Vulture Magazine The Michaelmas Issue 2013 | Page 24

Samsara
Mark
Magidson;
producer,
co-editor,
and
co-writer
of
documentaries Samsara and predecessor Baraka recently spoke at a screening held
by the Oxford Documentary Society.

T

he uniqueness of Mark Magidson’s
filmmaking has truly galvanised the
documentary genre. Through technical
innovation, meticulous attention to detail
and inventive use of colour and composition in filming, he and Ron Fricke have
altered the definition of a documentary.
The sheer range of performance sequences, natural wonders and industrial complexes shot over twenty years and in over
fifty different countries is testament to the
scale of his inventive focus as a filmmaker.
Samsara is a Tibetan Sanskrit word meaning “birth, death and rebirth” or the spinning wheel of life. Magidson states that
this concept of impermanence directed
the research and imagery chosen for the
specific locations of the film. In footage
of Egypt, the pyramids are shown with
apartment buildings and satellite dishes.
The antiquities are framed in a modern
setting which has an incredibly powerful effect. In this age, anyone can access
images of the pyramids via Google – yet
we miss out on startling local detail such
as the proximity of the nearest McDonalds that come to the fore on film. Ron
Fricke's direction of the time-lapse technique allows the viewer to really feel as
though they are within the location.
Fricke designed the time-lapse camera
system used and a Panavision camera was
rented and shot at traditional frame rates,
enabling an ability to reveal “unfamiliar
views on familiar subject matter, and when
you move the camera it takes it to a whole
other level of sophistication and impact.”
Ron Fricke intended to make an IMAX
film and built a camera for this in the filming of Chronos in 1985. The aim for Baraka
in 1992 then, was to be a longer film. Yet,
both documentaries were filmed with only