There is definite time, development, and structure parameters in both of the films window water baby moving and talk to me although different in scope and vision both were executed perfectly in their own private genres. first in window water baby moving the structure is that of a birth film moving (although not from point a to point b) from time spent together as a couple prior to the birth of their daughter, it then moves to the preparations of the doctor to deliver the baby, next is the birth including the couple reactions, and the afterbirth (pun intended). even though brakhage brings us eventually from a to d he goes back and forth to develop a rhthym to this film (which he is best known for) time in window water baby moving seems to stand still in that natural birth progression seems captured in brakhage's moment forever and he has nothing but time on his side (luckily for his wife it did progress normally) camera movements are fluid, hypnotic, and slowmotion at parts. and the color he achieved through film stock and natural lighting is beautiful. scenes develop in brakhages mind which he shows us sometimes over and over knowingly pausing the process of birth to allow us as an audience to really allow these images to sink in. structure for window water baby moving is a lot like most of brakhage's films, which has a main outline but this story teller finds his own path to tell the tale
The film talk to me uses a soundtrack to guide the audience and filmmaker to create its time, development, and structure. first off what a brilliant idea to save all of your messages to document your own life. they sell cameras today that a person wears around their neck and takes hundreds even thousands of pictures a day to document your life. i actually had a similar idea but used a microcassette recorder instead and raced home to see what i had. that's another blog though. the fact that the filmmaker had the forethought to save all of these tapes and correlate his life through picture patterns is genius and goes to show you that you don't need alot to tell a story well. time is paced according to the message lengths and relation to subjects/characters in this nonfiction piece. the audience is held by what actually is going to come on next on the answering machine. and this story development is what keeps us (the audience) glued to our seats. what a fun life this man had and can really reach out and help identify other people to remember and reflect on their own lives (up to the point when they see this movie. structure is very loose and the photos drift according to the story line only the decorated answering machine gives you a clue as to what the next segment holds, i think that their were also audio clues as well to help bring the viewer further into this story. one of the best docs i've seen in a while glad to have seen it - jm