John Terry Video

A. Since the title of the film came first, I was trying to make connections between the story and the title. Thus, when the very first table top scene came up, it made sense. Table tops were also one of the main recurring subjects. However, it made more sense when John Terry explained that tripods are not allowed in Rome and so he needed to use table tops, stairs etc. instead. Dog is a recurring subject as well and many of his low camera angles suggested that he is a dog. When he zoomed into the girls’s skirts, I initially related it to how dogs sniff people and other’s butts to get to know them. I think the last scene with the woman gave us a glimpse of Terry’s funny side because when the video was already gone, there were still voices of the woman. This was funny

For example, he zoomed into the lower body parts and many times didn’t give us the whole image of the person. His reasoning was for us to fill in the gaps which made the film more interesting because showing us Rome for a whole hour without any story or without letting us think will be less engaging. It is also interesting that Terry only shows us the whole body of the people who we normally may look over or choose not to look at like the cleaners and the immigrants in Italy. In contrary, he only shows us parts of things we normally look at, like the wealthy and the normal people. Unlike other documentaries where we may see historical sites with voice over explaining its history, Table Top Photo-graphy or The Dog……in the Street is a really unique representation of Italy, because it showed us Terry’s experience in Italy. Overall, I feel like this documentary is not like other location documentaries because it didn’t really attract me to go there. It doesn’t work like a tourism commercial, but instead it brings me into the environment. The stereo and the tension or interaction between the camera (Terry) and the subjects in the film, made me feel like Terry was bringing/carrying the audience around