Week 5

The excursion this past Friday in Wagner's class was one of the toughest moments that I have dealt with during my trip. We went to view a couple memorial sights and one of them was the Grunewald Deportation site. I have been to the Washington D.C. holocaust museum and have even been to Yad Vashem in Israel. Many visitors cry over the shocking pictures and descriptions of the holocaust, yet I never have. At the Grunewald Deportation site, there wasn't a picture or description of the Jews that were deported from there. Instead there were empty rail road tracks, one plaque that mentioned the 50,000 plus deported and rocks that lined the plaque. The class quickly glanced at the memorial and then headed back for the bus, but I couldn't move. There was something so tangible about this monument that made me sink into this spot. This was the actual site where people went to their death, this was not a picture, this was not the re-creation. The rocks that lay silently across the plaque are symbols in Judaism that are usually only found in graveyards. These rocks are placed by individuals to signify they remember and have traveled to see you. I stared at the rocks and realized that this memorial was a cemetery. I started to wonder about how many of my own relatives walked up to the train tracks and into their own graveyards without even realizing it. I then left the memorial and boarded the bus to continue our field trip.

Over the weekend I went to Leipzig. I never even heard of this town until 2 days before I left when Joel asked me if I wanted to go. So I ventured to Leipzig without any expectations and was completely blown away. When I decided to apply to this Berlin study abroad program, I had no expectations. I am constantly being pleasantly surprised through the entire program. From the classes to just walking around Berlin and taking a new street home, and to even finding a new city to travel for the weekend, this program has surpassed any expectations I could have made.

The movie we watched in class this week entitled "Berlin Romance" showed the progression of Berlin films of the era. The previous two films we watched held dark characteristics to express the grief of a post war Germany, including two suicides. In this weeks movie the story consists of innocent and yet naive young love that personifies the struggle of the present time Germany. The movie takes a less haunting approach to tell the story of a struggling Germany in the post war era. Berlin Romance made me realize how serious the divide of East and West Germany was and how movies were a real tool for propaganda. The portrayal of West Germany in this East German production was one of disgust and criticism. When two of the main characters are looking to wash cars for work in the West, their boss informs them that the lack of "bad weather" and the abundance of sun has prevented them from washing cars. This view of West Germans making their money from jobs that involve the suffering of others, in this case bad weather, is prominent in this film. I was really struck by some of the blatant and harsh criticisms made by this movie and did not realize that the movie industry in post war Germany used propaganda after what Germany suffered under the Nazi regime's propaganda.

My group is going to have a meeting this week in which we are going to present our finalized story ideas and the process in which we will undertake the movie. This is a major step for our group because from here we can start shooting more footage on a regular basis. I have come up with a theme for my movie idea and have started shooting. I am going to answer the question "Why am I in Berlin?" This question has many different meanings to me. I have been asked this question from many friends and family members. I want to create the answer to this question not for them, but for me. I want to show through film, how I respond to this question. I am very excited about a couple scenes of my movie and cannot wait for the group meeting so that we can really get this movie rolling.

Week 4

This week our group finished the final scene to our movie which we decided to entitle "Beir." We decided to have an introduction of some kind to the main party scene. We also wanted credits at the beginning of the film because at the end we want the movie to end with the destruction of the beer bottle. We thought of what else a beer bottle may encounter in its life. We came to the conclusion that we had to get the birth of the bottle on film if we are going to show its death. The group threw around some ideas of how to introduce the beer bottle into the film. The idea of going to a bottling facility was very intriguing. Since we were going to show the bottle opening through opening the lens cap on the camera, then going to a bottling facility would not result in any visuals. We also decided that it was important to show another aspect of point of view, which is the audio element. We decided just to introduce the bottle through its journey from the liquor store to our apartment refrigerator. In order to achieve an authentic sound we treated the camera like it was an actual bottle, as we have done throughout filming. We placed the camera in a 6-pack holder along with 2 other glass beer bottles. Since we wanted the sound to appear sharp and crisp in the movie we mad sure that all the noises we made during filming this audio only scene were exaggerated. Joel put on a pair of flip flops and would make the bottles hit each other while he walked up the stairs. I walked behind him and walked up the stairs louder then I usually do. The audio scene was finished and we turned on Ed's computer to finish the editing. It was easy to splice the intro and the main party scene together because the entire intro was filmed with the lens closed and the main body of the movie starts with the lens closed. We placed credits over the introduction noise scene. This process took much too long. I kind of got frustrated when we wanted to make a group name card for the intro, and everyone had their own idea. It was fun at first to joke about different names, but to be honest it got a little annoying after a while. This was the only minor set back I felt during the entire filming process from start to finish. Other than that I cannot complain about our group's production and filming process. Everyone has contributed to making the film, being punctual for group established due dates and most importantly having the work ethic to complete the project.
We spent the past weekend in Koldenhof which was a fantastic experience. Being away from the city and going into a small rural town is something I rarely do. I found a new appreciation for what a small town can offer. It offered me time to reflect on my entire trip so far and also allowed me to ponder about the future.

Week 3

This week we viewed the movie Kuhle Wampe. This movie had a great impact on my views of post war Berlin. The movie used the city of Berlin and especially one family to depict the struggles of a post war Germany. When the young man committed suicide towards the beginning of the movie, I could feel the hopeless struggle of a young German working class that were without jobs. When the father yelled at his daughter, I could feel the clash between the past and present generations. This movie made me realize that post war Germany was anything but stable and that there are signs in the film that point to a rocky recovery for the new German nation and its people.

