Film Matters: Please tell us about your article that is being published in Film Matters.
Jake Martin Graves: The paper, “‘We’re Just Cinema Thugs,’” explores how the controversial documentary The Act of Killing portrayed the Indonesian Massacre of 1965-6, where millions were killed in response to an alleged failed coup. In order to explore this, the thesis explores the history and politics surrounding that era, as well as analyzing the production process and the editing of the film itself.
In Indonesia, many of the perpetrators from the 1960s remain in positions of authority and are celebrated as heroes. In the documentary, director Joshua Oppenheimer asks perpetrators to reenact their killings in the form of their favorite Hollywood genres. This paper explores the killer’s infantilization with cinema and how it can be viewed as their coping mechanism for their atrocities. For me, exploring this thesis combined my interests in documentary, editing, and political history.
FM: What research and/or methodologies do you incorporate in your article?
JMG: My main method involved conducting qualitative interviews with academically based documentary filmmakers, whose work focuses on ideas surrounding memory, politics, and history. I interviewed Michael Chanan, lecturer at Roehampton University, and Reina-Marie Loader, lecturer at Vienna University. This, combined with background readings on the works by Andre Vltchek and Gilles Deleuze, provided my thesis with a strong platform to analyze the film from both a political and a filmmaking perspective.
FM: Describe the original context for/when writing this article while an undergraduate student.
JMG: This paper was adapted from my graduation dissertation while studying Film at Falmouth University a couple of years ago. During my studies, I was interested in the portrayals of social or historical issues, and how the use of editing in particular can completely change the interpretation of an event. In 2014, Falmouth University hosted a series of talks called the World Documentary Conference, where directors came from various countries and screened their latest films. This inspired me to focus on documentaries in both my studies and in my career after university. I decided that I would use my dissertation as a tool to focus on the ethics surrounding documentary production – and also partly to demonstrate my interest to employers when I would try and get a job after graduating.
FM: How has your department and/or institution supported your work in film and media?
JMG: The Film and TV Department at Falmouth University advocates that academic research fuels best filmmaking practice. There are lecturers and technicians that are specialized in various areas of academic study and the technical side of film production, which, when combined together, give the students an informed education. During my studies, I took up opportunities for placements at TV production companies and film festivals, and lined up placements in features after my studies completed – all of this made my career after university possible.
Outside of academic support, the technician team at Falmouth is a collective of anything worth knowing about cameras, codecs, postprodution, and everything in between. Students can receive training in any technical aspect of film or TV production. Their training has been very valuable and I use the skills that they taught me on a daily basis at work.
Having graduated almost two years ago now, it is great seeing how Falmouth’s Film Department continues to grow as students there continue to work on exciting projects, both in filmmaking and in academic study. Also, since I started the course back in 2013, the department branched out with a dedicated TV degree and a master’s course and I hear good things about them from students still there.
FM: How have your faculty mentors fostered your advancement as a film scholar?
JMG: There are many techniques or ideas that I have taken from my studies that I continue to use both at work and with my own projects. During my studies, my mentors Mark Douglas and Julie Ripley, taught me a lot about framing and building an argument, which has proven valuable in not just my writing, but also when structuring a film or documentary. When students decided on their thesis, they would be paired with an academic lecturer with the most experience in that subject. Mark and Julie inspired not just my academic study but also my focus, in my filmmaking and career, on social issues that surround us. Drawing from this, after graduating I directed a short film in the Calais “Jungle” migrant camp leading up to its eviction in 2016. I would not have made the project, or later got a job at BBC Studios, without the encouragement from lecturers and friends around me during university; but they all made it possible. The film has recently been screened at the Imperial War Museum as part of their War and Conflict series, where it was able to highlight the social issues in Calais.
On the Road to Relief (2016) poster
FM: How has the Film Matters editorial and publication process impacted the development/evolution of your article?
The call for papers at Film Matters was an opportunity to condense and refine my original dissertation. People often say, when editing a film, that if you can capture a story or a point in less time it will usually be more concise and better, and academic writing is no different. This publication meant I had to condense my 10,000-word thesis to just around 3,000, a challenge that taught me a lot about what my faculty mentors called “economy of expression.”
FM: What audience do you hope to reach with your Film Matters article and/or what impact do you hope it has on the field of film studies?
JMG: While at film school, some students can overlook the academic and essay writing side of a course. I just wanted to say that the academic study could be the main inspiration of a new film idea. I often say to people, focusing your final year dissertation on an area that’s related to your career ambitions can be very useful as it’s an opportunity to specialize – I often talk about this paper (or my dissertation) in job interviews as it’s been a helpful way of demonstrating my interest in documentary production.
Now is a great time for anyone to be inspired by new documentaries that are coming out on both TV and features, as well as by the output by students and indie filmmakers.
FM: What are your future plans?
JMG: I am currently working in postproduction at BBC Studios, working on factual and documentaries, as well as the Natural History Unit, and would like to see where this takes me. I do miss developing documentaries and in the future would like to work toward production, focusing on the social issues around us.
Author Biography
Jake Martin Graves is a documentary filmmaker interested in portraying human rights, and currently works in postproduction at BBC Studios in factual. Jake’s film On the Road to Relief (2016) explored humanitarian issues in the Calais “Jungle” refugee camp, and was recently screened at the Imperial War Museum. He would like to thank Michael Chanan, Reina-Marie Loader, as well as his university faculty mentors, Mark Douglas and Julie Ripley, for their support in this research paper.
