Documentary influence - 'Jim and Andy: The Great Beyond'

This 2017 documentary directed by Chris Smith focuses on Jim Carry's method acting as Andy Kaufman in the film"Man on the Moon". The film works with over a hundred hours of footage that was taken on the set of the film as well as Jim Carrey's personality and upbringing. The reason I wish to discuss this film is because of it's focus on a character as well as the film form and industry. There is a particular sequence in the film where we flicked through some images and footage from Jim's childhood, this moment is sentimental and manages to gain a sense of emotion and awareness. After watching this documentary I felt as though I knew Carrey, and left with opinions and emotions towards not only the documentary but the film in which it focused on. I believe this documentary was able to tackle many themes were not losing sight of the storyteller (Jim) and the film itself. The way in which Carrey discusses film and is passionate about it evokes emotions within those who hold film close to the hearts. The documentaries blend of nostalgic childhood imagery with images of savage Hollywood life and the beauty of film allows us see many aspects of what goes on behind the screen and in front of it. 

I believe this documentary can help us to balance our themes and build the narrative, It is also helped me to see how the mixture of film textures can be used together, As the film uses photos, old videos, documentary footage, interview footage and some footage from films. This documentary uses the main interview to guild the narrative and is not affraid to stay with other footage for a while before returning to the interview through voice over or visuals. I think this will help us to edit our own documentary and shows us our cutaway footage can be used as a larger element of the work. 

Cutting & Ordering Footage

When editing It became obvious to us that we had a lot of footage, much of it was filled with great content but we cannot use it all. Some of our favourite shots and interview moments will have to be cut down on what used. Through this process of cutting down the footage it has become apparent to me that what we see as good footage can sometimes stray from the message of the documentary or changed tone or outcome. For this reason I believe this process has been helpful to us all as we can now say we have the best of footage rather than just what was good. In this blog post I will be going through Some of the footage in which you liked but were unable to use and how we came to the decision of what was and was not to be used.

One moment that really struck out to us in the interview was when Janaan discusses a blackout which she suffered although this is a good moment that takes us into the mileage and on it also overlaps with the art footage which shows these feelings rather than using spoken word. We chose to show rather than say and this is why the story had to be cut. The story also had a comical element and although it was a moment of humour it took away from the overall tone of the documentary and to make sure that's personality is not lost we have kept in some moments of lightheartedness but stayed away from comical element.

Another clip in which we cut was another piece of interview with she talks about her favourite director. We are still deciding if this has any place in our work as though it shows Her love for film it did not make sense to have this at the beginning of documentary. This tackles another subject in which we are working with now which is order.

We have been considering the order of our work and how to tell the story. We had originally thought to begin the documentary with Janaan discussing her favourite director however this felt stiff and unrealistic and upon hearing feedback we discovered this was not the best that is why we are now working with different beginnings to see which outcome and sequence works the best. We want to make sure the documentary flows and for that to happen we need to work on outcome. We have some ideas for where the documentary shined it is making sure that the beginning and the middle mirroring the message of the outcome.

We are well on our way to having finalised edit, after hearing some feedback from the rest of the class we will begin to add the music and some possible side effects.

Art Films

Janaaan and I have been making films together for a very long time, it began with me filming her different locations using different props to display the murkiness of memories and evoke feelings of nostalgia. We soon realised that these images were representational of her own condition, and that the films in which I took were able to capture Janaan's emotions and feelings. For this very reason we have decided as a group that incorporating these films more heavily will help to displayed the audience visually what is going on in genomes might. This is also under the advice of our tutor who has seen the films and she believes they should be incorporated more into the documentary. 

Here are some of the shots from the films in which we are thinking of using and why we think there will be effective. It is also important that the audience is aware of why we are using these representations so we have decided to record Janaan explaining what they mean and what they symbolise.For the purpose of clarity I have inserted the images before they have been blurred and distorted, however we wish to show the blurred versions as this is what links best to general condition.

This is one of the beginning shots in the first art film we did, It is also the last shot. It begins with Janaan submerged underwater And in the end resurfacing. The shop was used to portray the feelings of depression and the overwhelming sensation of drowning in which Janaan feels when she cannot remember things or she is yearning to remember. It is also a strong shot to begin with as it betrays the want for freedom.

This shot uses a mirror and the natural landscape to suggest to her want to feel at one with her surroundings and not feel so she is a reflection of herself rather a whole complete version. The use of mirrors is also used in the shots we have taken for the documentary to this and make for a good transition.

This is another mirror shot however it predominantly focuses on the mirror rather than surroundings. This guy takes up most of the frame and renowned reflection seems to be at odds with herself, the flowers in the mirror display the beauty of Janaan's condition but the mirror itself shows the hardship of losing one's memories.

This shot takes place in the woods and shows her reaching for a camera, and then running away. This shot betrays the escapism aspect of film and how she is able to use it to leave everyday life once in awhile and feel some sort of normality. It also shows her passion and love for film as though it is what keeps you grounded and safe which is the overall message of the documentary.

