Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Hemingway. Of course.

Although darling Walt was the first man who came to mind for this project, instigated it, even . . . my heart belongs to Hemingway, as most of you would know.

I picked up A Moveable Feast again last night and now I am convinced, I must, I must incorporate something of his style and form in this project. A collection of anecdotes about people and places . . . I like the irony of taking notes from an expatriate while documenting the U.S.

On another note, I have realized that perhaps I should grapple with the overarching issue of perspective before I progress any further with details. A few options:

A) Should I have a narrator as a persona within the film itself, a la Ross McElwee in his personal project Bright Leaves?

Do I want to contextualize this whole journey within my own history and aspirations? This option would be the most cohesive with the Hemingway thread: a first-generation American appropriating a level of orientation from an expatriate. Again, I like irony.

or

B) Strive for a professional tone, and leave the film's drive entirely to the interviews of experts, a la Mondovino?

or

C) Create an engaging persona for narration, yet restrain it to a voice and a wit rather than a context? (Clearly I need to do more research on documentaries if I don't even have an example for this one.)

2 comments:

  1. This is a fascinating project.
    I don't have any suggestions about perspective. Which would you enjoy most as you write?

    Would you consider children's writers also? Okay, I admit. I'm biased.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Children's writer's never interested me much . . . until I saw the movie "Miss Potter" over the summer, her life was singularly compelling. Would you have any suggestions for American children's writers to include? I must admit, I'm not terribly familiar.

    ReplyDelete