Direct Cinema: America 1960-75 Order of Discussion

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Direct Cinema: America 1960-75 Order of Discussion • French “Cinema verité” and Jean Rouch • Direct Cinema • Contributing conditions • Filmmakers • Robert Drew & Drew Associates • Richard Leacock • D.A. Pennebaker • David Maysles • Frederick Wiseman • Symbiopsychotaxiplasm (William Graves, 1968) • Significance of direct cinema • Screenings of A Happy Mother’s Day and Titicut Follies “Cinema verité” Jean Rouch (1917-2004) Chronicle of a Summer (Edgar Morin & Jean Rouch, 1961) Chronicle of a Summer (Edgar Morin & Jean Rouch, 1961) Direct Cinema “The new documentary sought to study individuals, to reveal the moment-by-moment development of a situation, to search for instants of drama or psychological revelation.” Drew and Associates Robert Drew LIFE Photojournalist Twenty TV documentaries produced by Time.Inc 1960-63 Primary (1960), Jane (1962), The Chair (1962)… Drew Associates’ Filmmakers: Richard Leacock D.A Pennebaker David and Albert Maysles Primary (Robert Drew, 1960) The “Crisis Structure” “In each of the stories there is a time when man comes against moments of tension and pressure, and revelation, and decision. It’s these moments that interest us the most.” (Robert Drew) “A politician/professional/ordinary person is put on the spot, put through unusual demands and emotions, and there is a suspense to the outcome.” (Charles Warren, 59) The Chair (Robert Drew, 1962) Richard Leacock and D.A. Pennebaker Form a production company together. Leacock: “uncontrolled cinema.” Leacock’s A Happy Mother’s Day (1963) Monterey Pop! (Leacock & Pennebaker, 1968) Don’t Look Back (D.A. Pennebaker, 1967) Don’t Look Back (D.A. Pennebaker, 1967) Albert and David Maysles Albert and David Maysles Salesman (1969) Gimme Shelter (1970) Grey Gardens (1976) Gimme Shelter (Maysles, 1970) Gimme Shelter (Maysles, 1970) Gimme Shelter (Maysles, 1970) Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (William Greaves, 1968) A Happy Mother’s Day (Richard Leacock & Joyce Chopra, 1963) Titicut Follies (Frederick Wiseman, 1967) • Frederick Wiseman (former Boston lawyer) made Titicut Follies to expose the conditions of Bridgewater State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. • Continued to make films that visited institutions: schools, hospitals, army bases…etc..

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Copyright by Leah Michelle Ross 2012
Copyright by Leah Michelle Ross 2012 The Dissertation Committee for Leah Michelle Ross Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: A Rhetoric of Instrumentality: Documentary Film in the Landscape of Public Memory Committee: Katherine Arens, Supervisor Barry Brummett, Co-Supervisor Richard Cherwitz Dana Cloud Andrew Garrison A Rhetoric of Instrumentality: Documentary Film in the Landscape of Public Memory by Leah Michelle Ross, B.A.; M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin December, 2012 Dedication For Chaim Silberstrom, who taught me to choose life. Acknowledgements This dissertation was conceived with insurmountable help from Dr. Katherine Arens, who has been my champion in both my academic work as well as in my personal growth and development for the last ten years. This kind of support and mentorship is rare and I can only hope to embody the same generosity when I am in the position to do so. I am forever indebted. Also to William Russell Hart, who taught me about strength in the process of recovery. I would also like to thank my dissertation committee members: Dr Barry Brummett for his patience through the years and maintaining a discipline of cool; Dr Dana Cloud for her inspiring and invaluable and tireless work on social justice issues, as well as her invaluable academic support in the early years of my graduate studies; Dr. Rick Cherwitz whose mentorship program provides practical skills and support to otherwise marginalized students is an invaluable contribution to the life of our university and world as a whole; Andrew Garrison for teaching me the craft I continue to practice and continuing to support me when I reach out with questions of my professional and creative goals; an inspiration in his ability to juggle filmmaking, teaching, and family and continued dedication to community based filmmaking programs.
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