Middle of Nowhere (2012, 92 min) Ava DuVernay Screening
Introduction:
The previously provided skeletal outline, and the following page may help you take notes. Feel free to download it and either use it as a reference, or as a page in your film notebook.
But first, here are some bits of information and a filmography garnered from wikipedia and imdb you might appreciate.
Middle of Nowhere (2012) Ava DuVerney's 2nd feature; she came to dramatic narrative through journalism, then documentary.
This in the Life (2008), a history on hip hop movement that flourished in Los Angeles in the 1990's.
I Will Follow (2010)
Middle of Nowhere (2012) won the Best Director Prize at the 2012 Sundance film festival, making her the first African-American woman to receive the award.
She is the first black female director to be nominated for a Golden Globe Award. She received the nomination for her film Selma (Links to an external site.) (2014).
She has stated, “Film school was a privilege I could not afford.”
A Wrinkle in Time (2018) - the first time an African-American woman was at the helm of a $100 million studio film.
Link to article on Director Ava
My discussion post:
Middle of Nowhere (Ava DuVernay, 2012) is a fiction film leaning on the side of realism. This could be a real-life event. It is shot on location in Los Angeles and it has an open ending.
The explicit meaning of the film is a couple who are separated due to the incarceration of the husband and the difficulties that occur for both of them during this time, mainly the wife. The implicit meaning is the extreme difficulty there is for a couple to become separated within a matter of minutes by police and the consequences of which create half a decade or more of incarceration and intense mental anguish for both the man and the wife. We see the film through the anguish of the wife's point of view.
The cinematic form in which the film is presented is primarily with the use of lighting and close up shots. There are other examples as well non-narrative patterns like parallel editing and jumping of time and space. I’ll focus on lighting and use of close-up shots in the film.
I remember in Juno when we started to hear things that were too loud or see things that were too close for her point of view, in the text they said, now we are in her head.
The lighting started out with dim lighting right away in the first prison visit. When Ruby would come home from a jail visit or work, her home was dim to darkly lit. It was also unusual that there weren’t a wider shots establishing the place where she lived. Instead she would walk around her apartment and we would hear voice narration and follow her along with close-up shots of her head. Then it made sense to me that we were in her head. Her mind was depressed and unclear. The voices were thoughts coming from her head.
One interesting play on the pattern of the use of dark lighting in the house was when she was walking around with the narration of her husband’s letter in her head. She gets to a window that surprisingly has some light filtering through, not too brightly, but brighter than the rest of the house. Just then she stalls, it gets to the part of the letter where he starts to make promises, as usual, I’ll take care of you; no shortcuts this time; I’m going to be better. After this passage, as if knowing in her subconscious that this is not going happen, she draws the curtains closed. The room ends up darker than it was before.
The use of dark or dim lighting continues up until the last quarter of the film when she sees the truth about her situation and gets clarity. At the end of the film, she is waiting for a new bus rotation at the morning bus stop. We have never seen her awake in the morning with the sun out. She talks about new beginnings in voice narration and then verbalizes (also a break in pattern) good morning to a fellow passenger with a big smile.
Student comment on my post:
Anacani Serrato
1:06pmSep 19 at 1:06pm
Ida,
I love how wonderfully you broke down the scene with low lighting and the narrative of Derek’s letter. I think it’s really important use of lighting to depict how she is feeling. Just a tad light coming in as she has tried to keep her composure and positivity keeping her hopeful through all of this and then shutting the blinds, shutting herself out, tired of the broken promises and ready to move on to the next day. Overall helping shape Ruby’s character.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this and explaining it.
Robert's Post:
Robert James
WednesdaySep 15 at 7:55pm
A few elements of form in the film Middle of Nowhere to point out are examples of lighting and camera shots. After mostly dark and shadowy shots when Ruby is not in the prison or work (which says a lot about her unsure state of mind outside those environments), we are blessed with a warm light across her when she rides to the end of the line of the bus to wait for Brian after they spent the night together. We are so pleased that Ruby has some happiness and the lighting reflects her mood. Another example is the chiaroscuro lighting (of a mix of light and shadow) is particularly poignant when Ruby is on the bus toward the end of the film as she is trying to decide her future. Brian has left in a huff (after learning that her husband is in prison and she can't decide what to do about her future) and she is about to tell Derek in prison that she is not going to wait for him to get out. We know she is at a turning point and this lighting speaks to her confusion and the difficult decisions she has to make.
As far as realism, there were several handheld shots that gave a feel of realism at the beginning of the film. Entering the prison, the women lined up outside the prison fence in the stark landscape but mostly the film was beautifully shot and setup in a classic narrative style. A couple examples of anti-realism were two times when Ruby was alone (in bed and on a street walking alone) and then suddenly Derek was there with her. We knew that was not real, but questioned it briefly and quickly assumed this was a wish or memory.
