One of my last posts!

Our film experience in the last two weeks; where do I start? I don't think I have ever spent so much time in front of a computer in my life. FinalCut even invaded my dreams. Early last week we began the first of our intensive nightly editing sessions. We did have one of the sections done thus far, but we still had most of the work ahead of us. I don't think I am speaking alone here when I say that it was quite difficult to edit with all four of us around the computer. We would spend way too long arguing over the tiniest detail that frankly did not deserve that much attention. I understand that editing is tedious, but when we have a time limit and a due date, we must be efficient. So it we decided to work in pairs. Chris M and I were the ones that were primarily in front of the computer because we know the software the best, but Chris H and Kate were there with their input. I would normally put together a rough sequence with Chris M then making it look beautiful. We were really lucky to get him in the group because of his extensive knowledge of the GarageBand software, which is pretty similar to FinalCut.

So we were doing pretty well in keeping to a rigorous editing schedule, except the premiere date was creeping up faster than any of us anticipated. Chris M and I realized around 3:30 on Monday, while putting together the last sequence, that we needed a bit more footage. We threw on our coats and did a whirlwind filming section around Kreuzberg before the sun went away. Although we were rushed during this hour, I think that we got some incredible shots (think the urban farm with the donkey and the kitschy window shot). It was testimony to the idea that when you are down on the wire for time, you can produce some amazing stuff. In fact, the concept for the intertitles was only realized on Monday and applied on Tuesday--the DAY OF the premiere! Things at the apartment got a little bit stressful when the exporting process began, which was way more complicated than it had to be because of my stupid mistake of saving the film under different names in my confusion. But we got through it. Thank god.

Now to the interesting part--everyone else's films. I was absolutely blown away by the quality of all of the films shown on Tuesday. Everyone in our class it seems has such a cinematic eye and is more creative than I had ever imagined. The film screenings were the perfect culmination for an incredible ten weeks (and a very stressful 9th week). It is amazing that while we have all been living in the same city, hanging out and going to class together, each of our Berlin films turned out so differently, each embodying distinct experiences of the city. In spite of how unique each film turned out to be, there seemed to be one continuous thread running throughout--romanticization. From the Kelly-Sean-Dung-Josh group's film, I got the feeling of nostalgia. Some of the shots, along with the narration and the music, were so beautiful that I almost wanted to cry. It really captured the fleeting nature of our experience here, which almost demands to be romanticized. The Cynthia-Ed-Joel-Josh group's film was incredible as well. The link between the four parts with the U-Bahn emphasized coincidence, an integral part of living in Berlin (from personal experience, meeting unexpected people in unexpected places) and any other big city. For the record, I loved the use of black and white and color in Cynthia's film along with Chris's cameo "tearin it up on the dancefloor" at Cake Club. I was blown away by how professional the ping pong film looked, especially the sped up montage at the beginning. It almost looked like a techno music video on speed. I am not going to use this space to judge whose film was the best, because I think that it is evident that everyone put in an incredible amount of work in each project, and the individual experiences documented in the films were each so distinct. But I will say that Kelly's part was my personal favorite. The music, the editing, the overall quality of the shots, especially the graffiti heart, was so beautiful and so romantically fairy tale-like: I absolutely loved it. I really believe that we all captured with our films a Berlin that will never exist again. When we come back, the city will be different and so will we. That is why this filmmaking project, as opposed to a more traditional study abroad approach, is so unforgettable and rewarding.

I am not ready to leave Berlin, and I am starting to prepare for the notorious reverse culture shock. To whoever in our class is reading this, thank you each and every one of you for a wonderful experience. Bis dann und tschüssssss!

Oh yeah, more to come on Goodbye Lenin! I promise!

we are almost done, sort of.

First: filmmaking. Our group has been working ardently the past couple of weeks in acquiring footage, and this last week, I am excited to announce, we started EDITING. Chris M. has extensive experience with the GarageBand digital music program (similar in nature to FinalCutPro), so he has been behind the computer while I have been next to him throwing out editing ideas and seeing if he can do them. LIke the audio project, my work has largely involved tedious file conversion and organization in order to smooth out the editing process. As far as production goes, I have mainly been in front of the camera, which I like as long as I don't have to talk. So far, I have been lucky enough to eat currywurst and eclairs, smoke cigarettes, drink beer, and ride my bike in front of the camera. These all are major sources of pleasure for me, so I don't mind "acting" so much. But we only have two weeks left. Ahhhh!

