to say that I can't believe it's already over? I have about a week left in Berlin with no real obligations except getting home. I want to spend my last days here just enjoying myself and maybe seeing some things that I didn't yet get a chance to. My experiences here in Berlin have far exceeded my expectations at the start of the program and I feel that I have changed quite a bit since I have been here.
This week has comprised of finishing the film and the final viewing of all the films. It feels great to be finished with our film and I have to say that I am very pleased with how it turned out. After seeing the whole film put together, I think I am most proud of how strong of a theme our film possesses and how it continues that theme throughout. As for the other films, I was so impressed not only by each of the films themselves but also with the diversity of our films. I feel that each film approached Berlin from a very different angle, angles that I would have never thought to portray. It was really interesting to see how different people chose to tell their story, especially those films that had four separate stories to them. The film about ping pong in Berlin was a great contrast to some of the other films because it was more of a documentary and thus had an actual, tangible subject. I was also impressed by some of their footage; it mustn't have been easy getting good footage in some of those bars as well as dealing with owners and pong players. I also really enjoyed the "movie about a movie that was never made." I thought that each of the narratives was unique in its own way and had a very different style to it. Put together, I feel that each of the parts combined to create all aspects of creating a film, from the writing and inspiration behind a film to the film mechanics and photography of a film. I felt that our film was definitely different from the rest of the films. I think that our film was the least serious of the films and also the most fictional. I also felt that our film had the strongest sense of one cohesive story. I find this a bit ironic, seeing as at the very beginning our group did not really want to create a fictional story, but a fictional documentary. However, I think that it turned out to be a nice balance between a fictional story and a kind of documentary.
Looking back on the film course, I can't help but think about the variety of films that we watched and how different they all are. Beginning with the pre-war films was such a contrast to the later post-war rubble films. Following the rubble films came the propaganda films of the 1960s and 1970s, leading to films touching on the newly emerging view of Berlin as a multinational city. Each of the films brought up different issues and also styles or methods of filming. Class discussions following the films were extremely valuable in helping to dissect the complex issues embedded in the films as well as hear others' interpretations of the films. One of my favorite films in the course was Lola Rennt. Not only did I enjoy this film so much but I think it has such an significance to modern Berlin culture. The fact that Lola can run throughout the city, from east to west, is something unique to 1990s Berlin. The character Lola herself is such a great personification of this new Berlin, someone who is independent, strong, and in control of her actions. This film inspired our film group to take our film to a whole new level. I think our film attempts to convey a similar feeling of movement and intense emotion.
Well, here is where this production journal meets its final words. Lastly, I would like to thank our University of Washington professor Eric Ames, our teacher and guide Thorsten Wagner, and assistants Jason and Dana Immertreu for guiding us through an amazing program in Berlin. Berlin, someday we will meet again...
ENDE.
die elfte Woche
WEEK ELEVEN
Our last film screening was Wolfgang Becker's Goodbye Lenin. I first saw this film about two years ago and liked it so much that I bought it shortly after. As much as I liked the film before, it had a whole new meaning for me after having been in Berlin for a few months. I also feel that this film is perhaps the most relevant to our film projects and to our experiences in making a film about Berlin. For me, the film is largely about the creation of memory and how perhaps we choose to focus on those memories which are most important or dear to us. In the film, Alex attempts to create for his mother his own version of the DDR in order to explain to her events that have happened while she was in a coma. In doing so, Alex is "creating" a world that his mother sees as absolutely true. Thus, Alex "creates" truth from fictional events. Alex's construction of truth is a microcosm of the film itself. The film Goodbye Lenin creates a sense of memory and nostaligia, or "Ostalgie", even though it is through the fictional story of the Kerner family. Through Alex's struggle to keep the DDR alive for his mother, along with the changes he himself experiences, the film creates its own sense of truth. Perhaps the truth that the film creates is manifested in its power to evoke feelings of nostalgia from such fictional events. Thus, the power of this film is that it comments on the creation of memory and truth through Alex's attempt to protect his mother, while simultaneously creating for its viewers a larger sense of memory and nostalgia for the DDR and the period during which the film takes place. In the same way, I feel that our film is trying to create a memory, perhaps only for the creators, of our time in Berlin. Although our film is also a fictional tale of a girl's initial experiences in Berlin, I feel that it will always be a reminder of my time in Berlin and thus will create a sense of nostalgia. For me, the ability of our film to evoke such feelings gives it a sense of truth. After watching Goodbye Lenin this time around and through the readings, I have come to the conclusion that truth and "true" memories can and have been created through fictional events. What is most important and meaningful, then, is the manner in which a story is told, not necessarily the validity of the events themselves. This became true for Christiana Kerner and it happens to us as viewers as well.
