Report

From the title of the film, we know that Connor’s Report is a report and, more specifically, the news report of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.  The film has a very unique structure in both its audio and video components.

The audio of Report is out of chronological order.  The film begins just moments before the president is shot with the news reporter describing President Kennedy’s car ride through the streets of Dallas, Texas.  Then Kennedy is shot, and the audio of the news report continues until Kennedy is officially pronounced dead.  Then there is a short moment of silence, a break in the audio.  The news report continues with the same reporter, only now, we hear the reporter narrating Kennedy’s visit from when the President initially arrives in Dallas.  The reporter describes the deboarding of Air Force I, the Secret Service’s preparations for Kennedy’s arrival, and the massive crowds that have gathered to greet the President.  The audio continues without interruption until the end of the film when the reporter is describing Kennedy’s car ride through Dallas—the very starting point of the film.

Unlike the audio that has one major shift, the video shifts, or changes, many times in Report.  Initially, the film begins with the corresponding footage of President Kennedy’s visit to the audio.  But when the reporter realizes that Kennedy has been shot, the film progresses into a series of jump cuts of the motorcade, and then eventually into the lengthy white screen with jumpy lines and no recognizable images.  When the President is officially announced dead, the video changes to an all black background.  When the audio changes, we see footage from a Spanish bullfighter, and then footage that corresponds with the audio of Kennedy’s arrival.

Connor uses this atypical format in both the audio and video to make a statement about Kennedy’s assassination.  I think the reason he puts the audio (and it’s corresponding video) out of chronological order is to allow his viewers to witness the death of the President, but then backtrack and analyze the irony of Kennedy’s assassination and learn that the Secret Service was on high alert that day.  Most viewers know that Kennedy was assassinated, but Connor’s Report and the way he structures the film give viewers the opportunity to learn more about the events that led up to Kennedy’s death.

The different shifts in the video’s all have implied meanings in and of themselves.  When the video is normal footage of Kennedy’s motorcade at the beginning, I think this symbolizes the normality of the situation before the initial gunshot.  Then the jump cuts lead me to believe that Connor is trying to display a state of confusion.  When the reporter learns that Kennedy’s car has been shot at, the video turns to the white screen with random interference.  This jarring video stays like this for quite a while, but in listening to the audio, the shift in video occurs as mass confusion and chaos breaks out.  The reporter asks listeners to stand by while he tries to gather more information.  The tone of the reporter’s voice becomes frantic and much louder.  All of these elements combined imply a state of mass chaos where no one, not even the reporter knows what has happened.  This chaos continues until Kennedy’s death is confirmed.  Then the reporter’s tone of voice turns somber, and the black background appears.  The implication of this seem to be one of finality—the confusion has ended and now the reporter and the rest of the world know that Kennedy is dead.  The images of the matador and the Spanish bullfighting ring, to me, seem to imply that Connor thinks that all of the Dallas spectators were like the rowdy Spanish spectators.  Instead of watching an innocent bull being killed, they were instead witnessing the slaughter of the President of the United States. 

"Charleston"

Film Art would look at this picture and try to analyze its different meanings including its referential meaning, its explicit meaning, its implicit meaning and, its symptomatic meaning.

Referential- A woman holding a baby stands against a wall.

Explicit- Since this is just a photograph, there doesn't seem to be any apparent explicit meaning.

Implicit Meaning- The black woman seems to be the child's caretaker. The way the woman and the child are interacting suggest that they are very familiar with one another. The two both seem to be looking at something, perhaps suggesting that the two are spectators.

Symptomatic Meaning- A black woman is holding a white baby, and by the title of the photograph, we can infer that this picture takes place in Charleston, South Carolina. The symptomatic meaning of this photograph has to do with race relations in the Deep South. One symptomatic meaning is that African Americans are stereotyped as employees of Caucasians, because the woman in the picture appears to be the child's caretaker. Another symptomatic meaning may be that ignorance knows no racism. From the subjects' clothing and the cars on the street, this picture seems to be from the 1950s or 1960s when racial tensions were very high. But this picture seems void of tension, as if to suggest that babies, in their state of innocence, are colorblind and don't know how to discriminate.

Practices of Looking would take a different approach to analyzing this photo. According to the book, photographic truth is a myth. "The creation of an image through a camera lens always involves some degree of subjective choice through selection, framing, and personalization." Instead of just analyzing the different meanings of the photograph, viewers should think about the perspective from which this picture was taken.

These subjects seem very carefully chosen-a white baby and a black woman. It also appears that there is no one else on the street, so perhaps this picture was staged and the photographer wanted to create this very scenario to share his thought on race relations in the South. The photograph is taken from the side and not head on. Perhaps this was done so to capture both the woman's and the baby's gazes. The framing suggests that the subjects are looking at something. Perhaps the photographer is suggesting that they are onlookers to the racial tensions in the South. They themselves are not displaying racism, but they are watching it all around them.