Matthew
20-12-2002, 11:10 PM
Tuesday July 27th at A.F.T.R.S. in Melbourne.
by Andrew Brinsmead
Ray started off the evening with a (repeat) screening of the documentary Rats in the Ranks, before moving on into an extensive question & answer session where he outlined the history & process of creating Rats in the Ranks.
Firstly, Ray filled us in on the technical details of the post production of Rats in the Ranks: that the shoot took place over a year (not just the final two weeks shown in the doco); that 130,000 feet of film were shot during this time; and that Bob Connolly spent eight months cutting down the raw material to a four hour cut before Ray was brought in, after which Ray still spent another four months cutting on sprockets in Bob’s attic (an unusual situation when you think about it: editors being stuck away in dark confined spaces). Rats in the Ranks was the third time that Ray had worked with Bob Connolly & Robin Anderson, and by the time Ray was brought in, Bob had already found the story that was going to be told.
Originally, the project that developed into Rats in the Ranks began as an ethnographic study of Indians living in Fiji. Bob Connolly & Robin Anderson had received funding to make a film about the situation of ethnic Indians in Fiji in the mid 90’s (after Colonel Rambuka’s Coup), and they went there to start researching & filming. But after two months in Fiji, they felt that there wasn’t much of a story, so they came home to Sydney, and became involved in a dispute in their street in Leichardt - about whether or not a youth refuge should be placed in their local street.
Bob & Robin realised that they had a story here, and they started to make a film about the machinations of their local council of Leichardt, originally focussing on how the council would resolve this dispute. It wasn’t until after a year of filming that they developed the idea of presenting the council mayoral election as the focus of the story. Ultimately the doco is told from Larry Hand’s perspective, following him around his duties as incumbent mayor of Leichardt & then during his campaign for re-election.
Over the year of shooting, Bob & Robin got to know their “cast” extremely well, and both became almost clairvoyant in knowing who to shoot & mike during any particular exchange (although usually two cameras & sometimes three cameras were used to shoot the council meetings). You can see this in the way that the camera (and mike) pick up the responses of the characters involved during discussion; rarely is any subject off camera or off mike during their responses (although these instances may have been left on the cutting room floor). Through out the shot, Bob & Robin remained neutral, and their cast accepted their presence (and neutrality), which allowed Bob & Robin a perfect fly on the wall perspective of the events leading up to the mayoral election.
After they finished shooting, Bob spent eight months on his own, cutting down the material on four steenbecks in his attic, to make a four hour cut before Ray was brought in to fine tune Bob’s cut. By this stage, Bob had settled on what the story was about (the Mayoral election).
During the edit, many touches were added to develop the overall feel of the doco: originally there was wall to wall dialogue & narration (explaining how the council worked), but this narration was dropped when it was decided that the doco would focus on the mayoral election, which left a large gap in the sound track. So a number of pieces of classical music were added to enhance the mood & build story & atmosphere of the doco.
Once the final story was decided on (the race for the mayoral election), Bob & Ray realised that they had to go back & include various sequences to set up the characters for the climactic battle for the mayoral election, so they inserted several sequences to set up the characters of the people involved. Also, Bob & Ray realised that they were only showing one side of incumbent mayor, Larry Hand, in his race for re-election, and they felt that to do him justice, they should add some of their other footage showing him at work in order to humanise him. Bob & Robin had been present during his weekly meetings with the general public when anyone can come in & talk with him as mayor about any issues that relate to Leichardt, so Bob & Ray decided to include some of this footage to balance the view of Larry that the documentary presented - to show that he wasn’t just a political animal, he actually did try to do things for the people of Leichardt. The result of this is that Larry comes across as having a balance of social altruism & the necessary level of ego required to be a successful political beast.
One of the most important aspects of Rats in the Ranks was that it’s both parochial & yet touches on a universal theme - the race for power in politics, told on a local level that most people can relate to. It explores the basic universal nature of politics, although the French backers didn’t see it that way, and insisted on it being re-cut for the French release. In fact the French version is closer to the original intention of the documentary as it explains the mechanics of the political situation in Leichardt council. During the post production period, Bob Connolly was actually asked by the ABC to create another documentary outlining the machinations of the Leichardt council & it’s politics to be screened as a companion piece to “Rats in the Ranks” (in the week before), but Bob felt that he didn’t have the energy left to do so. Personally, I think this would have damaged the documentary integrity of “Rats in the Ranks” - it would have dissipated it’s narrative energy.
I found it interesting that Ray thinks of documentary as being a form of drama & he enjoys making people laugh through documentary. Ray spoke about the people involved as characters, which is an interesting point: the real people were transformed into narrative characters through their involvement in the documentary. I think this is an interesting recognition of the fact that this form of film & television which is supposedly reflecting reality, is still an edited artificial construct, which is generally created as a form of entertainment.
Bob & Robin don’t use clearances from any body who appears in their documentaries, as they feel that they treat all people fairly. It’s interesting to note that none of the people shown on screen saw the film until it was finished, and then they all saw it together & loved it (Ray noted that none of them felt offended by their portrayal).
The evening ended on a general wide ranging discussion about the future of assistant editors in post production, but I think we’ll hear more about this elsewhere.