As far as themes, one thing that occurs to us is how trapped Ruby is in her circumstances with her imprisoned husband and her mother who is an emotional terrorist. A non-narrative aspect happens in one scene when the mother starts a fight when Ruby brings home food to watch an awards show and the mother starts to get confrontational (it never takes her long). Ruby stops eating and starts twirling her food. She becomes paralyzed and never looks at her mom. I think any viewer can identify with this scenario and we feel empathy for her in this moment. This is a repeated pattern that happens later at the birthday party when Ruby finally has enough abuse from the mother. That time no one was speaking (at a celebration) and the only sound we hear are the stark sounds of flatware on plates which feels very uncomfortable, as we know the two daughters are. They are afraid to say anything and get attacked, and we feel it.
My response to Robert's Post:
Collapse SubdiscussionIda Daroza
Ida Daroza
YesterdaySep 18 at 12:02am
Hello Robert,
Thank you for fleshing out that term chiaroscuro lighting for me in film, that I only knew of in painting. I like the way you described that in terms of the scene.
Yes, I agree about the repeating patterns with the mother. I hadn't zoned in on a specific detail and like how you discuss the details of the patterns of the motion and sounds.
The mother seemed like one of those drunk relatives during the holidays that spoils everything but she wasn't drunk; just cruel.
I thought of you when they had the short Fassbinder clip at the theater of Ali: Fear eats the soul. I hadn't thought about it before, but I wonder if some African-American people in film find him inspirational for having such a strong and wonderful character in a film from the 1970s.
His response to my post:
Robert James
10:59amSep 19 at 10:59am
Thanks Ida for your words and thoughts. I hadn't thought of the impact of the Fassbinder film but it sure is food for thought. What I do know about Fassbinder was that he was definitely a boundary pusher (as well as a cocaine addict and workaholic....and often didn't pay his actors as he snorted up those funds), but he was also keen to show life outside the norm and that topic of a mixed race couple and depiction for its time was certainly cutting edge.
Another student post I liked:
Mickey Chiu
ThursdaySep 16 at 8:28pm
Early in the movie, there is a dimly lit shot shown of Ruby sitting on the bus, presumably on her way home from visiting Derek. This shot was shown in the middle of Ruby's explanation to Derek about how she doesn't have time to see him because of the distance. I was able to empathize more with Ruby because the shot gave me a visual representation of how long the bus ride must be and how the journey negatively impacts Ruby's life, shown by the bus ride being taken home at night. The next shot shown during her conversation with Derek about not having enough time to visit him is a panning shot where Ruby is shown waiting in a seemingly endless line of inmate visitors. This shot also helps me empathize with Ruby's feeling of helplessness in regards to deciding whether it is doable to be visiting him while managing her personal life with family and work.
The film demonstrates realism in many ways. One frequently used method of realism is showing the transportation Ruby uses to get places instead of instantly transporting her to the next scene. This can be seen at the beginning of the movie when there are shots of her on the bus, in line to visit Derek, getting off the bus after visiting Derek, and also in scenes where Rose drops Ruby off at home. Another form of realism is shown later when Ruby visits Derek during their anniversary. Derek attempts to help Ruby feel at ease by transporting her mind to a pleasant time between her and Derek 6 years ago. While Derek is describing the imagery of the pleasant moment, the camera remains on Ruby and Derek in the prison instead of transporting the viewers to the past where we could take a glimpse at the memory. Realism is portrayed when the form and content keep us in the present moment of the characters and their emotions instead of changing the mediation to where we see their past selves.
An example of how form added depth and tone to the content is shown in the middle of the movie when Ruby attends Derek's parole hearing. At first, we can see Ruby happy to see Derek as he enters the room. We then see Ruby anxiously waiting for a positive outcome from the trial. The camera cuts from Ruby, Derek, Derek's lawyer, and one of the judges to provide mood changes as we listen to different sides defend or attack Derek's good inmate behavior. We then see Ruby's mood change from happy to sad and worrying as the hearing comes to a close. The camera shows a slow-motion Derek being escorted away which adds tensions and mystery to whether he will be released soon or not.
My response - just copying what he says basically:
Thank you Mickey for the wonderful example of 'how form added depth and tone to the content.' The camera cuts do show the story visually in the looks on the character's faces. I remember Derek grasping his head and looking down at the desk, knowing that his secret was now out and things would now change with his wife. In the camera cuts and the slow motion they let go of the narration in the film. We didn't hear Ruby crying, but the camera shifting back from Derek walking out the room and to someone holding Ruby, showed the grief. It was beautiful form.
My response to Anaconi:
Hi Anacani,
I almost wrote about that scene you described about the extreme long shot while Ruby is waiting on the side of the road. You read my post above (and thanks for the comment) where I mention that there are a lot of close up shots and external narration and we're in her head. She's in her head and not paying attention to the bigger picture.
I like this scene because it's one of the first extreme long shots but it starts up as a close up. First she twists her head from one side, to another looking confused and then the shot grows to a ELS where she is out of her head now and we also get to go outside her head and see her environment. She is really in the middle of nowhere literally and figuratively in her life.
Grade and comments from Anna: GRADE 10/10
Ida really excellent job and specifically your in depth analysis of lighting. Soon you will learn the official terminology, or maybe you have by now, of a low light situation - low key lighting, high contrast and/or chiaroscuro.
Thank you for your in depth responses as well!
And let me apologize for the tardy comments; I just didn't have much access to internet last week.
Anna Geyer , Sep 27 at 10:58am
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