Grindr Serial Killer

NEWS

Surrounding the sphere of online dating last week news articles have emerged concerning a 40 year old man (so far) killing 4 men in which he met through online dating. 

http://gawker.com/grindr-serial-killer-alert-1737389038

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-34568485

As documentarians this raises many questions for us as a group concerning our film. 

The interviewees that we have decided to focus on thus far are:

Kemp, Age 19 British, unemployed, currently living in Brighton, Aspiring Photographer  

Dom, Age 19 British, Student at The University of Winchester, Creative Writing  

Marc, Age 21 Melanesian, Student at The University of Manchester 


Although these three men are in the same age bracket they all come from very different backgrounds. Kemp, from a lower income background, Dom, a more working class background from a small sea side town. And Marc who was born and raised in Melasia from a very wealthy background who came to the UK for a University level degree. 

What do our subjects think about safety on Grindr?
Has this changed their opinions and how they act through the app?
In terms of LGBT rights how do they view this article in the news? 


Also this article in the Gardian in August of 2015 asks "Are gay dating apps ruining gay culture?"

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jul/15/goodbye-to-all-the-gay-bars-are-dating-apps-killing-queer-culture

Week 5 Class Notes

Participatory mode:

• Appeared from the 1960's investigative reporter
• Directors voice

Was supposed to be a historical documentary

"This film through participatory doc gives us a sense of what the film makers life is like and how they relate to an actual situation-" (love life)

• Immerses the viewer into the room with the subject
• connect with him on a emotional level
• doc makes mistakes
• lighting allows us to connect to the director

Ross McElwee's life "what happens in front of the camera becomes an index of the nature of interaction between the filmmaker and the subject"

• Structure- disjointed, auteur, voice of god, somewhat chaotic

• Who financed the film? got money to make a film and didn't create the film he set out todo- it is a badly made film, but its a very successful film 1986- managed to place the camera in the middle of the action

• Beginning is expository- then disappears 
• Then directly listening to his voice over which is shows aspects of reflective mode 
• Takes his camera very close to the action- camera becomes a catalyst, he doesn't stop recording. 
• The cameras position and the way he treats the camera creates is as a subject . 
• Personal/viwing aspect you become so involved you want him to keep the camera on - Jean Rouch

• To prevoke the subject- to gain the information
• Doc representation of reality- 
• What we film, what we edit the more you can support your film though recherché the more credible your film will be
• New light weight camera, catch life unaware by observing it
• Camera pushes out the truth

Week 4: Presentation 'Divorce Iranian Style' Observational Mode

Divorce Iranian Style.

(Kim Longinotto, 2002)

Observational Mode

In 1960’s “The camera and tape freely

moved to record what happened as it happened”

The filmmaker observes what happens in front of the camera.

No voiceover to address the viewer directly (like the expository mode)

The viewers reach to their own conclusions depending on what they see (Active viewers)

Directed by Kim Longitto and Zib Mir Hosseini

Her films usually focused on issues concerning women.

The film explores five cases of five different women that are seeking divorce.

It shows the reality of how the legal system affects people’s lives.

Minimal voice-over that was used to state facts (woman narrator)

showed iranian women (middle eastern) differently. 24:40

Sometimes we hear the voices of the filmmakers interacting with the participants. 26:19

And sometimes the participants speak to the filmmakers?... Or to the camera directly 22:43

“We look in on life as it is lived.”

- Nichols, Bill (2001)

Relating to the work of the Italian Neo-realists (1944-1952) the characters within the documentary are caught up in “pressing demands or a crisis of their own”. However… these are not actors- the “at the keyhole” style of observatory mode does not take away the fact that the filmmaker is intruding on the lives and conflicts of her/his subjects.

The filmmaker as a director chooses specific subjects. Although the film is observational: meaning to watch life as it unfolds- this style in ‘Divorce Iranian style’ portrays features of ethnographic film making using ‘cultural phenomena’ which for a western audience-  is very alien.

HOWEVER...

'Divorce Iranian Style' through our analysis of the film, we discovered that although it does use observational aspects of documentary film mode, the way in which the film maker chooses to use the clips where the participants and film-maker are clearly converising and developing a relationship shows us that intact, it is participatory mode. 

