CRITICAL
OVERVIEW:
Philip Tyndall is a filmmaker who
is best known for his documentaries about artists, Someone
Looks At Something (1986, 18 mins) and Words
And Silk - The Real and Imaginary Worlds of Gerald Murnane (1989,
86 mins). These are both a reflection and an extension of his
long-held interest in documentation. Whether through his films
and videos, photographs, audiotapes, or his writing, Tyndall has
always aimed to record the event, the moment, and the feeling.
Of equal importance is his desire to carry out this documentation
with accuracy.
In his documentaries
about artists and their works, Tyndall throws the conventions
of documentary film-making out the window. Rather, he approaches
each artist and their art form with an open mind and seeks to
find a form or shape for the films, a form which most accurately
reflects the approach and style of the artist and his/her work.
Consequently, the look and shape of each film vary greatly.
This is a
difficult, uneasy approach for which Tyndall requires time - to
get to know the artist, and to study their work in depth - as
well as trust - in both the artist as subject, and in his own
ability to recreate accurately through the filmic medium, the
approach and style of his subject, irrespective of their art-form.
In his writings about his approach to making art documentaries,
Tyndall states that only when there is an empathy and understanding
with the artist and their approach can the filmmaker get to the
heart of that person's creative spirit. Above all else, his primary
intention is to capture that creative spirit and reflect it in
the form of the finished film. Further, he believes that documentaries
about artists, which do not capture that creative spirit, lack
any real depth, and therefore fail.
The documentary
films of Philip Tyndall are finely crafted works that reflect
not only the approach and ideas of his subjects, but also many
of his own concerns about documentary film-making. These include:
- the relationship
of the filmmaker with the subject, and ultimately with the
viewer; this is partially related to his approach of having
the subject speaking directly to camera, as opposed to the conventional
practice of never looking directly at the camera.
- the use
of "experts" and "witnesses" as interviewees,
particularly in documentaries about a living subject; he does
not believe the practice of interviewing "those in the
know" with their second-hand reminiscences and opinions
adds credibility or objectivity.
- the frame
or boundaries of the documentary; the importance of clearly
establishing in the viewer's mind the context in which the film
is set.
- the edited
versus unedited interview; this relates to his process of research,
the building of trust between filmmaker and subject, and the
subsequent preparation of interview material on paper with the
subject long before the cameras roll. Tyndall argues this practice
is more honest, more straightforward than presenting interview
footage which has been "chopped up" into some consumerable
shape for the viewer.
- the importance
and need for documentation; the "responsibility" of
documentarians to record people, places and events. He believes
there is an unstated, ongoing need to record and document people
(such as artists, the skilled, the aged or the story-tellers),
places (the ever-changing rural and urban landscapes, or the
interior spaces of homes and buildings) and events (public or
private, in the home or in the community) so that this knowledge
is not lost from the memory or the culture.
- the importance
of "accuracy" in the documentary as opposed to any
notions of capturing the "truth"; he does not believe
that documentary is about truth, nor that documentary filmmakers
can ever capture or reveal the truth. At best, documentary can
only ever be a window, a mirror or a screen.
Finally,
Tyndall is concerned that many of the craft elements which so
often define a directorial style in fiction film-making - cinematography,
lighting, editing, sound quality, music - are often seriously
lacking in the documentary form. While he acknowledges that historically
this has been partly due to the comparatively smaller budgets
accorded to non-fiction film-making, he also feels that documentary
filmmakers in general have not embraced the same aesthetic as
their fiction filmmaker counterparts.
Tyndall laments that there
are few documentary filmmakers whose work ever reaches the mass
audiences achieved through cinema distribution, and that consequently
few documentary filmmakers are able to make a reasonable living
from their work. He is however buoyed by the recent box-office
successes of the documentary films of Errol Morris, Wim Wenders
and Michael Moore.
FILMOGRAPHY:
247 (1983,
3 mins, Super 8)
The Rites
and Wrongs of Howard Wrightmann (1985, 31mins 30 secs, BVU
Video)
Just One
Of Those Things/Makin' Whoopee - Mr. Bum and Ms. Ruby (1985,
4 mins/3mins, U-matic Video)
Someone
Looks At Something (1986, 18 mins, 1" Video)
Words
And Silk: The Imaginary and Real Worlds of Gerald Murnane (1989,
86 mins, 16mm)
AWARDS
Words
And Silk: The Imaginary and Real Worlds of
Gerald Murnane (1989)
Gold Award,
Best Documentary, 1991 Worldfest - Houston International Film
Festival, USA
Best
Documentary, Artist Profile, 1991 San Francisco International
Film Festival, USA
Best
Documentary, 1990 St Kilda Film Festival, Australia
Someone
Looks At Something (1986)
Best
Documentary, 1987 Australian Video Festival
OTHER EVENTS
"The
Literature Club" - a performance by Gerald Murnane, Philip
Tyndall and Peter Tyndall, Experimenta Festival, Melbourne, November
1990
SELECT
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
"Novel
Time for Author" by Michael Epis, The Sun, 1 February
1989
"Film
Crew Traces Author's Life", The Bendigo Advertiser,
4 February 1989
"Words
And Silk in production", AFC News, Australian Film
Commission, No 72, May 1989
"Melbourne
Cup Special" by Paul Harris, Filmnews, Vol 19, No
10, October 1989
"Words
And Silk to Screen" by Jane Sullivan, Arts Briefs, The
Age, mid October 1989
"Words
And Silk: Film Review" by Neil Jillett, The Age, late
October 1989
"Words
And Silk: Film Review" by Keith Connolly, The Herald,
27 October 1989
"Images
of his childhood play in Murnane's work" by Katherine Teh,
The Age, 3 November 1989
"Words
And Silk: Film Review" by Michael Epis, Cinema Papers,
No 77, January 1990
"St
Kilda Film Festival - Words And Silk: Film Review" by Bill
Mousoulis, Melbourne Super 8 Film Group Newsletter, No
48, June 1990
"Bendigo
Inspires Plot for Success", The Bendigo Advertiser,
2 February 1991
"The
Glittering Prizes", The Sunday Age, 3 February 1991
"Words
And Silk: Film Review" by Brian Gordon, Golden Gate Awards
Winner, San Francisco International Film Festival, 1991
"Words
And Silk: Film Review", Gold Award Winner, Worldfest - Houston
International Film Festival, 1991
"Words
And Silk: Film Review", Vancouver International Film Festival,
1991
"Film
Man Honoured", Arts Briefs, The Age, 13 June 1991
"Reject
wins Gold Overseas" by Rosemary Neill, The Australian,
19 June 1991
"Houston
Likes Murnane", Encore, 21 June 1991
"Philip
Tyndall's Words And Silk" by Arthur Cantrill, Gerald Murnane,
and Philip Tyndall, Cantrills Filmnotes, No 65/66, October
1991
"Arts
Documentaries: The Challenge for Australia's Film, Television
and Arts Bodies", a paper by Philip Tyndall, Aust. Documentary
Conference, Canberra, Australia, 1991
"Documentary
has a Bendigo Connection" by Susan Bugg, The Bendigo Advertiser,
20 April 1992
"Words
And Silk: TV Extra Review" by Tom Gilling, The Sydney
Morning Herald, 25 April 1992
Radio
"The
Week In Film: A Review of Words And Silk" by Adrian Martin,
ABC Radio National, 26 August 1995
Images
©
David Petersen, Paul Wright and Philip Tyndall.
©
Philip Tyndall, May 2003
Contact
Philip Tyndall
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