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| DV IN ACTION > Short Cuts A Method Called Hanging Around Christian Iseli reports on the working style of filmmaking duo Thomas Imbach and Jürg Hassler (Well Done), and the role of digital video in their work. Christian Iseli They work with the newest and tiniest image-making technologies. In their last film, Well Done, various Hi8 camcorders did the trick. For their latest project, now in postproduction, they added the digital handycam. For director Thomas Imbach and his cameraman Jürg Hassler, mini camcorders are exactly the right tools for documentarists who want to take the pulse of the times. From small cameras come big images: transferred to 35mm and combined with material shot on Super-16 or 35mm film, they stand up to being projected in movie theatres - and successfully at that. Their film Well Done (1994), about everyday life in the high-tech world of high finance, garnered international critical attention and surprisingly high takes at the box office. "The most innovative technologies are developed for amateurs: handy, steady, auto." The saying is one of a series which the pair take as their filmmaking gospel. Imbach and Hassler developed these propositions (see inset) which they prefer to call "Short Cuts," for a training seminar on documentary. Some are more debatable than others. "Don't be afraid to doze off while your camera is running," provocatively reads another. The point is to debunk what Imbach calls "the myth of professionalism." As he explains it, there are as many disadvantages as advantages to standard professional methods from which many are afraid to depart. The result is an inflexible attitude which makes it impossible to adapt to a particular situation. For these reasons, the pair prefer to follow a method they call "relaxed shooting": a team of two at the most, minimal organisation, a total ban on staging, and "productive hanging around." Their current project, tentatively titled Kids, is about the daily experiences and the dreams of teenagers in a wealthy suburb of Zurich. For about nine months, Imbach and Hassler paid regular - but mostly unannounced - visits to the "kids," accompanying them in their free time, at school, and at home. "We rarely arranged our meetings with the kids in advance, we just went and found them," explains Imbach. "Sometimes something came out of it, sometimes not. But that's how we learned to wait, to hang around, really." But he emphasises: "it was a deliberate, even a selective, hanging around, which always led to good situations because we were always there at the right time in the right place when something finally happened." When the filmmakers first turned up with their small consumer cameras (first Hi8, later one of the first available Sony digital handycams), the teenagers were take aback because they had expected a big crew with professional equipment. "They didn't take us seriously at all," remembers Hassler, who sees this more as an advantage. "We completely avoided the gap that usually opens up when the film crew hides behind too much equipment." Hassler is responsible for the extraordinary images and (with Imbach) the breathtaking editing of Well Done. More recently, he shot the video sequences of Richard Dindo's A Season in Paradise. He goes on: "The small cameras make possible a much more natural relationship between filmmakers and subjects, because nowadays everyone is used to them." Imbach points out that the teenagers were nevertheless always aware that they were being filmed, since the duo never tried to hide their presence. On the contrary: "The method we use is to stick close by the subjects. People who aren't used to our style may well find us intrusive." He is convinced that a good personal relationship between filmmakers and subjects is the key to being able to get close enough to penetrate the surface. The material which the two bring back from their forays into the kids' world is characterised by often extreme close-ups. The small handy's amateur lenses allow a smooth transition to macro shooting. It is exactly this potential to stick close by the subjects and probe surface textures that led to the filmmakers' fascination with mini technologies. Well Done is dominated by close-ups of faces, hands, small everyday gestures, and handshakes. That this method results in a decreased sense of space and a certain disembodiment entirely matches the pair's intentions. Their goal is to break reality up into fragments, which are then reassembled differently through associative montage. "We work with ready-mades taken from real life, and turn them into a new, artistic reality," explains Imbach. Images taken on 35mm film complement the video close-ups by filling in the landscape shots and sense of space missing on the electronic level. But the film shots are not intended to simply fill in the video gaps: they are meant to lend atmospheric depth to the subjects' environment. The use of two levels of images requires two different technologies separated by at least 30 years. Companion to the newest digital camcorders is the unblimped veteran of 35mm cameras: the Arri IIC, fittingly mounted on an old wooden tripod. The venerable machine is inexpensive, and can be used as flexibly as the newest handys. Still, this clearly contradicts two of the imaginative filmmakers' tenets: the 35mm camera weighs more than 2 kilos, and is outfitted with a tripod. Imbach and Hassler cheerfully admit to their inconsistency. In this case, it's different: the high-resolution film images are a crucial supplement to the video material. Imbach couldn't imagine his project without the interaction of these two elements. While film stock is used sparingly and carefully, there is no limit to the amount of video material. Here too, though, the pair would emphasise the deliberateness of this seeming lack of discipline. Imbach explains: "The goal is to condense the authentic film material, in order to create complex film characters without using interviews. In the case of their current project, this purposeful excess means 120 hours of raw material. Excessive shooting requires an extended period of editing. They admit, though, that this time they have reached "the verge of the manageable." After a first round is selected on S-VHS, Imbach and Hassler work together on a non-linear edit system. Later, the final selection is transferred to film, and the fine cut done on a 35mm editing table. Even the smallest details reveal the characteristic mix of traditional and cutting-edge technologies: next to the computer are wooden file drawers. These contain 5000 video prints, the key to the organisation of the material. As for the digital handycams themselves, Imbach and Hassler note that a main benefit is the more hardy format. With the more delicate Hi8 there is always the worry that technical or mechanical problems will make a good sequence unusable. Like many other documentarists who have worked with the Sony handycam (see Test Report on p. X), they too consider the colour viewfinder a disadvantage, and sharply criticise the quality of the built-in microphone. "Compared to older Hi8 camcorders, the Sony digital handycam is almost a bit too big", adds Hassler. "The size of a boxing glove would be about right."
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Notes for the filmmaker's handbook by Thomas Imbach and Jürg Hassler * Documentary can't capture reality, it must create a new reality. * Documentary must stop defining itself as a document. * Reinvent film with every film. * The fiction film is dead. The documentary film is dead. Long live film! * Your equipment should be of the lowest cost but of the highest quality. * The most innovative technologies are developed for amateurs: handy, steady, auto. * Forget planning - hanging around is creative. * Totally downsize - cinéma copain! * There is no such thing as overtime. * Time is your most valuable resource. Use it efficiently, even while hanging around. * There is no such thing as wasted time. * Be your own technician at every step of the creative process. * Be absolutely professional in all areas of postproduction. * The more you shoot the less it will hurt to cut most of it out later. * Throw away everything over 2 kilos: cameras, tripods, light kits. * All you need is the white of an eye in the moonlight. * The forest knows it's being filmed. * Free association is professional. * Always go the extra step. * There is no division between behind and in front of the camera. * No hidden cameras, forget discretion and stay in your subject's face. * Avoid interviews and commentary. * Don't be afraid to doze off while your camera is running. * Shoot like an amateur - with enthusiasm, inspiration, and barely any luggage. But edit like a pro - cool and merciless. * Try to do everything yourself. * Don't trust anyone who says it can't be done. * Don't trust anyone just because they claim to be a pro. * Don't work with professionals until you can do it all yourself. * The film edits itself. * Reinforce your edits, let the cuts show. * There is never more than one right edit. * Keep on working with all your footage. * Profit from your mistakes; don't try to hide them * Don't keep making the same mistakes, make new ones every time. * There are no short cuts.
DOX #10 / December 1996 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
© by DOX / EUROPEAN DOCUMENTARY NETWORK
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