Final Week (12)

The choice of place amongst the films we watched during the final presentations made me think about my own choice of place for our film. What was it about my approach to the film, or for that matter anyone else’s approach, that made setting so much different from one film to another?
Joel, Josh T., Ed, and Cynthia:
This film was very interesting in that it was about four different ways that Berlin had influenced them. It began with Ed, and his desire to find a design for a tattoo that symbolized his travels here in Berlin. The setting was well chosen because the only thing that ever really stood out in his film was any circumstance in which a rose compass was present. Everything else was arbitrary, therefore the listener only focused in on what the narrator (Jason) was saying. Through this, you knew what was going through Ed’s mind. He was more concentrated on a personal experience of Berlin than a touristy one.
We then moved to Josh’s part. Here we see a person that is experiencing Berlin through the memory of those oppressed in previous generations. He walks through areas that contain reminders of the Holocaust. The setting here was well chosen because most of the scenes are of Josh looking at a reminder of the past from behind a fence, which he states in the beginning is like memory. Though he can sympathize, he will never be able to empathise.
Cynthia’s part is very representative of her struggle to find a topic for her film. Though she never truly found one particular thing that struck her as worthy of a film, she demonstrated a Berlin that only one who experienced it for it what it was could do. Berlin is a city, one with a unique culture and landscape, and you don’t have to be a tourist to appreciate the setting or a local to appreciate the culture. Cynthia, being in between these two people genres, shows her perception of Berlin. The setting is full of iconic Berlin, but in her film they take on their own role almost. Brandenburg gate is a place that she can sit down and think at, the Karl Marx statue is a symbol of her frustration toward someone who has written a noteworthy piece (which her character is struggling to perform), etc. Cynthia interacts with Berlin on a personal level rather than acting like a local who may take it for granted or a tourist who only looks at it in awe.
Finally, Joel takes on the task of creating a sonata through parts of Berlin that he feels represents the components of this musical piece. In the beginning, the camera is lost in which the setting is very ambiguous disorienting. As the film moves on though, the viewer begins to gain a sense of place.
Kerry, Chris, Kelly, Chris:
My take on this film through the interaction of its setting and theme was of one that demonstrated East Berlin taking on the incoming flux of westernization. In this film, there are clear icons of eastern Berlin, in which Kerry takes on the role of an easterner (…I think). And in light of a Western film, she “shapes” up, looks into the horizon, and rides west through the tourist crowd and bus at the Brandenburg Gate, symbolizing her in an east – west dual.
Nathan, Jon, Jesse, Jessica:
This film did very well what I did not, though tried. Here they took an aspect of Berlin’s culture that transcended east/west, rich/poor, German/foreigner, etc. Their filming of ping pong hotspots throughout Berlin was in a manner that no distinction could be made of where they were in Berlin (that is of course unless you knew the club prior). With their Berlin map at the end that showed all the places where they visited with red dots, you really felt a sense of a unified Berlin.
I reflect on my choice of place and realize that I was showing Berlin through a person interested in architecture and its representations. The streets I chose to pan were of streets with interesting buildings. The swing scene with Josh and Kelly showed a troubled past, even if I didn’t bring it up through dialogue. The backdrop was meant to accentuate what was occurring in the story. So rhetorically I ask again, what made my setting so much different from the others?