propaganda

The viewing of different documentaries has led me to taking a closer look at how sound has been used in propaganda films. for example this russian film about rising up to fight the nazis

Youtube has been a good source of these videos and i find it fascinating to see how these were used to unit the population to fight against the nazis.  i like how as the russian character rises up to fight the music becomes more triumphant and celebratory which must have had a positive effect on the russians at the time who fought.

But while i'm interested in going down this route i'm still no closer to a proper question for study and it's getting late on in the term which is making it harder and harder to work.

Battleship Potemkin

Having watched this film has led me to look down a different avenue of sound.  While the film is silent i read up a little about the history and saw that it was considered one of the best propaganda films made.  This reminded me about what i read earlier (and for the life of me now, i can't remember where) that some people consider that a documentary can't be a documentary if narration is included as it means that what is said may be at the behest of whomever is paying for the making of it and as such is not neutral.  But here is a silent film about the uprising of a ships crew against the officers and it is considered one of the best propaganda films made.

I don't think there is a real correlation between the two and my ramblings but the thought that a silent film can be propaganda has got me thinking about how it could be used with sound.

Pitch and crit 2

Pitch and Crit sessions, as i should have mentioned before, are when groups of third and fourth years get together to discuss their ideas on how the work is getting on and offering advice on how best to go about each others work.

The second session is when as a 4th year i present the work i have carried out to the third years and get advice back.  but i've been really struggling to focus my ideas onto one specific project and as such i had very little to say during the meeting which is frustrating as i feel i'm going nowhere with my ideas.