Author: André Beganski

Website:

https://abeganski.wordpress.com/

Documentary:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some things to keep in mind:

1. I still have a lot of editing to do in terms of narration and adding interviews
2. I will shoot more footage in terms of Joe going outside to make a bank deposit.
3. I need to add stabilizers to some shots and trim others so they don’t appear blurry.
4. I need to add name plates that introduce new people.

https://vimeo.com/beganski/review/331260368/035f77d6ba

The password is “deCubas”

The documentary Voyeur, directed by Myles Kane and Josh Koury, follows journalist Gay Talese as he reports on Gerald Foos, who bought a motel so that he could spy on the privacy of his guests while they had sex. Both of the main characters in this documentary, the peeping tom and the journalist, are eccentric characters and shameless about their lifestyles.

There is just as much of an emphasis on the journalist reporting the story as the peeping tom himself. Talese and Foos were in contact for over thirty years before anything was ever published on Foos’ lifesyle. The documentary covers the sexual development of Foos and how he developed a habit of what he considers voyeurism. Foos thinks of himself not as a peeping tom but rather a researcher and observer of people. He would observe of between 2,000 and 3,000 people a year according to his own records. Foos not only saw sexual acts but observed the tedious aspects of people’s lives and even witnessed a murder.

The story delves into some of the pitfalls of reporting and captures the challenges of how to separate fact from fiction in utilizing a single source for a story. Talese becomes challenged in discerning whether Foos is being truthful in regards to the stories he’s telling him and the relationship between reporter and source becomes strained. Small discrepancies in Foos journals and records of the motel reveal underlying flaws in the legitimacy of Foos’ entire story that the media latch onto to discredit Talese with.

Overall, the documentary was a little unsettling to watch but really interesting. It delved into the process of how stories are created and how some of them go viral. It’s really well edited, with good sound and supplemented by archived photos as well as interviews from both subjects. The documentary is a case study of how delicate the relationship between reporter and source can be. The plot of the documentary develops organically, from publishing the initial article to a book, and it’s a good example of directors following the story as it develops.  When articles are published, feelings can be hurt, and people can feel betrayed, ultimately impacting friendships and relationships.

Nothing is sweeter, to me, than fresh and local honey. Every weekend, I find myself drawn to a vendor in union square that sells honey harvested from a farm in Ithaca.  Tremblay Apiaries not only sells honey but also soaps, candles and gum made from bee’s wax. They even make their own mead!

Bees are magical insects and crucial to our environment. No bees, means no pollination, means no flowers.

Every year, honey is becoming a rarer and rarer commodity. Tremblay Apiaries’ website explains that “parasitic mites …  antibiotic resistant foulbrood diseases, hungry bears, and the changing environment” pose a massive risk to bee populations, globally, and beekeepers with small businesses are struggling to turn a profit.

As a result, they “sell what we can produce. Occasionally [they] run out of items, especially when Mother Nature only provides limited quantities.”

For my documentary, I would like to track a piece of honeycomb from hive to vendor and use it as a backdrop to examine the future of beekeeping and how it is effected by climate change. It would capture how climate change is not only having an immediate effect on those with small businesses but also the very food we consume.

I got the business card of the owner and he seemed excited to potentially show me around his bee farm. Let’s hope I don’t get stung!

 

 

Garage from André Beganski on Vimeo.

For my visual poem I plan on shooting a video of my friend, Tim, in Tribeca Skatepark. Rather than a typical compilation-style video, my visual poem would be a multiple shot sequence centered around a single skate-trick. There’s this five-stair at the park that comes to mind as a really good spot to shoot a kickflip at. I have a fisheye lens that attaches to my phone which I can use to shoot in slow-motion. I want the video to capture the persistent nature of skating and include multiple shots of Tim bailing, if he does so, leading up to him landing the trick. I want the video to capture what most skate videos shy away from and that is skating is a process of repeated errors. Since the skatepark is right on the edge of Hudson river it has pretty decent lighting if the weather is right. The environment also lends itself to some dynamic b-roll including maybe some waves, the sun and birds along with the city. I want my video to have a dramatic tone. A friend of mine from high school recently released a song that I think would really lends itself well to a dramatic build-up. He said I’m more than free to use it. I can imagine my visual poem ending with Tim landing his trick and riding off into the sunset in slow-motion. This is the song: https://brendanroche.bandcamp.com/track/garage

Whenever I want to read the news but I can’t stomach any more of our chaotic and Trump infected news environment, I usually got check out The Verge. They produce stories on a variety of subjects but most tend to focus on tech and science. I feel like they make really engaging videos that make the reporter’s experience part of the story like VICE.

Here is a really fascinating video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dwjS_eI-lQ