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Nanook of the North and the Documentary Film

Nanook of the North and the Documentary Film. “The creative treatment of actuality” (John Grierson). Precursors to documentary. Lumiere Bros.’ Actualities “Scenics” Prizmacolor Black and white travelogues (e.g. Burton Holmes) Newsreel Pathe Weekly 1911

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Nanook of the North and the Documentary Film

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  1. Nanook of the North and the Documentary Film “The creative treatment of actuality” (John Grierson)

  2. Precursors to documentary • Lumiere Bros.’ Actualities • “Scenics” Prizmacolor Black and white travelogues (e.g. Burton Holmes) • Newsreel Pathe Weekly 1911 Universal Animated Weekly 1913 Fox Kinograms Paramount MGM • Subjects: Sudden events Impending events Scheduled events

  3. Robert Flahery, 1884 – 1951 • Son of mining engineer-Michigan, Canada • Explorer/Prospector • Hired to prospect in Hudson’s Bay 1910 • 1913-15 – brought a camera on his expeditions

  4. Major Films • Nanook of the North (1922) • Moana (1926) • [Tabu – F.W. Murnau, 1931] • Industrial Britain (1933) • Man of Aran (1934) • Elephant Boy (1937) • The Land (1942) • Louisiana Story (1948)

  5. Nanook of the North - origins • Test screenings in Canada in 1915 met with interest • 1916 lost all his negatives in a nitrate fire • Fund-raising efforts to make new film, 1916-1920 • Revillon Freres, fur company

  6. Nanook – special features • Eskimos of Itivimuit tribe • 16 months of shooting; • scenes developed on site for possible retakes and multiple angles • Focus on Nanook Suggested walrus hunt as in old days Oversize igloo to accommodate filmingCut igloo in half or more light

  7. Nanook – Film style and techniques • Fiction film techniques employed in editing • Panorama shots • Close-ups • Personalization/Protagonist • Creation of Suspense • Judicious use of long takes

  8. Nanook and the Romance of the “Savage” • “Salvage ethnography” “primitive existence of a people in the way they lived before contact with explorers” “to show the former majesty and character of these people while it is still possible—before the white man has destroyed not only their character, but the people as well.” • “Romanticism” Heroic people against a harsh nature

  9. Nanook and the “selling” of the Dcumentary Cinema

  10. “Another Nanook” • Moana (1926) • Paramount: “another Nanook” • Samoa Missionary influence undetectable Nature benign – fish and fruits Revived painful ordeal of tatooing

  11. The Legacy of Nanook • Grass 1925 Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack Paramount distribution Migration of herds in Turkey and Iraq • Chang 1927 Paramount commissioned Thailand Survival in jungle • The Black Cruise Leon Poirier Citroen sponsor Automobile journey from north to south Africa

  12. The Legacy (cont.) • City Symphonies Rien que les heures, Alberto Cavalcanti, 1926 Berlin: Symphony of a Big City, Walther Ruttman, 1927 A propos de Nice, Jean Vigo, 1929 (DP Boris Kaufman) • Joris Ivens The Bridge, 1928 Rain, 1929

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