Marvel of Art

Art2010 Marvel of Art

Documentary Analysis Rubric

Spring 2021

Due in D2L (under assignments tab) by Friday April 16 at 11:30pm. Please upload as a word Doc or PDF.

Writing Assignment 2: Use this as a prompt to write a 2 page analysis of two documentaries from the list provided. Answer the 4 questions below for both films comparing and contrasting when possible. I will grade it based on the rubric below.

Questions to be answered about the two documentaries:

1. How is the audience made to feel about artist in the documentary?

(Are they glorified? Are they made to appear outside or ahead of society?)

2. How does the director/documentary accomplish these feelings (are there experts who are interviewed to give opinions? Is there lots of footage of the artist in daily life?)

3. How is the role of creativity viewed within the documentary? (Is it divine inspiration, individual genius, or are they reacting to larger events?)

4. Does it appear the artist is the focus of the film or is it more about the society/social forces of a time and place?

Rubric

Research (outside sources, evidence of research, properly siting the sources)
Use of specific examples from the film
Clearly analyzing the film and identifying the role of the artist within the society
Overall length/quality of the paper as related to the assignment.

Total points___________________________

NOTE: The list of documentaries below includes some new ones not on the original list

Documentary Films about visual artists and musicians.

1. River and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy working with Time, 2001, a documentary about Scottish natural material sculptor/photographer Andy Goldsworthy. Interviews and video of several of his recent projects.

2. Exit through the Gift Shop, 2010, A strange documentary about trying to locate the graffiti artist known as Banksy. The film covers several artists who are a part of world of graffiti culture.

3. Faces Places, 2017, Agnes Varda, one of the leading lights of France's honored French New Wave cinema era, and professional photographer and muralist, J.R., partake on a special art project. Together, they travel around France in a special box truck equipped as a portable photo booth and traveling printing facility as they take photographs of people around the country. With that inspiration, they also create special colossal mural pictures of individuals, communities and places they want to honor and celebrate. Winner of several film awards and nominated for an Oscar

4. Crumb, 1994, An intimate (and at times uncomfortable) documentary about the 1960’s cartoonist Robert Crumb. As creator of Zap Comics, Fritz the Cat, and Mr. Natural, this film follows Crumb around and interviews his family (who are as strange as they come). Directed by Terry Zigoff

5. Maria Abramovic, the Artist is Present, 2012, Documentary film about the Serbian performance artist, in connection with her 2012 art performance at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC, The Artist is Present

6. Tim’s Vermeer, 2013, Inventor and graphic artist Tim Jenison seeks to understand and recreate the painting techniques used by Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer*

7. Waste Land, 2010, On the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro is Jardim Gramacho, the world's largest landfill, where men and women sift through garbage for a living. Artist Vik Muniz produces portraits of the workers and learns about their lives. Nominated for an Oscar and winner of a number of film festival awards*

8. Finding Vivian Maier, 2013, While working on a history book in the winter of 2007, John Maloof, an avid flea market and auction attendee, purchases a box of negatives at an auction in hopes that he can find photographs for his project. He only knows that the photographs were taken by an unknown person named Vivian Maier. Although he does not find any photograph appropriate for his book, John does believe that the photographs have an artistic quality rivaling that of the most renowned photographers of the era. In whatever public forms he displays the photographs, he gets the same response to them from the general person on the street. In addition to eventually acquiring all the other boxes of negatives of Vivian's that were at the auction, John goes on a quest to find out as much as he can about Vivian to understand better the woman behind the camera and perhaps her motivations and/or the reason for the photographs themselves*

9. The Devil and Daniel Johnston, 2005, A documentary about the noted outsider musician Daniel Johnston and his fight with bipolar disorder. The film won the top award for the director at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. Daniel Johnston, manic-depressive genius singer/songwriter/artist is revealed in this portrait of madness, creativity and love.

10. Sky Ladder:The Art of Cai Guo-Qiang, 2016, Trace the rise of contemporary artist Cai Guo-Qiang from childhood in Mao's China to global art world superstar, and join his quest to realize his lifelong obsession: Sky Ladder. The artist’s main medium is fire and fireworks and his huge performance events will ignite your imagination

11. Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, 2012, A documentary that chronicles artist and activist Ai Weiwei as he prepares for a series of exhibitions and gets into an increasing number of clashes with the Chinese government. His rise in the international art world centers around his political/protest ideas and his ability to mount huge exhibitions. This film won a long list of awards and nominations from film festivals world wide

12. A day in the Life of Andy Warhol, 2015, Andy Warhol created some of the most instantly recognizable art of the 20th century. But perhaps his greatest work of art was himself - the cool, enigmatic pop art superstar. In this film, Stephen Smith sets out to discover the real Andy Warhol - in the hour-by-hour detail of his daily life

13. The Cardboard Bernini, 2012, A documentary about the making of a large series of sculptures made out of cardboard by artist James Grashow.

14. Lady Gaga Five Foot Two, 2017, About the life and activities of Lady Gaga. Shows her offstage life and struggles. Recently won an MTV award.

15. Searching for Sugar Man, 2012, Two South Africans set out to discover what happened to their unlikely musical hero, the mysterious 1970s rock n roller known as “Sugar man”. The musician released two albums in Detroit in the 1970’s that became very popular in South Africa without the musician knowing about it.

16. Marely, 2012, A documentary about the life and legacy of the reggae star Bob Marley. Interviews with family and friends and discussion of the singers past and beliefs.

17. Basquiat, Rage to Riches, 2017, Nearly 30 years after his death, this documentary film of Jean-Michel Basquiat details how the self-taught Brooklyn-born artist rose to be one of the greats on the international art marketplace.

18. Gerhard Richter-Painting, 2011, a documentary film starring Gerhard Richter, Norbert Arns, and Hubert Becker. A documentary on the German artist that includes glimpses at his studio, which has not been seen in decades.

19. Chef’s Table, Grant Achatz, (TV show 2015-), Discover the amazing story of one of the greatest innovators of cooking as an art, how he started experimenting with flavors, textures and aromas, and how he battled a disease that almost killed him

20. Louise Bourgeois: The Spider, the Mistress and the Tangerine, 2008, A documentary about the life and work of this important 20th century artist. She was in Paris in the 1930’s with the surrealists and has been living in NYC. She has made work which ranges small delicate prints to large monumental public sculptures.

21. Manufactured Landscapes, 2006, This movie is the striking documentary on the world and work of renowned artist Edward Burtynsky. Internationally acclaimed for his large-scale photographs of “manufactured landscapes”—quarries, recycling yards, factories, mines and dams—Burtynsky creates stunningly beautiful art from civilization’s materials and debris. The film follows him through China, as he shoots the evidence and effects of that country’s massive industrial revolution.

22. Alice Neel, 2007, The life and work of Alice Neel (1900-1984), American portrait painter. Part of the narration is chronological, part consists of interviews with friends, other artists, scholars, and family members. The film also includes footage of Neel, later in life, painting, talking, appearing on television, and giving lectures. Throughout, we see her paintings, bold, frank, and direct. After years of poverty and obscurity, fame comes as she nears 70.