Monthly Archives: December 2009

Shooting People: Documentary Power and Ethics

I am currently at the University of Edinburgh earning my Master’s in Film Studies.  For my “Constructing Reality” course (about documentary filmmaking), I am to shoot a minute of “Visual Truth.”  So I go out to a busy street, trying to shoot what I consider the illusions of visual truths.  I believe there are no absolute truths to an image; they always require an outside context.

So I’m trying to get shots of certain people, capturing their normal activities without them noticing my camera (which would undermine the reality I’m trying to reveal).   But to do this, I have to become this sneaky character and this feeling of sneakiness prompts questions of my activity. Continue reading

Avatar: “Totally racist, dude.”

After many years of leaving us to wallow in superhero films, James Cameron has returned with one of the most hyped films…well since Transformers 2.

After seeing trailers, stills, some clips and words from the director himself, you might be concerned that it might just be another bloated CGI wankfest ready to pick up the quick cash during the opening weekend and make way for the DVD.  Sure, Avatar does business just like the others, but it’s not as bad as Wolverine…but that’s not saying much.

Continue reading