VLVL 24fps and "the Movement"

[jbor]

> They
> went looking for trouble, they found it, they filmed it, and then quickly
> got the record of their witness someplace safe. They particularly believed
> in the ability of close-ups to reveal and devastate. When power corrupts, it
> keeps a log of its progress, written into that most sensitive memory device,
> the human face. 

They interview people and believe that close-ups of their subjects' faces
will reveal who is corrupt and who isn't?

> Who could withstand the light? What viewer could believe in
> the war, the system, the countless lies about American freedom, looking into
> these mug shots of the bought and sold?" (194-5)

One of the obvious ironies in this series of rhetorical questions is that
Frenesi, *behind* the camera, is the one who has been bought and sold. And,
so, following on from that: well, no, you can't tell whether someone is
lying just from a close-up of their face.

These ironies are compounded in the footage of Frenesi and the Action News
Team interviewer which immediately follows, where Frenesi is "[a]ware at
each moment of the lens gathering in her own image" (195.30):
 
> "'But...doesn't that get dangerous?'
> 
> "'Mm, in the short run,' Frenesi guessed. 'But to see injustices and ignore
> them, as your news team has been ignoring the repression of farm workers
> here in this county who've been trying to organize--that's more "dangerous"
> in the long run, isn't it?'" (195)

But, yes, Frenesi alone among the members of 24fps, has inherited some of
the trade unionist sensibilities of her mother and grandparents. And that,
primarily, is the footage she takes, the legitimate "political commitment"
she brings to 24fps.

best