Hell and Back Again; latest film by Danfung Dennis
Those who attended Sheffield International Film Festival this year have been treated to an intensive, packed programme of workshops, masterclasses, sessions and screenings, but one piece of visual trickery stood out more than most. During a panel discussion of ‘cinematic journalism’, war photographer/filmmaker Danfung Dennis unveiled an innovation which could revolutionise not only war reportage, but the way we view and interact with cinema in the future. If innovation is schema plus variation, then the developments of Dennis’ company, Condition One, is a prime example of upgrading old technologies and creating something new.
Danfung described what led to the creation of ‘immersive journalism’ by first stating his frustration at the homogenous publishing of war imagery. “It was always the same few images doing the rounds, it got to the point you could guess which one it was going to be”. So he started to think about how he could generate the greatest impact from his work. Dennis developed a wide-angle lens that could encompass a human field of vision, about 210 degrees. When projected onto a flat screen, the image would be squeezed, but on a spherical surface the whole field of vision is revealed. The real innovation then, is the digital ‘sphere’ that appears in Condition One’s ipad app, which allows the viewer to physically lift the screen and select a part of the image wrapped around them. As the footage is from the front line of battle, as it is with their proto type ‘My Freedom or Death‘ filmed by Patrick Chauvel in Libya, the effects are exhilarating and a little terrifying.
Even from a few rows back in the session, watching the app in action was an impressive display of how the moving image could change the way we see storytelling in the digital age. Mobile tablet devices are expected to play a bigger part of internet consumption, with others on the panel expecting packaged app technology to take over from internet browsing and web sites. The numerous brands of tablets coming onto the market to rival the ipad, certainly suggests this may be the case in the near future.
But is ‘immersion journalism’ simply style over content? The novelty of being placed at the centre of extreme situations will no doubt turn heads (as well as screens) but is the viewer losing out on the context of the situation? The answer lies in the quality of the journalist/filmmaker to get in amongst the people and tell their story, for their part it’s back to work as usual. Condition One may also have to reassess the fundamentals of editing, as the cuts between shots were not only jarring, but disorientating to the viewer. Longer shots would be favourable.
In all, the immersive quality of Condition One’s innovation felt more ‘natural’ than the forced dimension of 3D. There are no ridiculous spectacles for a start, and 3D can never quite get away from the fact that the images are fabricated two angles forced together and flicked into our faces. Immersion journalism acts more like a window into the world, one we are privileged to feel safe behind.
