Field Report #1: Self-Determination by Iverson White

In summary, Self-Determination by Iverson White was about a woman contemplating the decision to keep drinking in her misery about her broken marriage or take a step to do something about it for the better. White’s use of editing and story-telling is one that I find quite similar to Charles Brunett’s Killer of Sheep. Both films resemble each other in editing but, I have to admit, their storytelling is a bit different. Self-Determination included a beginning and an ending that had the audience guessing, following a narrative form of storytelling whereas Killer of Sheep had no narrative, just a film following the lives of the working class in their daily activities with no big significance of the film as a whole like a narrative film would imply. They were the same as that both represented the film in sequence where it got the audience guessing the meaning with not much obvious indication of what the events were really all about. The editing was no different, jumping from scene to scene, keeping the audience either in awe or confusion in what was really going on.

Self-Determination started out with a woman crying in bed at night as her husband undressed, got in bed, and shifted on his side so that his back would be facing her back. This body language would signify that this couple is not getting along. It is confirmed when she turns around and touches his shoulder only to get rejected at that intimate touch by him pulling the blanket up to cover his upper body. As this scene cuts to her picking up her orange juice, it goes to a flash back of her memory at a bar, drinking away her lost hope on her marriage. This altogether makes a strong statement that the woman and her husband are at ends with each other with the coldness and distance. As with Killer of Sheep, where the husband and wife dance together to music in the room, and as the wife tries to get intimate, she is rejected with him lightly shoving her away and walking out of the room. The simple act of rejection makes a big statement in the movie. A simple body gesture helps move the film along of what is happening, the meaning of a scene, and an implication of an event or situation.

Both films succeed in saying little to direct the audience’s knowledge of what the film is supposed to mean but help indicate indirectly of what the film as a whole, is representing through editing, events that had occurred, and/or body language.
Self-Determination had little dialogue whereas Killer of Sheep had it in most every scene, but both were edited in a way that gave the audience the opportunity to discover for themselves what the film was trying to convey to viewers of what the film was really about.

Killer of Sheep was obviously about the black working class but there was no obvious indication to the audience that it was about that that Brunett was trying to represent. As well as Self-Determination sent no obvious indication that it was a woman struggling within herself about taking a step toward change or drinking in her despair. Both films helped represent their meaning or plot of the story through events that were edited not only to catch one important aspect that event would show within that time frame, but also to help carry on the life and actions of the character. In that respect, giving the audience to make their meaning out of the scenes.