Dan Chung, we don’t believe in flame throwers
Written by duckrabbitYesterday duckrabbit pointed out the success of a rather brilliant advertisement for the military might of the Chinese Communist party by Dan Chung.
Chung has been in touch to let duckrabbit know that as a typical Westerner I’m totally out of touch.
His response (in bold) is worth considering. He’s annoyed by my claim that the video has no context. duckrabbit readers can decide for themselves. This is the text that accompanies the video:
The parade in Tiananmen Square to mark the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China – as seen in timelapse and slow-motion.Slow motion shot on a 7D at 720p/60 Time lapses on Canon Eos5DmkII and Nikon D700. Edited on Final Cut Pro
For more details on how this was shot head over to dslrnewsshooter.com For more on China from the Guardian go to guardian.co.uk/china
Maybe the context is on Chung’s blog, right? At the very least a nod to the students who died in the same square in which Chung’s camerawork beautifies the machinery of war that murdered them? Nope,
That said on his site Chung has many other videos that tell a different story. It is a fair argument that those who seek them out (and we encourage you to do so because its great work) will find balance. The main platform for his work is the Guardian website and again you will find balance there.
would you have cared one jot if it only had ten views?
All journalists should care about work that could be used as propaganda passed off as journalism.
Journalism is sometimes about righting wrongs and at other times just about showing an live event as it happens and letting people make their own minds up.
I agree with the statement but Chung has employed the visual language of advertising and film, not journalism. Can anyone name me a serious strand of journalism that involves removing all natural sounds, all commentary, the use of visually distorting lenses and a emotive music track layered over the top?
On top of that if a report on a live event or story from China needs full context in the video itself, when any similar event in the West does not, then frankly you are imposing a huge double standard. I don’t see the need to explain former British war atrocities in a news report covering the Trooping the colour or the cenotaph wreath laying.
The comparison would be offensive if it wasn’t so daft. We lay a wreath to remember all those who died fighting in the second world war. It’s an act of remembrance, not a celebration. The distinction between the two should be obvious.
The parade in China celebrated the history of the Communist Party rule, featuring over 140 weapons of war, in all their sparkling glory.
In fact did you really criticise the BBC’s coverage of the opening of the Olympics games in Beijing for not mentioning the cultural revolution or political prisioners?
The games were not a celebration of sixty years of a party responsible for murdering over 50 million people.
To suggest that the 2 million mostly Chinese viewers who watched this video had no idea of the context or the past history of the Communist party or indeed the current political climate in which they live, then I think you are deluded.
duckrabbit would be if he’d suggested that, but he didn’t.
Then again its not as if the Chinese dictatorship have been censoring the media, or blocking websites in the past like the BBC Chinese language website?
Chinese are very aware of the past and most still have great pride in their country and events like this and the Olympics. It seems you have a very strange and perhaps outdated view of China, not uncommon in the West, but inaccurate none the less.
Perhaps the red mist got in the way of Chung’s ability to read the original post but duckrabbit gave no views on the people of China, or the country.
Off the back of that, and in the interest of balance its worth noting that Chung is NOT an apologist for the Communist party of China, he’s a talented multimedia producer/photographer and many duckrabbit readers will enjoy his blog. He has covered stories on human rights abuses in China and elsewhere:
5DmkII video – Re-enacting the making of Mao’s China from Dan Chung on Vimeo.
Author — duckrabbit
duckrabbit is a production company formed by radio producer/journalist Benjamin Chesterton and photographer David White. We specialize in digital storytelling.
Discussion (5 Comments)
Is Duckrabbit raining on the parade, again!? Everyone knows that the best way to reflect, learn and get on with life is with a little patriotic display in conjunction with the very latest consumer goods and technology. Or in the words of our very own president right after nothing less than 9/11– “go shopping!”