Kim Longinotto shows the audience her relationship with the participants purposefully to highlight the power of the judge. The Judge has allowed them to come into his court and film- the Judge holds absolute power. Using participatory mode the audience get to witness more honestly the mood and atmosphere of the room through the film maker as a part of the participation.

Sound

S o u n d  K i t

TIPS

• 4-6 inches between the mic and the subject
• constant distance from the subject to ensure even sound recording
• If there is lots of wind or grainy noise recording the sound lower down can decrease the sound velocity 
• Find shelter and record using a 'dead cat' or cover for the mic 

Week 4: Interview Exercise: NEED SCREEN SHOT

GET SCREEN SHOT

Films

Gray Gardens 1976- interacting with the camera, directional filmmaking 

High school 1968 Frederic wiseman- close ups/ subjects don't purely observational

Titicut Follies 1976 - Observational 

Don't look back 1967- Observational (Fly on the wall)

Divorse Iranian style 1998 Observational Participatory 

Week 4: Ethnographic films and Shot types

Ethnographic Film 

READING NOTES:

Anthropology 16mil Camera- liberated film crew, however anthropologistes are not film makers.


Ethnography is a form of research- live with the people, learn their language.
First ethnographic films- fly on the wall- not interfering with cameras- static film.
Developed into poetic ethnographic documentary- as ethnographic anthropologists became more accustomed to filmmaking these anthropologist films became more successful in portraying there factual anthropological view of a society with the development of technology and the genre.

TECHNICAL FILMING NOTES:

SHOTS
Long shot (wide shot)- to establish/day or night
Med shot- Between the two- shows scenery and characters in the scene
Close up- eliminates space around gives prominance to subject

ANGLES

POV- enhances subjectivativtiy and in
Reverse angle shot- camera moved in 180arc
Low angle shot- exaggerates size and importance of the subject
High angle shot- looks small shows power- weak or strong
Pan- side to side
Tilt shot- up and down
Pedestal shot- moving the camera vertically with respect to the subject. This is often referred to as "pedding" the camera up or down
Zoom Shot- changing the focal length of a lens in a mid shot distance between objects

LENS

50mm is standered photography lens
85mm flatters subject

CAMERA MOVEMENT

Dolly Shot- wheeled platform that is pushed on rails while the picture is being taken
Taking shot- camera follows a person or an object physicallyy moving with the subject
Crane shot- raised or lowered

COMPOSITION

Aspect ratios- frame limits outer boaders

Shooting:
4:3 used to be normal now 16:9 is now the standard

Projections (Cinema)1.85:1 2.39:1

Rule of 3rd
Symmetry
Asymmetrical- suggest something is wrong out of balance

• Composition if related to lookspace head room and walk space
• Depth and perspective- lighting adds depth by separating foreground from the background
• Image perspective- depth of the images

Image quality- tonality
High contrast limited range of gray tones- black and whites
Low contrast- wide range of tones more natural more colours

Speed of motion

• Speed at which objects appear to move within the frame
• Changed by altering film recording s[eed or in editing
• Long focal length often slows down appoint motion by squashing space
• Wide angle can speed motion by expanding the apparent distance travelled in a given period of time

Week 3: Narration and Sans Soleil

Jonathan Coe 2004: "Telling stories is telling lies".

Director: Chris Marker

Narration: Female voice. Usually male voice of god- however Marker uses the female voice to draw attention to what the speaker is actually talking about. The Relationship between the rise-en-scene and the sound creates a powerful portrayal of narrative. Marker gives power to the female voice- she is reflecting on the recording
Film from found footage, old footage, and set up scenes woven together with the narration of the fictional letters and memoirs. 

"Mans always decided what can be spoken about and what cannot..." (Moi 1987:78)

"He drowned himself in work... and then he killed himself" Poetic aspects of the film linked with the narration lead the spectator to believe he actually drowned. (Clip: Water/man on boat).

3 voices: camera man/writer of letters, Chris Marker, and female narrator. 

