Video Analysis: John Grierson's Drifters - Movie Review Example

 Video Analysis: John Grierson’s Drifters Definition; Actuality, Creativity, and Treatment John Grierson refers to the film as the creative treatment of actuality. Drifters as one of his successful definitions completely falls in this description(Aitken, 2013). Actuality refers to the existence of something or someone with the typical contrast of what was expected by many people. It entails the existence of the condition and facts. Creativity, on the other hand, is a phenomenon that helps in bringing something new into existence. Finally, treatment is the act or manner that is employed in handling of an issue. A group of men in a small coastal village gathers for their daily activities. It is on the afternoon, and they are heading towards the harbor(Aitken, 2013). With the strong winds blowing and characteristic's waves of the sea water, it is a normal scenario to see the waters crash against the rocky shoreline. The gulls stare at this event with great anticipation. There are a hundred trawlers crammed along the harbor(Aitken, 2013). Tall masts jut through the thick smoke. On the other end, there are huge cranes swinging amongst them and carry crates of equipment and other supplies. An army of men hauls what their strength can hold towards their boats. The furnaces have the burning coal to fuel the engines. These are the opening scenes of the documentary by John Grierson. The 1929 documentary ‘Drifters’ showcases the struggle occurring in the open seas. The documentary shows that there is a struggle between man versus nature, tradition versus modernity and old versus new(John Grierson-Drifters, 1929). The documentary establishes major themes that characterized the British Documentary Film Movement of the 1920s. The major themes surfacing from the documentary are the importance of working hard and the dignity of the laborers. Drifters take the initiative of narrating the usual challenges of a common fisherman and the actual situation leading to the same. In the film, John Grierson brings something unique to the cinema world at the time. He presents what many reviewers would call the drama unfolding and residing in the living facts. Drifters present the principles of John Grierson that were much different from the majority of the films produced in Hollywood and Britain at the period(John Grierson-Drifters, 1929). The film showcases life experiences of real people and not actors, in their real location rather than sets. Drifters create a rhythmic machinery of the events tying them to the relentless of the wind and the sea water. Grierson chooses not to report on the basic facts of the fishermen as what they eat and the resident but rather dramatizing on their mundane occupation. Helped majorly by the epic narration of the title cards, the labors of the highlighted fishermen are elevated to heroic acts. In the film there exists a tag of war between the man and the industry against the nature(John Grierson-Drifters, 1929). In the same context, the tradition and modernity battles out while man struggles to survive. The documentary presents the ideas of the Grierson in which there is a distinction between the procedure that describes the surface value of an object and the one that explosively reveals its reality(John Grierson-Drifters, 1929). He illustrates the need of explaining in detail and interpreting the natural or human occurrence in the film photography. In the making of the documentary, Grierson believes that the dramatization is the indispensable part of it. Drifters as the documentary illustrate Grierson as a progressive thinker who has a unique choice of the subject ‘Herring Fishermen of North Sea.’ (John Grierson-Drifters, 1929). In superficial view, the Drifters forms a complete record of the economic activities of the modern fishing industry. The cycle of activities illustrated in the documentary shows men leaving the harbor, catching a fish from the sea and then returning to market them. All these activities entail preparation, locating the shoals of fish, casting the nets in the seawater, and catching the fish. The other important processes entail icing them and auctioning. For the viewer of the documentary, these events seem very simple as they unfold in the screen(John Grierson-Drifters, 1929). Understanding the cinematic climate of the documentary will provide the full appreciation of the film. Looking at the film from the narrative level, simplicity dictates in this documentary. As one views the film, there is an opening title after which we see men go to the harbor and prepare their ship for the afternoon work. The film then follows the ship as it leaves the harbor with a camera mounted on it to record its view as well as the action(John Grierson-Drifters, 1929). We see the same men struggling in the open seas to land a catch after which they return to the ship. The documentary then shows us the return journey where the fish caught are sold, loaded, packaged and transported to the market. The theme of tradition vs. modernity finds an explicit reference in the opening title. In the opening remarks, we are told of how herring fish industry has changed. It was once an idyll brown sails and village harbors but has turned out to be an epic story of steel and steam. The fishermen still have their homes in the old villages but occasionally go to the modern industry to labor(John Grierson-Drifters, 1929). Such events and narration illustrates the interest the film had on modernity and continuous progress. The illustration from the film show that it is moderate and evolutionary rather than being extreme and revolutionary from the modernist point of view. Drifters document on the objective aspects that form the component of everyday life. It takes on the topic in a poetic manner depending on the abstract patterns rather than using the narrative and character motivation seen in the commercial fiction films(John