My film group decided to cook together and then discuss how and what we were going to film for the point of view project. The dinner really helped break the ice for discussion so that after we ate we immediately jumped into some really great dialog of what we wanted in our film. Ever since we concluded on the idea to do the point of view on a beer bottle, I have been fascinated on the idea of ending the movie through breaking the object that is being viewed. The movie ends through the demise of the object itself. The group all agreed upon this ending. We also discussed how we were going to shoot the party scene but decided to wait until the next day so that we could tell more people about our project and have them participate. Instead of calling the meeting over, we decided to get the final scene on film.

Using the group's creativity to act out a drunken stumble and crash of the beer bottle was a lot of fun. I feel that my role in the group has changed since the first week because during the first week I felt that I had to be very outgoing and aggressive to gather other people's ideas and thoughts on some aspects of our film projects. This last week I have been able to sit back and let other members in the group become more active in bringing up discussions and ideas for our films. This more active group that I have witnessed this week shows very promising characteristics of a team with great chemistry and a group that can easily form thoughts from discussions. I feel very confident that our team will produce a great movie for class.

Our group changed due dates to Friday the 19th, because we finished filming the majority of our work and felt confident that we could finish in time. The big party scene was filmed earlier in the week and due to choreographed rehearsals and the great participation of our fellow CHID students we shot a great segment that holds the majority of the material for our film. All we need to do now is shoot an intro and then edit the movie. I am very excited to show the class our film and to accomplish this group project to the best of my abilities.

Week 2

This weekend was great and I really got a feel of the famous Berlin nightlife. I am trying to become familiar with many parts of the Berliner lifestyle because I feel it will help me with my decision of what and where to film. The first group meeting took place this weekend was very successful. I am very excited about this group because we immediately hit it off with some great ideas and it seems like we have great chemistry as a team. I could barely keep up with taking notes as the ideas for the movie kept fluttering out. We decided to take 4 individual stories of the city, each member doing their own, and somehow intertwining the individual accounts together to create an overlapping display of stories throughout Berlin.
This idea was mutually created and agreed upon. We sat around a table and came up with many creative ways to weave our stories together by using the geographic properties of the many sites of Berlin. One idea that our group came up with was to use the U-Bahn as a device for switching between stories. As one story ended, that character would enter the train and another character would exit the train and the camera would follow their story.
This week's class has been very interesting because Professor Wagner's class was held in the Jewish Museum. Being able to sit in class and realize that we are discussing topics of memory inside of a Museum that is world renowned for its display of memory was a delight. The reading in Brian Ladd is further connecting the dots of Berlin for me. Utilizing the bus tour and readings from class has helped me gain a concrete grounding for the city that I now live in. I walked around the city for 4 hours before class Tuesday and picked out many of the sites that were mentioned in the readings. One of the most fascinating was the Nikolai section that was built by the East Germans. In this area the streets began to narrow and I found myself traveling back to a classic European city. This rebuilt area has a Disneyland feel to its authenticity. The Nikolai Church did retain a classic European feel that I have encountered throughout Europe. The most incredible experience was walking out of this area and into modern day Berlin where cranes hoisting steel are the modern equivalent to an ancient church containing a holy relic.
In my movie I hope to incorporate the old and new sides of Berlin. I also want to integrate old and new memory of Berlin’s history that is visible throughout the city. I look forward to exploring the city with a more in depth approach in the following weeks to try and find buildings, landmarks and monuments that will help me with my movie.

Week 1

It is still difficult to comprehend that I am now studying in Berlin. A city in which history is visable around every corner and a city that has even more history buried underneath its surface. The first week in Berlin has been one that I will not forget. I feel that all my expectations for a city and school courses have been realized in the very first week. I have very high optimisms for growing as an individual through the combination of cultural and academic growth that can only be provided in a study abroad program.
The first week of classes have mostly been centred on discussing the future of the courses and becoming acclimated with the professors. The readings relate directly to the city that surrounds us, which provides me with constant internal discussion of the readings as I wonder the streets of Berlin. Discussing about the Palace that once stood on the other side of Under den Linden made me realize how the memory of this city is incorporated with daily life for Berliners. Memory is more than a photograph or a story to the people of this city, memory must be something tangible so that future generations will not forget or distort its past.
We watched a film in class by Daniel Isenberg called The Displaced Person, this film provoked my thought process for my own film. The film showed a mysterious character later to be known as Hitler moving around Paris. It used old film footage and reels to show how Paris reacted when Hitler arrived. The reception shown in the film is one of delight and fascination with the powerful leader. The film then spliced in many images of people being deported to concentration camps on trains. The powerful image of a single helpless woman leaving in a train car is juxtaposed with the all powerful Hitler arriving in his train car.
These strong images made me think of the helpless people that became victims of the Holocaust due to the Nazi regime. I also pondered if it was my duty to speak out as a Jew in Berlin for those who did not have a voice. Should my film be based on the Jewish tragedy just because I myself am a Jew? I had a lot of questions to ask myself about the direction and focus of my film.
On Friday I got to meet Thorsten Wagner. Professor Ames told the class that we were fortunate to have such a prolific scholar teaching us this quarter and I could now see it for myself as we reviewed the syllabus. This is the class I wanted when I first thought of studying abroad. I want to take to the streets and become apart of the history. This class touches on the history of the surrounding environment while at the same time questioning the history and forces us to think of what the future holds for this city. I am very excited to go on our first excursion and to see if my optimism will be fulfilled.