#32
Post
by MichaelB » Sat Jul 02, 2011 12:12 pm
I've just had an unexpectedly intriguing time writing the booklet note for The Farm and English Harvest.
I was asked if I could rewrite an existing piece on English Harvest so that it covered both that film and The Farm. I'd always assumed that The Farm was simply a longer cut of the film, so thought the job would take me a few minutes. But on examining both films back to back, it became clear that they're surprisingly different pieces of work, and they offer a mini-masterclass in how editing and commentary decisions can transform what is ostensibly the same raw footage.
If you initially watch both films a couple of years apart, as I did, you'd be under the impression that English Harvest was simply the second half of The Farm. But I didn't remember the commentary for English Harvest being quite so garrulous, and when I rewatched it I quickly realised that it was indeed completely different. The films were brief enough for me to be able to transcribe them in full, and while the second half of The Farm features around 700 words, English Harvest needs a mere 200 - and is rendered still more laconic by the fact that English Harvest has been extended with another couple of minutes of harvest footage.
Not surprisingly, this changes the entire tone of the film. The uncredited commentator in The Farm barely stops for a second, wallowing in flowery cliché and often toe-curlingly dreadful puns - in fact, there's been some speculation that Jennings had little involvement in this film, as it seems so alien to his usual sensibility. By contrast, English Harvest's A.G. Street (a renowned radio broadcaster on farming matters) mainly sticks to the facts, and often pauses for some considerable time, allowing Jennings's lyrical images to speak for themselves.
Incidentally, as a by-product of this, I discovered that the list I posted on the previous page was slightly inaccurate - it seems that Design for Spring is another title for Making Fashion, and they're treating The Birth of the Robot (1935) as a Jennings film, despite it technically being un film de Len Lye. But Jennings did work on it extensively, and I doubt anyone's going to complain about its inclusion.