Grierson-Drifters, 1929). Furthermore, the film takes no central role in focusing on the modern world but rather the human beings, the nature to a greater extent than the city symphony films. The documentary merges mechanization with humanist interests. The film merges the nature, man and the machine via the symbolic associations. There are the sequence of the abstract view of the sea and the rough water, followed by the ships billowing smoke(John Grierson-Drifters, 1929). The scenes in the documentary form the associative montage that links between nature and the industry. There are other shots of birds and ship groups intercut with men busy casting their nets. The interpretation in these scenes is the patterned and organizational similarities that exist between the different species. On a formal level, the film finds suggestion in a mechanical regularity since human and nature are showcased in an impersonal manner. This makes the reality remain impersonal just like a machine. This aspect of the film makes the representation of the working classes as impersonal like they are mere objects with an aesthetic appeal(John Grierson-Drifters, 1929). This forms the creativity aspect of the film. Grierson has been in a position of combining the both traditional and modernists’ currents that were prevalent in his time to the film, the objective events finds representation in a machine-like manner. Many of the reviewers will agree that the film stands its development through the combination of images and rhythm of both the inanimate and abstract that would give work of the director attain its full meaning and relevance. Suitability to the Modern World Drifters have the relevance in the current word. This is depicted by various scenes in the whole plot of the film. In most industries and other big companies around the world, a common trend has been looking for cheap labor in the manufacture of goods and provision of services. In the film, there is human-centered drama in which the viewer sees the mechanization of human beings. Similar to the scene in the film, many organizations around the globe carry the huge blame because of instituting and maintaining sweatshops (Aitken, 2013). Despite the intense labor rights advocacy, many industries and organizations maintain the stressful working conditions. On a keen look at the film, there is machine-like abstraction. Sharing the views of many documentary reviews on Drifters, there is a constricted course and rhythm which not only compels watching, but also remain symbolic to infinite thinking. The film brings the working classes of fishermen to the screen as a sign of good gesture. Paradoxically, the film in screening the plight of these workers, Drifters encourages a humanistic approach and direction. The film, through the ingenious activity of Grierson, represent man as essential components of the machine. The working men perform various tasks while not being individuated. The only respite that the film shows from their hard labor is the necessary functions such as sleep and eating. These people become stripped off their emotions and became placed as cogs within the vast rhythmic and visual machinery(Aitken, 2013). From such as the scene, we discover that Grierson wanted to film the differences that exist between lower, middle and upper classes. The same disparity transcends in the modern time. Disparity in work exists with different degrees of associated hazards. A person working in a mine or a quarry, for example, has different occupational hazard to a person working in a bank. The working classes in the film are posited as agents work serving their subjects. This makes the film have a human touch which finds applicability in the issues that face human beings especially those concerning the plight of workers. Industrialization has been an aspect in the current world(Aitken, 2013). Modernity has been the subject in the film. One of the main features of Drifter is the theme of modernity vs. tradition. The introduction of the documentary narrates of the change experienced in the Herring fishing industry. Replacement of brown sails with an epic of steel and steam. The relevance of the film in the modern time is shown by the presence of industries and the scenes of steam. Fishermen have their homes in their village but go to labor in the modern industry. At the end of the film, we see the catch being delivered to the modern market. In the film, Grierson chooses to side with modernity with a constant focus on the parts of the trawler engine(Aitken, 2013). In the current world there a constant tussle between industrialization and the impacts on the climate and the natural resources. Grierson gives his feelings on modernity being ambivalent. The films seem to celebrate the aspect of industrialism at the evolutionary stage in the history of mankind. There is an existing link between man and the environment. With the advent in technology and the increased pace of industrialization, man has remained a subject for the destruction of the environment. The release of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere and wanton destruction of the forest reserves characterize the current world we are living. In the days of the shooting of this documentary, industrialization was at its evolutionary stages. Since then technology has grown tremendously with the manufacturing sector experiencing the major boost(Aitken, 2013). Grierson provides the scene of the trawlers that were used in the fishing. This forms the appreciation of the advancement in technology with the coming of the new ships. The film presents the whole process of industrialization. Throughout the film, there are scenes of men leaving their residents and going for work. The scene of the ship going to the quayside for the load to be auctioned, barrels filled with salts for preservation and then loading to the freight and being sent to the market presents that aspect of industrialization. These aspects are