This week our film group has been working intensely on editing our film. We have devoted at least two to three hours a night to editing. So far the process has been relatively easy, thanks to Christopher's and Kerry's familiarity with final cut pro. The most difficult aspect of editing has been going through all of the footage that we have and deciding not only which footage to use, but which parts of footage. However, we have run into some mechanical problems that have taken awhile to sort out. My role in the editing process has remained quite consistent; I am usually right next to the person operating the software and go over all the footage and we decide what to use, how to cut it, and all the other small details. However, although I haven't used the software myself, I feel that I have definitely learned how to use the software just by watching Christopher and Kerry use it for hours and hours. I feel confident about our film so far and am not stressed about finishing, but we still have alot to do. I am excited to be finished with the film and to see all the other films.
Our last film screening was Wolfgang Becker's Goodbye Lenin. I first saw this film about two years ago and liked it so much that I bought it shortly after. As much as I liked the film before, it had a whole new meaning for me after having been in Berlin for a few months. I also feel that this film is perhaps the most relevant to our film projects and to our experiences in making a film about Berlin. For me, the film is largely about the creation of memory and how perhaps we choose to focus on those memories which are most important or dear to us. In the film, Alex attempts to create for his mother his own version of the DDR in order to explain to her events that have happened while she was in a coma. In doing so, Alex is "creating" a world that his mother sees as absolutely true. Thus, Alex "creates" truth from fictional events. Alex's construction of truth is a microcosm of the film itself. The film Goodbye Lenin creates a sense of memory and nostaligia, or "Ostalgie", even though it is through the fictional story of the Kerner family. Through Alex's struggle to keep the DDR alive for his mother, along with the changes he himself experiences, the film creates its own sense of truth. Perhaps the truth that the film creates is manifested in its power to evoke feelings of nostalgia from such fictional events. Thus, the power of this film is that it comments on the creation of memory and truth through Alex's attempt to protect his mother, while simultaneously creating for its viewers a larger sense of memory and nostalgia for the DDR and the period during which the film takes place. In the same way, I feel that our film is trying to create a memory, perhaps only for the creators, of our time in Berlin. Although our film is also a fictional tale of a girl's initial experiences in Berlin, I feel that it will always be a reminder of my time in Berlin and thus will create a sense of nostalgia. For me, the ability of our film to evoke such feelings gives it a sense of truth. After watching Goodbye Lenin this time around and through the readings, I have come to the conclusion that truth and "true" memories can and have been created through fictional events. What is most important and meaningful, then, is the manner in which a story is told, not necessarily the validity of the events themselves. This became true for Christiana Kerner and it happens to us as viewers as well.
This week our film group has been working intensely on editing our film. We have devoted at least two to three hours a night to editing. So far the process has been relatively easy, thanks to Christopher's and Kerry's familiarity with final cut pro. The most difficult aspect of editing has been going through all of the footage that we have and deciding not only which footage to use, but which parts of footage. However, we have run into some mechanical problems that have taken awhile to sort out. My role in the editing process has remained quite consistent; I am usually right next to the person operating the software and go over all the footage and we decide what to use, how to cut it, and all the other small details. However, although I haven't used the software myself, I feel that I have definitely learned how to use the software just by watching Christopher and Kerry use it for hours and hours. I feel confident about our film so far and am not stressed about finishing, but we still have alot to do. I am excited to be finished with the film and to see all the other films.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
