My paper about Standard Operating Procedure

2009-06-01 03:32:34 　　来自: 马桶桶 (飞天拉面神)
Standard Operating Procedure / 标准流程的评论   

　　
　　
　　Section 1: Interesting Technique
　　 If all the real scenes are gone, and all you have in your hand are hundreds
　　evidence pictures, how to make a documentary out of them? Errol Morris gave a
　　cool solution.
　　 In Standard Operating Procedure, they use hundreds graphics with After Effect to
　　make those still pictures alive, by cut into the music beat, by key frame, by special
　　effects to connect them together to make more sense or tell a story.
　　 In the interview part, they use non-traditional framing, sometimes interviewee on
　　 frame right, sometimes in the left, sometimes in the middle. While time pass by, the
　　 shots got closer and closer slightly, to drag you deeper and deeper into their
　　memory, to examine more of those soldiers’ and officers’ personalities and feelings.
　　
　　 In the staged scenes and staged reenactments, the filmmaker used special lens
　　and very artificial light. They use macro lens to reveal the face of a dead prisoner
　　 with a extreme close-up, the motion of the dead body was sealed into a plastic bag,
　　 and the noise of the zipper. Make you feel you are right there by the side of the
　　dead. They use wide-angle lenses and artificial lighting to portrait some cut-away or
　　insert shots that include the barking dog, the prisoner kneeling down at the left
　　bottom corner of the prison, and thousands of photos falling from the ceiling and
　　piled in the empty prison corridor. Voice over from the interview with montage
　　 editing and creative editing were used to line the story down by standard
　　 procedure, while the investigator talking about how they make the judgment that
　　 what is S.O.P. The red S.O.P. stamps on those files revealed how the war made every
　　individual into a name tag and cold stone in the tomb, or, living like a cold stone in
　　the rest of their life.
　　Section 2: Theme
　　 It is always good to recall a film in your mind after watching it for several days,
　　which particular shot is still fresh even you didn’t pay that much attention while you
　　were watching it; Which particular feeling is still haunting you when you were
　　touched by some similar props and facts. Yes, documentary is even more impressive
　　by that, because you knew it’s real. Like the futility of war.
　　
　　 After 3 week since I watched Standard Operating Procedure, the shot that a black
　　 dog barking towards us with creepy teeth, the shot that thousands of photos falling
　　from above into the empty prison, are still haunting me.
　　
　　 One of the female soldier said: “I shouldn’t have join the army, it doesn’t
　　worth it, it just doesn’t worth it. It’s the right time and right place to make this
　　documentary, or, I think the director will prefer, to get there earlier and show it
　　earlier. If they would have watched this documentary before they decided to join the
　　army, no matter how poor they were, no matter how good the benefits were, they
　　might think it over. You may not change the world and the fact, but thinking over
　　 don’t do harm.
　　
　　 We already have tons of documentaries about stupid wars, but the war still goes
　　on and on. No matter how famous Super Size Me is, McDonald’s still goes on and on.
　　While everyone is speaking, no one is listening; while everyone votes, money still
　　rules. Just like the very early documentary The Man With A Camera revealed, no
　　matter how intelligent the human beings are, they just can’t understand themselves,
　　they just can’t stop bite and fight, and somehow, every morning on the run, they tell
　　themselves, life is short, fuck everybody else.