common in the fishing industry today and find the suitability though with some changes such as the use of fridges for freezing(John Grierson-Drifters, 1929). Grierson does not forget the effect of the human activities on the environment and that nature and man have an intricate relationship. The herring fish was a canny choice for Grierson since the Financial Secretary to the Treasury had an influence on the subject for the film. With a focus on the natural elements such as the sea, birds and the natural resource itself, the fish, the film respects the link existing between nature and human beings(John Grierson-Drifters, 1929). It is important as human beings uses the natural resources at their disposal they also learn on ways of preserving them. Although given little attention in the film, there is much relevance to the subject of environmental conservation that finds application in the current age and era. Development and analysis In the film Drifters, Grierson uses the cinematic approach of productionist(John Grierson-Drifters, 1929). In cinematography, productionist approach entails a pieces of art which is embedded within the work process. It is the art that aims at the tool of production. This is the art that showcases the whole industrial process of fishing with the laborer being implicated as demiurge. The productionists of 1920’s to 1930’s industry was seen as the epic journey of steam and steel. Filming as the art was to provide emphasis of epic dimension in the production. In so doing, the locomotive was an aspect in the shooting of the films as a symbol of the new change. Drifters is without exception to this trend. The film starts with fishermen going on with their daily chores and ends with the image of ships leading the freight(John Grierson-Drifters, 1929). The main character in the film is an industrial process with steam and steel facing the universe. A hostile universe characterized by sea waves, storms and other aspects making the process difficult. The approach in the film is rather abstract with the opposition being between the industrial processes and the universe with the people as the anonymous elements in the whole process. In Drifters, the approach is rather different in the development with people mattering in the whole production. Apart from full concentration on the industrial process, Grierson chooses to focus on the natural aspects. There are scenes showing huge shoals of herrings a possible indicator of overfishing. Intricate relationship between nature and human beings is seen. The developmental aspect of the film finds the influence Grierson had while in America(John Grierson-Drifters, 1929). The influence for the shooting of the film came from the social sciences with the focus being solving problems facing humanity through scientific means of cinematography. In the film, Grierson is portrayed as a realist who marries the aspect with individual creativity. Grierson objects the aspect of art being introverted and personal since he believed that such a move provided a disconnection to the rhythms of everyday life. After watching the film, one acknowledges that Grierson found influence from the Hegelian idealism. The school of thought places large emphasis on the underlying eternal reality that had deeper spiritual objective in a world apprehended by the perception of mankind. Positivism is a school of philosophy that finds relevance in the film with the focus being objective quantifiable data(John Grierson-Drifters, 1929). Social sciences dominate the academic milieu of Grierson and plays a significant role in the shooting of the film. Through such influences, Grierson holds the idealist view of a creative artist. Drifters formed the only film that was directed by individual personality of Grierson. The film superimposes the aspect of human drama with the economy prospects of the fishing industry(John Grierson-Drifters, 1929). In reality aspects, Grierson requires the cinematic concepts be based on truth and honesty. In contrast to many fictional films, Drifters offer poetic reference to natural imagery and industrial processes. The intentions of Grierson leant at emotional reaction of the audience rather than creating an aesthetic exposition for intellectual appreciation. The dramatic method Grierson chooses is meant at a reaching the emotions of the audience and their understanding through empathy and logical argument. In various scenes, in the film, Grierson showcases men at their labor that is the solid adventure in the herring industry. The adventure as shown in different shots, in the film is not safe amid stormy waters of the sea until they return to the haven. In the struggle to reach a safe haven, the fish are not only salted and iced but also the viewer sees the tiring hours of hauling nets with the agony of shoulder muscles hauling nets in the waging storm(John Grierson-Drifters, 1929). Grierson uses the image of opposition to compose the idea of shoveling, hammer, storm and hauling. Drifter is a breakaway of two principle forms of filming, the scenic and fantasy. The fishermen act as the actors in the full drama of reality. Using the background settings of the fishermen, the villages, cloudy skies, and shots of seagull in their thousands Grierson’s Film enters the league of poetic imagery. Collecting and integrating these scenes required travelling to the opposite ends of Britain. The massing of the shots at different location creates the commentary on the content of his film as a director and the audience(John Grierson-Drifters, 1929). To a person who does not critically look at this documentary, it may appear vague but with keenness the film is a major success with richness of information and creativity in the shooting. References List Aitken, I. (2013). Film and reform (1st ed.). London: Routledge. John Grierson-Drifters. (1929). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V60pwHsTRF4&list=PLBrw_qSCb89TQCeii8u7NZAnqtj9IIf3U Read More