Week 9

Our group is really making some progress with our film. This week we went out to help Cynthia with her part of the film. She is incorporating many of the landmark sights of Berlin into her film. We traveled to the Marx and Luxemburg statue near Alexanderplatz, the Brandenburg gate, Kaiser Wilhelm church, Tiergarten and the East Side Gallery. We would ask Cynthia about what she wanted to accomplish in her shot. I would come up with ways to frame the scene and took control of the camera to film many parts of her film. While we would walk to the next location, I would film scenes of Cynthia walking, even though she didn’t know, because I feel that we need more footage of her that shows arriving at the different locations. By not telling her I was filming the footage looked much more authentic, (she caught on to me pretty quickly though.) While at the East Side Gallery and Tiergarten I discovered a couple of shots that I thought would fit perfectly into my film. At the East Side Gallery there was a break in the wall that revealed the wire supports inside the cement. The wall turned into a fence, which is the theme for my portion of the film.

I am very excited to have concluded on the central theme of my film. After filming and editing many pieces of my film in the past couple weeks I have realized that there was a constant theme of fences that I really liked to focus on. The film project is about Berlin and memory and fences hold these traits. Fences refer to memory because one can approach a fence and see beyond it, but cannot interact or change what is on the other side of the fence. A memory is an image that cannot be changed by human contact, the viewer is fenced out. Berlin is a city that was devastated during World War 2 and has been in a constant rebuilding process since. Fences can be seen almost everywhere in the city, mostly near construction sites. Fences are also devices used in Berlin to keep people out of monuments. Fences are strategically placed in front of many monuments that discourage any interaction between the viewer and the monument. Most of these fenced sites are Jewish places. The fear of Neo-Nazi resurgence has led to fences being established around many sites. These Jewish monuments and structures refer to the memory of German Jews. The fence again plays a vital roll on how to view memory through its steel structure. I hope that I can relay my ideas of fences in my movie so that the average viewer will be able to comprehend the many meanings of a fence in Berlin.

This week’s screening was entitled, “Me Boss, You Sneaker.” I really enjoyed this movie and thought that the fun spirited director/actor portrayed a serious story that touched on many social issues of German immigration. The class opened up with a quote “Everyday life in Germany is a Trans-national project.” This quote made me think of how Berlin has been a hub for many different nationalities of immigrants in recent years. This quote also made me reflect on how immigration has upset many Germans that have established lineage in Germany as displayed in the film. Though many Germans do not like immigration policies of Germany, the quote refers to migration into Germany as a “project.” To me this means that the issues of immigration is not near complete and it is a work in progress that may see additional people possibly become more lenient toward “Auslnders.”

Over thanksgiving break I traveled through Austria, venturing to Vienna, Salzburg and Mauthausen Concentration Camp. I can’t believe there are only 2 weeks left.