HAPPY PEOPLE: A YEAR IN TAIGA
Lastly, I also looked at Happy People: A Year in Taiga because this is a film by Herzog and Russian director Dmitry Vasyukov with a specifically ethnographic subject. Herzog and editor Joe Bini pull material from Vasyukov’s television documentary (Rapold) that brings the lives of a particular people group, the trappers and families of the Siberian taiga to a western audience by following their daily lives throughout the year, showing how they interact with their environment and the simple lifestyle that they lead. Much of the film reveals that they are continuing a heritage passed on from generation to generation. Due to the subject matter being so similar to my own, I wanted to see how Herzog and Vasyukov …show more content…
We hear their actual voices, and though the interviewees never look directly at the camera, and they speak as if having a natural conversation, sharing their lives with us as if we are sitting right there with them. Happy People flows season to season, covering a whole year, and puts the viewers into the everyday life of the trappers and villagers with extended sequences with natural sound, allowing us to quietly observe without dialogue and music. We see people at work; making homemade inspect repellent, hunting, gardening; building boats, skis, cabins, and traps; storing food; going out on the water to fish, all using traditional methods that Herzog explains was handed down from generation to generation. Herzog’s narration periodically adds information in his usual, grandly descriptive …show more content…
I believe that keeping memories and traditions alive is a responsibility that I have as part of a community and culture. As a filmmaker, I know that there are different ways to do so, but that few are as affective as the documentary. Hearing the voices of the people that lived it or the experts, who have studied it for years, gives the audience the sense of authenticity and urgency that needs to be conveyed. I knew I needed to first look at the stories that exist in my own country of The Bahamas, and it begins with a little island that was known throughout the nation for its master boatbuilders. To preserve a legacy that has all but disappeared, I’ve studied five successful films, Nanook of the North (Robert Flaherty, 1922), The Statue of Liberty (Ken Burns, 1985), The Cave of Forgotten Dreams (Werner Herzog, 2010), Happy People: A Year in Taiga (Herzog and Dmitry Vasyokov, 2010), Searching for Sugar Man (Malik Bendjelloul, 2012). From each film, I’ve gathered new strategies for my own film. I want to profile The Last Boatbuilders of Man-O-War Cay by exploring their environment. I want to make sure that I use engaging and appropriate narration that will bring the story together, along with native, nostalgic music that will have an emotional impact. To conclude, I need to highlight some of the
Lastly, I also looked at Happy People: A Year in Taiga because this is a film by Herzog and Russian director Dmitry Vasyukov with a specifically ethnographic subject. Herzog and editor Joe Bini pull material from Vasyukov’s television documentary (Rapold) that brings the lives of a particular people group, the trappers and families of the Siberian taiga to a western audience by following their daily lives throughout the year, showing how they interact with their environment and the simple lifestyle that they lead. Much of the film reveals that they are continuing a heritage passed on from generation to generation. Due to the subject matter being so similar to my own, I wanted to see how Herzog and Vasyukov …show more content…
We hear their actual voices, and though the interviewees never look directly at the camera, and they speak as if having a natural conversation, sharing their lives with us as if we are sitting right there with them. Happy People flows season to season, covering a whole year, and puts the viewers into the everyday life of the trappers and villagers with extended sequences with natural sound, allowing us to quietly observe without dialogue and music. We see people at work; making homemade inspect repellent, hunting, gardening; building boats, skis, cabins, and traps; storing food; going out on the water to fish, all using traditional methods that Herzog explains was handed down from generation to generation. Herzog’s narration periodically adds information in his usual, grandly descriptive …show more content…
I believe that keeping memories and traditions alive is a responsibility that I have as part of a community and culture. As a filmmaker, I know that there are different ways to do so, but that few are as affective as the documentary. Hearing the voices of the people that lived it or the experts, who have studied it for years, gives the audience the sense of authenticity and urgency that needs to be conveyed. I knew I needed to first look at the stories that exist in my own country of The Bahamas, and it begins with a little island that was known throughout the nation for its master boatbuilders. To preserve a legacy that has all but disappeared, I’ve studied five successful films, Nanook of the North (Robert Flaherty, 1922), The Statue of Liberty (Ken Burns, 1985), The Cave of Forgotten Dreams (Werner Herzog, 2010), Happy People: A Year in Taiga (Herzog and Dmitry Vasyokov, 2010), Searching for Sugar Man (Malik Bendjelloul, 2012). From each film, I’ve gathered new strategies for my own film. I want to profile The Last Boatbuilders of Man-O-War Cay by exploring their environment. I want to make sure that I use engaging and appropriate narration that will bring the story together, along with native, nostalgic music that will have an emotional impact. To conclude, I need to highlight some of the