'Vertigo' Hitchcock 1858- Marker uses shots from Hitchcock film

'Sans Soleil' presents how important picking the right narrator is and how the narration sets the tone of the documentary.

Week 3: Proposal

M o e : Director.

J a c k i : Editing. 

K r i s t i n a : Sound. 

S a l m a n : Camera & Cinematography.

S T A R T E R  Q U E S T I O N S 

How has the internet revolutionised the dating world?

Why do people use online dating?

Has the internet made online dating a breeding ground for sexual encounters alone? 

How is sexuality effected by online dating?

How does online dating effect homosexuality and the gay sex scene?

Our Ideas 

M O D E : Participatory; our perspective. We want to address the audience and take them on a journey with us through online dating, sexuality and through the stories of homosexuality. We also want to use aspects of poetic mode, using fragments and lyrical representations of subjects to show an emotional, artistic representation of their dating lives.

How do gay men use online dating? 

Is 'Grindr' a key to the gay online dating world?

How do different aged/types of people use online dating apps and websites?

How does the internet allow people to explore their sexuality and bridge the gap between sexuality and dominant ideology? 

A U D I E N C E : Mass audience, want to appeal to a large group of people as we want to show them a side of online dating that has not fully been represented before. 
T A R G E T  A U D I E N C E : Young people/ straight and LGBT community to show a side of online dating they might not normally encounter. Also want to target the older generation (middle aged 40+ etc) as these are the types of people who commonly use online dating as well as the young people looking for love/sex. 

W H A T  I S  A L R E A D Y  O U T  T H E R E ? 
'The Secret World Of Tinder' Channel 4 Documentary 2015
'Panorama: Tainted Love Secrets of the Dating Game' BBC documentary 2013
'The Grindr Project' Online Youtube Documentary by William Means 2013 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mjOffjXUoY
'Catfish' 2010 Directors: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman 

M U S I C  A N D  S O U N D 
Jazz/ Sensuality/ Sexuality/ Erotic atmosphere/ Electric Jazz/ Saxophone
Sennheiser K6 Kit/ Boom poll (On location shooting) Contact Microphone (Clip), (Interviews) 
Diagetic- ambient sounds of interview setting 
Non Diagetic- Jazz creating the atmosphere in the film

E D I T I N G 
(Still in idea prosess) 

C A M E R A 
Go Pro/ Stop motion photography/ Establishing shot/ Tracking shots/ On screne recordings of appas and websites/ Text and Titles (online tone)/ Close ups.

W H A T  W E  W A N T  T O  C R E A T E 
Take the viewer through our (the film- makers) journey into the online dating world through the perspective of homosexuality. Using the brief of 'Self and Other'. 

"Self and other:
In what ways do people live / perform their sense of national, ethnic, religious,
sexual, class or gendered identity? (e.g. explored though an ethnography of
aspects of British society looking at what might seem strange to people coming
from elsewhere). How is our sense of self defined in relation to what we think we
are not?" 

In our documentary we want to explore the ways in which people use online dating and their reasons for using it. Also addressing the greater topic of how the internet has revolutionised the dating scene. 
Through many group meetings and discussions we have come to the conclusion, from our research, that 'Tinder' and more specifically 'Grindr' opens up the gay community to... yes more sexual encounters but actually 'Grindr' also helps bridge the gap between gay people in our society. 

Online Dating Statistics

http://www.statisticbrain.com/online-dating-statistics/

"According to mentalfloss.com, 81% of people lie about their age, height, or weight in their online profile. 81%! Considering that the vast majority of people regard mutual interests as the most important factor, it seems like a waste to bother lying. It’s definitely a good thing that 64% of people regard mutual interests as the most important thing though."

1. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/31/77-minutes-tinder_n_6082468.html

2. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jess-carbino/online-dating-in-the-time-of-the-polar-vortex_b_4676398.html

3. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cristen-conger/online-dating-facts_b_823816.html

4.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/28/online-dating-advice-what_n_660615.html Lies

5.http://zsobig.hubpages.com/hub/108-interesting-facts-tips-and-statistics-about-online-dating-and-relationships-Part-I