Duckrabbit, looks like you are turning into a better spindoctor than balanced journalist. Hmm, lets see, selective quoting, no attempt to look at other evidence when presented – just LOOK BACK at the original repsonse if you are in any doubt. No mention in this post of why I can’t stick all my content on Vimeo. I would AGAIN encourage you to look at the link I’m happy to send you, just email me – I can’t post it as I don’t own the rights – Reuters do.
Then there’s denial of the bleeding obvious – since when do the words “For more on China from the Guardian go to guardian.co.uk/china” equal no context, this is the web world of linking last time I checked. The dslrnewsshooter.com blog is clearly a technical one in case you hadn’t noticed – its about gear and technique, but that seems to be lost on you too.
Likewise I said in the post “Like Trooping the colour or the Cenotaph wreath laying”, but in your post you only refer to the latter, sloppy. Trooping the colour IS a celebration of the British military and the monarch as head of state http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trooping_the_Colour
Oh and on the opening of the Olympics games in Beijing – hey its not like every civil rights group was trying to use the event as a publicise the human rights record of the Chinese communist party right? far more so than for this anniversary which saw global leaders congratulating China on its 60th birthday. And its not like there had been a complete series by us and coverage all over the place for the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre already this year.
On a more substantial point you suggest that journalism should use a different visual language to film and advertising, have you been living under a rock??? so photographers and multimedia journalists should always take straight pictures eh? and its not like a tilt shift picture ever won a World Press Photo or anything right?? go rail against that with such vigour if you like.
Oh and you never saw a reel from an event without nat sound from a big event on TV news or in a doc? give me a break. Also time lapses and slo motion don’t exactly come with nat sound, or had you never noticed that either.
I do think you are barking up completely the wrong tree here, so I’m the bad guy who ignores all the human rights stuff? It’s not like I was nominated for and Amnesty award for work in China last year hey? http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=17765
And its not like I didn’t get bother from the Chinese authorities covering human rights protests during the Olympics http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/gallery/2008/aug/13/olympics2008?picture=336523644
I did think that Duckrabbit represented good journalism which is why I used to visit here, but after this outburst I can’t say I would recommend your outfit to anyone now, especially for journalism training given the standard demonstrated here in your rant.
If you have any further complaints I suggest you contact the Guardian readers editor as I’m off on holiday now.
Dan
Thanks for that Dan, you raise some interesting points.
Can you name any journalist or editor who doesn’t select quotes? In ten years working on documentaries at the BBC I never worked with one. It’s editorial decision making, exactly what you do when your picture editor picks a picture over another one.
Can you also think of any defense of journalistic practise that relies on a link to a different website to provide context? Can you imagine trying to get that past the BBC editorial complaints unit, or the press complaints unit? Oh yes, we had balance but it was on another website that we put a link to. Personally I think that it would be an absurd defense.
Of course you are right journalism does use techniques that can be found in film and advertising and visa versa. We often feature them here, and I agree with you that journalists should not be confined to taking straight pictures, however I can think of no example of a hard news event that has been presented using a tilt lens, that has gone on to win a World Press award? Nor, as I stated, can I think of a serious strand of journalism that involves removing all natural sounds, all commentary, the use of visually distorting lenses and a emotive music track layered over the top? Maybe that’s where you want to take journalism at times. Its an interesting departure and you should be praised for pushing the boundaries, but if so we should debate it. Remember the issue was the lack of context, which David White explained much better in his comment.
Congratulations on winning an Amnesty International award, which I’m sure was well deserved. I have a 50 meter swimming badge, but it doesn’t mean that I can’t drown.
So by the same token, should all coverage of Bastille Day (which involves a military parade) also go into detail about the Reign of Terror? Was Monet’s painting just propaganda for the hegemony of the Ile de France over the more hetereogeneous populations that make up the country called France?
http://www.mimifroufrou.com/scentedsalamander/images/Monet_La%20rue%20Montorgueil.jpg
btw – that was directed at Duckrabbit, not Dan Chung.