Our discussion of Kutlucan's film "Ich Chef, Du Turnschuh" and Göktürk's articles was one of the most productive of the quarter, I think. What interests me most about the film, and Göktürk's article mentions this, is its use of exaggeration. Common cultural stereotypes and identity signifiers are exaggerated aesthetically (the Indian turban or Leo's hair dy(e)ing) and otherwise (praying in the dark closet). The acting is also at times quite over-the-top (exploding German men). It is precisely these exaggerations that make us laugh because we are aware that they are, in fact, hyperbolic. In this way then, what is commonly perceived as natural or essential regarding identity is recontextualized through comedy. So when the performers exaggerate, they are unveiling the myth status (or at least ambiguity) of those very stereotypes that they are exaggerating. I was immediately reminded of Susan Sontag's "Notes on Camp" after reading this article. One primary characteristic of "camp" is its tendency to theatricalize experience. Take drag queens, for example. By employing every feminine stereotype to the max, she provokes the spectator to question the essentialist notion of femininity through superficial exaggeration. Maybe if there were more drag queens, more Kutlucans, more Stephen Colberts, and less people who take themselves too damn seriously, we would live in a non-sexist, non-racist, and Republican-free world without the stifling, unproductive, and neverending debates about identity politics.

P.S. I am not arguing that "Ich Chef, Du Turnschuh" is a "camp" film, but that its affect is of a similar nature.

7th and 8th Weeks continued...

So the tattoo thing did not work out, so I must wait another week. Boo. Back to the journal. So as far as the "personal experiences" go, the last month has been absolutely, unbelievably insane. I met a German boy who is as obsessed with (riding) bikes as much as I am. All I can say is that he is rad, a messenger, and will be coming to join me in Seattle soon! Updates will come later I am sure. So I have been riding around Berlin with him quite frequently, thus giving me the unique perspective (for a foreigner anyway) of knowing Berlin primarily by bike with all the shortcuts--over the curbs, through the little parks, down one way streets (the wrong way), through parking lots, etc. Which brings me to a substantial topic: Lola Rennt. This type of cycling unique to Berlin. One can do it in any city, once one has been there long enough to figure out the fun and fast little shortcuts and tactical (a la de Certeau) maneuvers used in negotiating the space of an urban area. I smell masters thesis idea, which has been on my mind through the whole trip as well. This is not the place to expound on this idea, but I will be attending a couple of "bike film" premieres in the coming months (S.F. MASH in Hannover and Fast Friday in Seattle) which I hope will prove to be informative for my thesis.
Anyway, back to the task at hand. I am thinking of the argument that Lola Rennt could have taken place in any city, as it does not give a "touristic" view of Berlin which would enable the spectator to identify the specificity of the place. Yet this is revealed to be a short-sighted argument when Berlin's recent history is considered. Lola is able to run across whole segments of the city, with the help of the cinematic medium, that used to be separated. I do a similar thing with my bike, albeit much faster. We filmed today at the East Side Gallery, the remaining segment of the original wall, which provided an attractive backdrop for the bike cam footage. But it is not merely a backdrop; it is not just any wall of graffiti. It signifies stagnation and division, not movement and connectivity. Placing the movement of the bicycle alongside its arguable antithesis (the wall) is an interesting juxtaposition, but when one considers the fact that the wall does not function now as it once did, but rather as a tourist attraction, the juxtaposition is complicated. It comes down to the same complicated issue in our footage of riding through the Brandenburg Tor. Our film is, in fact, somewhat of a touristic view of Berlin. We are foreigners, after all. I'm not exactly sure how to theorize this now, but I will let it ruminate a bit and get back to you. Tschess!!

More to come.

That last post was not all. There will be more to come later, after I get this tattoo finished...

Weeks 7 und 8

The past couple of weeks have been dedicated to accumulating footage for the film. We realized just how important coming up with a detailed, comprehensive shooting schedule is. The coming weeks before the big premiere will be dedicated to editing primarily. For our first big (planned) shooting day, we decided to shoot at the Lustgarten, the deconstructed Palace of the Republic, and on Unter den Linden. My role in the group is mostly one of the actress, so I have not had too much experience on the technical, camera work side of things. This I do not mind though, as I am not exactly technologically inclined. The Chrises are doing most of the directing and setting up shots, and they are both very good at it. I especially enjoy when Chris M wears his LA director glasses and big scarf and barks orders at me. It makes me feel like I am in a real movie. Another thing I realized was just how long it takes to set up choreographed shots and how many takes we must get in order to have the optimal amount of footage to bring to the editing table.
I think our film, once we start editing, will take shape as planned--really well. The editing will be completely collaborative, and we have blocked a few hours each night for the next couple weeks to edit. Working collaboratively has been, I think, the biggest challenge as well as the most rewarding part of the shooting experience. It is difficult sometimes to coordinate shot ideas and trajectories for the film, let alone scheduling. However, I think our individual visions regarding the film's aesthetic are very much aligned. We are all pretty excited about the soundtrack idea. I think some others might know what I am talking about, but please, keep it a surprise for those who do not. We thought it would be too easy/obvious to just go pure camp and perhaps too heavy-handed/amateur to go for full-on-serious. So we decided to do something else. All I can call it at this point is "different" or "quite interesting." Stay tuned.
Our group, for the most part, has been driven and proactive in regards to keeping on schedule. I don't know what we would do without Chris M's facilitating skills. However, the fam is in town, so Chris has been unavailable for the last two days, and the rest of the group has been miraculously able to keep it together! Chris H. and I shot at different locations yesterday and today and got some amazing footage. Yesterday we went to Lichtenberg, way east on Frankfurter Allee. One gets the feel of Moscow or something similar in Lichtenberg. We found an interesting (precisely for its perceived homogeneity) location between loads of Soviet-style high rise apartment houses that signifies disorientation quite well, and we were able to acquire some good panning and tilting shots there. The light was also optimal--just before dusk--which added to the eeriness of the place. Yesterday was also groundbreaking--we had our first real success with the bike cam. We wedge the tripod between materials stuffed in the camera backpack, put the camera on the tripod, adjust it to whatever angle works, and I get on my bike and ride. What a great way to film, I mean, I get to ride while filming?! Genius!
Chris and I also had a blast with the bike cam today at the Oberbaumbrücke (think Lola Rennt) and the East Side Gallery. We had a little help from my Freund Felix so that we could get some shots that mimic dolly/tracking shots. The cool thing is that we both get to ride our bikes, and we don't have to spend a bunch of money renting a truck and a dolly and the whole apparatus. I think some of the shots that we got today and more recently look much more professional, or at least aesthetically pleasing, than those of a month or so ago. Maybe this film won't be totally amateur...

