Journal 2-5 Max Bardowell 12-10-07

The Power of Editing

Answer to last entry’s question:

Since the late 1960s, Flint has suffered from disinvestment, deindustrialization, and depopulation. Initially, this took the form of the "white flight" that afflicted many American towns and cities, but the decline was exacerbated by the 1973 oil crisis and subsequent collapse of the U.S. auto industry. In the 1980s, the rate of deindustrialization accelerated with local GM employment falling from a 1978 high of 80,000 to under 23,000 by the late 1990s. Many factors have been blamed, including Reaganomics, outsourcing and exporting jobs abroad and to non-union facilities, unionization, exorbitant overhead, globalization, and most recently, a dramatic decline in General Motors sales. These rationales are often strictly applied along lines of political orientation, and labor remains the most divisive and polarizing local issue.

The recent decline was highlighted in the film Roger and Me by Michael Moore (the title refers to Roger B. Smith, the CEO of General Motors during the 1980s). Also highlighted in Moore's documentary was the failure of city officials to reverse the trends with entertainment options (e.g. Six Flags' AutoWorld) during the 1980s. Moore, a native of the area, revisited Flint in his later movies, including Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint,_Michigan

While I was working on the documentary due in place of our midterm exam for ethics class, I received a unique lesson on the effects documentary filmmakers have on their subject’s reputations, and how debilitating the films they produce could be for said individuals. It was a lesson I could not have gotten while in the class room, as I had to feel the power of the camera for myself and experience what it is truly like when you control the images of others, especially when there is no moral limit on what you are allowed to do. As I was experimenting with Windows Movie meker and some of its features with the interview footage we had acquired, I began to form the outline for a “test trailer” of sorts, one that would eventually evolve into a full lenth trailer, although our group would later decide against using the clip, for fear of how many of the teachers would react. The trailer begins with this message, contrasted in white lettering over a black screen, “Throughout our time as students we have gotten the same safe, tactful messages when we have asked our teachers about drugs.” From there it cuts to a series of frames where Mr. Doyle comically states those same, iconic messages we have received over the years, in a deep, cartoonish voice, “Drugs are bad. Drinking’s Bad. Smoking’s Bad.” His statements are said nervously, almost in an attempt to diffuse the earlier question, which was one regarding the legalization of marijuana, although the viewer never sees the question, so it seems as if Mr. Doyle is making light of the situation.

The next screen of text shows a new message, again in black and white, “What if we knew the truth?” This implies that the teachers have been misleading us or with withholding information about the drug issue from us as students. The trailer then shows Wil Gould asking Mrs. Mansfield the question, “Have you ever had any personal experiences with the drug?” The trailer then cuts to Mrs. Mansfield doing a reenactment of a time when her brother was high on marijuana. It is accurate, and she displays many of the typical stereotypes that define the traditional image of a “stoner”, including cliché phrases such as “open your mind, man.”, and, “expands your mind.” The way the trailer is cut though implies that Mrs. Mansfield is drawing from her own personal experiences to answer the question, which is unethical, and could have negative repercussions for her as a teacher of high school students.

Although my group prudently decided against using the trailer, it still shows how much power filmmakers have over the images of their subjects. It is a scary thought.

Question: What editing software does Michael Moore use for his films?