This shot again was taken in the words and shows her with the camera, it looks different to the other shots as she is one with nature and comfortable with the camera in hand, it links to her ability to remember through film and how the form has become a place where she can feel normal and safe. The lens flare helps to create a dreamlike feel which also ties in the aesthetic of the documentary when we discuss Janaan;s dreams.

This last shot is from the second art film in Janaan shot, although the film is more grounded in remembering childhood it to has moments that highlight freedom and want to remember. We are thinking of finishing the film on the shot to display how she on has suffered and faced much hardship she has survived and become stronger because the condition and her lover film.

The use of Childhood Images

Through the editing process it has become apparent that theme of childhood and reminiscence has come up a lot in the footage we have got, we want to incorporate this into the film as we feel it is a big aspect of why Janaan loves film and how she tackles her amnesia. An idea which we had was to use footage from her childhood but this is unfortunately unable to happen because of timing issues and the location of footage. Moving forward we have decided to use some pictures instead, we feel this will get the message across and hopefully tie into our main themes. These are the images we are thinking of using and why we are considering them.

This first picture is one of the strongest ones we have it Janaan (and I) at the cinema, this visually connects her childhood to film And displays something which the audience can relate to as well as emotionally attached himself to as she is not only seen as grown-up she is also seen as vulnerable,

This image is more of a queue for when Janaan discusses her childhood, again this is more of a visual to help guide the audience and show them her childhood rather than a metaphorical image,

This last image is one in which we all find very strong and striking. The colours together make image seem a little blurred and dreamlike, it also shows John looking to camera by herself represents strength within childhood and also because of the aesthetic links to the theme of derealisation and depersonalisation. 

Overall I think using these images will prove to useful however we want to be careful not to shoehorn these in an overused them, just so we do not stray away from the original message of the film that is to portray her condition and how film was helped her.

How to Capture a Feeling

We have finished most of our filming and are now looking at what footage we like and dislike. Something we have been thinking about is how to show Janaan's condition, as not everything can be said is words. I think the best way to show Janaan's emotions will be to highlights her everyday  activities in her eyes. Some ideas we have are to show Janaan drawing/painting to display her thought and perhaps to show what her dreams display. Another idea we have is to show some of mine and Janaan's old art films that display the idea of distortion (a symptom of Janaan's condition).
Having this added texture will help us to have movement (following kinesthetic film principles), as so the audience will stay connected and active in the journey of the documentary.

Another aspect that we have changed is the film shop part, although we were hoping to film in a DVD shop to film Janaan looking around we discovered a permit was needed for the location we wished to film and upon further thought and discussion with Janaan I found that she visits another location tied to film much more. The media resource centre within the university is an area Janaan visits a lot, she enjoys working in the space and renting films to watch for pleasure and work. I began to take some shots of her in the space and found that she was comfortable and at home in the space which is exactly what we wanted to show, 

We have almost finish our filming process, though some b-roll shots are in the works, I feel we have worked well as a team to get over our set backs.

Music

When looking at music it seems integral to our work, so much so that I have begun to look at different aspects of out documentary that we want to show through music. 

1) Cinematic - as the documentary that's central theme is film (as well as Janaan's condition), I think having an ode to one of Janaan's favourite film would be good, weather it be a small snippet of the audio as she watches the film or and audio that mirrors the epic soundtrack of the film.

2) Nostalgic - The aesthetic of the documentary will have a melancholy, nostalgic feeling to evoke feelings of loss and remembrance from the audience. It is only fitting that the music also mirrors the bittersweet aspects of Janaan's condition as well as to help guide the audience on Janaan's journey to film. This music would be more calming and have an instrumental familiarity as though the audience has heard the tune but can not recall it.

3) Fantasy - Janaan discusses her dreams, and her fantasy drawings, these hold a whimsical feeling to them and almost hold music within them. this music would again be whimsical but more traditional in sound, with an almost Celtic tone. This will help the audience to enter into Janaan's world and display her creativity.

We are not planning to use all of these ideas, rather keep the best aspects of them and work from there. One member of out group had also reached out to a sound design friend who has offered to help us create some original music. By working with him we hope to truly bring Janaan's mind into an audible place,

Filming

We have started to film some of the documentary, though before we began the main interview I decide to take the camera for a night and film Janaan. This really helped to get her used to the camera as well as helping the group to come up with question. We also were able to see the effects of Janaan's mental health as well as hear what impact it has on her.

When filming with Janaan before the main interview the footage came out very natural and interactive and the image was clear but when shooting the main interview we hit and issue, when editing we realised the footage was very bad quality. The questions and answers were very well done but the quality was altered for some reason. We tried to rectify the footage but unfortunately it was impossible so we decided to re-film and possibly use the audio later.

I have spoken to Janaan and my team and we have decided to re-film this weekend to insure the best quality as well as this Janaan has said she would like this as she has much more she would like to add to her answers. Though we have hit a rock we are planning to speed on and create what we aimed to make.