Our thanks go to Ray for giving us his time to talk us through Rats in the Ranks, and also to A.F.T.R.S. & Alan Woodruff for supplying us with the space & helping to set up the evening & to Tim Lewis for lending the Betacm SP Deck to play the documentary. The evening was of course sponsored by A.A.V. / Digital Pictures.
by Andrew Brinsmead
Ray started off the evening with a (repeat) screening of the documentary Rats in the Ranks, before moving on into an extensive question & answer session where he outlined the history & process of creating Rats in the Ranks.
Firstly, Ray filled us in on the technical details of the post production of Rats in the Ranks: that the shoot took place over a year (not just the final two weeks shown in the doco); that 130,000 feet of film were shot during this time; and that Bob Connolly spent eight months cutting down the raw material to a four hour cut before Ray was brought in, after which Ray still spent another four months cutting on sprockets in Bob’s attic (an unusual situation when you think about it: editors being stuck away in dark confined spaces). Rats in the Ranks was the third time that Ray had worked with Bob Connolly & Robin Anderson, and by the time Ray was brought in, Bob had already found the story that was going to be told.
Originally, the project that developed into Rats in the Ranks began as an ethnographic study of Indians living in Fiji. Bob Connolly & Robin Anderson had received funding to make a film about the situation of ethnic Indians in Fiji in the mid 90’s (after Colonel Rambuka’s Coup), and they went there to start researching & filming. But after two months in Fiji, they felt that there wasn’t much of a story, so they came home to Sydney, and became involved in a dispute in their street in Leichardt - about whether or not a youth refuge should be placed in their local street.
Bob & Robin realised that they had a story here, and they started to make a film about the machinations of their local council of Leichardt, originally focussing on how the council would resolve this dispute. It wasn’t until after a year of filming that they developed the idea of presenting the council mayoral election as the focus of the story. Ultimately the doco is told from Larry Hand’s perspective, following him around his duties as incumbent mayor of Leichardt & then during his campaign for re-election.
Over the year of shooting, Bob & Robin got to know their “cast” extremely well, and both became almost clairvoyant in knowing who to shoot & mike during any particular exchange (although usually two cameras & sometimes three cameras were used to shoot the council meetings). You can see this in the way that the camera (and mike) pick up the responses of the characters involved during discussion; rarely is any subject off camera or off mike during their responses (although these instances may have been left on the cutting room floor). Through out the shot, Bob & Robin remained neutral, and their cast accepted their presence (and neutrality), which allowed Bob & Robin a perfect fly on the wall perspective of the events leading up to the mayoral election.
After they finished shooting, Bob spent eight months on his own, cutting down the material on four steenbecks in his attic, to make a four hour cut before Ray was brought in to fine tune Bob’s cut. By this stage, Bob had settled on what the story was about (the Mayoral election).
During the edit, many touches were added to develop the overall feel of the doco: originally there was wall to wall dialogue & narration (explaining how the council worked), but this narration was dropped when it was decided that the doco would focus on the mayoral election, which left a large gap in the sound track. So a number of pieces of classical music were added to enhance the mood & build story & atmosphere of the doco.
Once the final story was decided on (the race for the mayoral election), Bob & Ray realised that they had to go back & include various sequences to set up the characters for the climactic battle for the mayoral election, so they inserted several sequences to set up the characters of the people involved. Also, Bob & Ray realised that they were only showing one side of incumbent mayor, Larry Hand, in his race for re-election, and they felt that to do him justice, they should add some of their other footage showing him at work in order to humanise him. Bob & Robin had been present during his weekly meetings with the general public when anyone can come in & talk with him as mayor about any issues that relate to Leichardt, so Bob & Ray decided to include some of this footage to balance the view of Larry that the documentary presented - to show that he wasn’t just a political animal, he actually did try to do things for the people of Leichardt. The result of this is that Larry comes across as having a balance of social altruism & the necessary level of ego required to be a successful political beast.
One of the most important aspects of Rats in the Ranks was that it’s both parochial & yet touches on a universal theme - the race for power in politics, told on a local level that most people can relate to. It explores the basic universal nature of politics, although the French backers didn’t see it that way, and insisted on it being re-cut for the French release. In fact the French version is closer to the original intention of the documentary as it explains the mechanics of the political situation in Leichardt council. During the post production period, Bob Connolly was actually asked by the ABC to create another documentary outlining the machinations of the Leichardt council & it’s politics to be screened as a companion piece to “Rats in the Ranks” (in the week before), but Bob felt that he didn’t have the energy left to do so. Personally, I think this would have damaged the documentary integrity of “Rats in the Ranks” - it would have dissipated it’s narrative energy.
I found it interesting that Ray thinks of documentary as being a form of drama & he enjoys making people laugh through documentary. Ray spoke about the people involved as characters, which is an interesting point: the real people were transformed into narrative characters through their involvement in the documentary. I think this is an interesting recognition of the fact that this form of film & television which is supposedly reflecting reality, is still an edited artificial construct, which is generally created as a form of entertainment.
Bob & Robin don’t use clearances from any body who appears in their documentaries, as they feel that they treat all people fairly. It’s interesting to note that none of the people shown on screen saw the film until it was finished, and then they all saw it together & loved it (Ray noted that none of them felt offended by their portrayal).
The evening ended on a general wide ranging discussion about the future of assistant editors in post production, but I think we’ll hear more about this elsewhere.
Our thanks go to Ray for giving us his time to talk us through Rats in the Ranks, and also to A.F.T.R.S. & Alan Woodruff for supplying us with the space & helping to set up the evening & to Tim Lewis for lending the Betacm SP Deck to play the documentary. The evening was of course sponsored by A.A.V. / Digital Pictures.