Final Paper Proposal- Tarnation as the modern diary film

New Technology? HOT DAMN! : How Tarnation May Be Ushering In a New Era of the Diary Film.

In the first part of this course, we spent a great deal of time discussing technological developments in film making equipment and how it affected the technique of those shooting observational cinema. The lighter camera allowed for greater fluidity and freedom of motion; sync sound made it so the aural aspects of the film could be consistent with the visual representation. Jonathan Caouette’s “Tarnation” illustrates how current technological advancements in digital video editing software have revitalized the medium of the diary film. Assembled in the style of a Jonas Mekas film, “Tarnation”’s implementation of the iMovie software allowed Caouette to manipulate existing footage and create out of these found images his own personal aesthetic. (Calhoun) “Tarnation, however, belongs less to documentary than to a very different, entirely uncommercial tradition: it is the type of work that usually emerges from film's experimental fringes, or from video art, and that rarely sees any mainstream exposure.” (Romney) The technology employed by Caouette (and his decisions of inclusion/manipulation) may categorize his film as “other”—a new hybrid of cinema verite, video art and diary. “Caouette's style is a mixture of the rapid crosscutting and repetition found in Jonas Mekas's confessional early work, and the visual flashiness of Kenneth Anger's pop-culture saturated Fireworks and Scorpio Rising--films Caouette references in his voiceover narration--as well as Jack Smith's Flaming Creatures.” (Bronski)
The development process and critical regard for “Tarnation” is also worthy of investigation. The film steps out of the traditional genre construction of documentary through the capabilities of manipulation through the iMovie software. Caouette freely discusses, both in the film and off camera, how his disassociative personality disorder has affected the “organic process” through which the stylistic revolutions of “Tarnation” were developed. (Wilcha interview with Caouette) This “horse of a different color” approach, complimented by Caouette’s freedom to inexpensively create such a piece, marks a notable development in documentary film, and provides worthy fodder for discussion: is this the future of the medium, or simply a diversion?
Sources

Bronski, Michael. “Tarnation.”
Cineaste v. 30 no1 (Winter 2004) p. 38-40

Calhoun, John. “Tarnation Finds Beauty in Chaos.”
American Cinematographer v. 85 no11

Rich, B. Ruby, Tell It to the Camera.
Sight & Sound ns15 no4 (April 2005) p. 32-4

Romney, Jonathan. “The Use of Abuse.”
Modern Painters (March 2005) p. 26-9

Wilcha, Christopher. “Jonathan Caouette.”
Bomb no89 (Fall 2004) p. 30-4, 36-7