FILM
Interview with Director John Gianvito
/ Benjamin Strong
05.04.08
FANZINE: After my first viewing of the film, I had remembered the camera work––which is
beautiful, and as you say, contemplative––as being handheld. But on a second viewing I discovered that the camera was most often still. I wonder if my misremembering has anything to do with the sense of vibrancy in each frame, the sense of movement––whether it is the sound of traffic in the background, or a caterpillar inching over a gravestone. In other words, there is nothing static about these very static images. How did you arrive at your technique?
JOHN GIANVITO: It's interesting that you had that response, as indeed the only handheld shots in the film are usually when I wanted to film some smaller detail that I couldn't get my tripod low enough to enable me to shoot.
I've always preferred compositions that allow my eyes to explore a frame without being tugged constantly every which way. I was also very cognizant of the fact that the very idea of making a film out of images of headstones might seem terribly "lifeless," so to speak, and better suited for a photo essay than a film. I did seek to compose my frame so that the signs and headstones were placed within the context of their surroundings. If there was foliage I would sometimes stand in place on still days for long stretches of time waiting for at least some movement of air, or change in quality of light.
FANZINE: On a related note, I was very conscious of time while watching Profit motive and the whispering wind. What I mean is that––at least at first––I was worried that I wouldn't have enough time to read all the text on a given monument before you moved to the next. I quickly realized that you had been careful to give your audience the necessary time in each case to read everything, and even to contemplate it for a moment before the succeeding cut. Was it difficult to determine how much time to allow for in each spot?
JOHN GIANVITO: While you are right in principle that I tried to take as much care with the precision in the editing that I was seeking in the shooting, you'll be interested to know that almost all the photography in the film was done with a 16mm Bolex camera. This means that it was done with a key-wound spring (non-sync) and that I could not film an image continuously for any longer than 25 seconds (each roll of film being just shy of 3 minutes in length before I had to reload). In a very few places I am employing small exceptions––where I very carefully rewound the camera hoping not to alter the composition by a hair and continued filming, or used a small freeze frame in the editing.
I'm glad you had the experience you describe and certainly I tried to be as sensitive as I could in relation not only to the duration of any image but its relation to the image before or after and their relationship to the rhythms of the film as a whole. My hope is that one is able to spend some time not only with the immediate content of the words but with the content of the image itself––the texture of the stones, the aural environment around the sites, etc., as this as much a part of the essence of the film to me as the names and dates.
beautiful, and as you say, contemplative––as being handheld. But on a second viewing I discovered that the camera was most often still. I wonder if my misremembering has anything to do with the sense of vibrancy in each frame, the sense of movement––whether it is the sound of traffic in the background, or a caterpillar inching over a gravestone. In other words, there is nothing static about these very static images. How did you arrive at your technique?
JOHN GIANVITO: It's interesting that you had that response, as indeed the only handheld shots in the film are usually when I wanted to film some smaller detail that I couldn't get my tripod low enough to enable me to shoot.
I've always preferred compositions that allow my eyes to explore a frame without being tugged constantly every which way. I was also very cognizant of the fact that the very idea of making a film out of images of headstones might seem terribly "lifeless," so to speak, and better suited for a photo essay than a film. I did seek to compose my frame so that the signs and headstones were placed within the context of their surroundings. If there was foliage I would sometimes stand in place on still days for long stretches of time waiting for at least some movement of air, or change in quality of light.
FANZINE: On a related note, I was very conscious of time while watching Profit motive and the whispering wind. What I mean is that––at least at first––I was worried that I wouldn't have enough time to read all the text on a given monument before you moved to the next. I quickly realized that you had been careful to give your audience the necessary time in each case to read everything, and even to contemplate it for a moment before the succeeding cut. Was it difficult to determine how much time to allow for in each spot?
JOHN GIANVITO: While you are right in principle that I tried to take as much care with the precision in the editing that I was seeking in the shooting, you'll be interested to know that almost all the photography in the film was done with a 16mm Bolex camera. This means that it was done with a key-wound spring (non-sync) and that I could not film an image continuously for any longer than 25 seconds (each roll of film being just shy of 3 minutes in length before I had to reload). In a very few places I am employing small exceptions––where I very carefully rewound the camera hoping not to alter the composition by a hair and continued filming, or used a small freeze frame in the editing.
I'm glad you had the experience you describe and certainly I tried to be as sensitive as I could in relation not only to the duration of any image but its relation to the image before or after and their relationship to the rhythms of the film as a whole. My hope is that one is able to spend some time not only with the immediate content of the words but with the content of the image itself––the texture of the stones, the aural environment around the sites, etc., as this as much a part of the essence of the film to me as the names and dates.