grammatical errors

So I just read over my last entry stupidly AFTER posting it, and I realized that the last sentence should say "improve" with no "s." Subject-verb agreement is very important to me.

Week 4, and a bit of Week 3.

So as most of you know, I was sick all last week. It was a total bummer. Hopefully I will get to see "A Berlin Romance" one of these days, as I heard it was very good. Needless to say, I did not get any filming done, just alot of CNN-watching. I hope the wildfires are contained by now. This weekend, however, I was very productive--just not regarding school. I was in my first Berlin alleycat bicycle messenger race, did really well, and received LOTS of prizes!! Yeah! This Wednesday, there is another race, the legendary "Helloween" race, in which I will be at a checkpoint making people humiliate themselves for a stamp on their manifests. Enough bikes.
It has been a bit difficult to directly relate the films we have watched these last few weeks (Kuhle Wampe and Germany, Year Zero) to what we have been trying to capture in our film. It seems that the Berlin in these two films is a bygone era; one that is impossible to recapture. I suppose our exposure to these eras cinematically has the potential to inform our work with a sense of historicity. A shot of the subject walking along the street next to an absent building (one whose outlines still exist on the brick but the structure is gone) could evoke a sense of Berlin's berubbled past, for example. Germany, Year Zero seemed incredibly apocalyptic, despite the title's claim otherwise. Any hope of regeneration is dashed with the boy's ultimate suicide, it seems, while the city merely continues on in its desperation behind the rubble. I do not see the Berlin of today, however, to be apocalyptic in any sense. On the contrary, the sheer amount of construction is staggering, and the international appeal for shooting films, traveling, and doing business in this city is high. It is understandable why Berlin would want to move out of its troubled past and simply forget it, but seeing films like Kuhle Wampe and Germany, Year Zero reminds the viewer just how many layers of construction and regeneration this city has undergone through the years, thus effectively conjuring up history, cinematically.
Our group is not attempting to make a film that explicitly comments upon these issues of history, memory, and forgetting. However, merely by way of location, these issues will inevitably be present within the film. If we decide to shoot on Karl-Marx Allee next to the wall, for example, that history will be there, whether or not the film directly comments on its presence. Perhaps in choosing our locations carefully, we will be able to add another layer of potential interpretation, thus geographically specifying our theme of the progressive and necessary mood swings that accompany acclimation to a new city.
On a new note, the reception to our audio film was sehr positive, and people had interesting insights about the film that we had never even addressed in our group. Joel's interpretation was particularly interesting: that the juxtaposition of cattle and people metaphorically joins rather than separates the two. Our project was to juxtapose rural and urban rather than people and cattle, but it is a good sign when the artwork has many potential layers of interpretation, which Joel's commentary certainly evinces.
So we really need to get on the ball about shooting this film. We made a schedule at the beginning and have not stuck to it. We will be having a meeting tonight in which we will (hopefully) solidify a realistic schedule. It has been a bit difficult to employ a certain amount of self discipline regarding socializing and gallavanting around the city on the bike. But the good news is that my german has improved somewhat. I went on a big group ride throughout the city with some messengers the other night, most of whom do not speak english. We eventually barbequed various meats (?) with a disposible grill by the Spree and drank lots of cheap beer. I found that my german language skills (and the elaborate hand gestures that accompany this) greatly improves with beer. Now I know that my tattoo is "der Hammer!" and to avoid the "Kopfstein."