- 1996/97
- dogfilm for ZDF/ARTE Thematic Evening
- DV/ Betacam SP
- length: 3.5 hours
dogfilm was asked to suggest a theme night by the department ZDF (Das kleine Fernsehspiel)/ ARTE. We came up with the idea to confront the culturally ambitious programme of ARTE with a television genre, that raises the viewing figures on all the other channels.
The theme night "Soap" enabled us to approach the "phenomenon soap" from different perspectives: in documentary or fiction, politically and private, playfully and analytically. For the whole programme a structure was developed, that included formal aspects, the episodic moment, the breaks and a special layout. Reality and fiction were supposed to mix intentionally and not by accident.
For a long time the soap audience was considered as a passive mass, easy to manipulate, in danger of addiction and uncritical. More recent studies however claim that the personal involvement can lead to a positive, critical interaction between script author and audience. However, the mixing between TV reality and something, that was just called "real life" not long ago means much more than writing a letter to "Dr. Wussow" in the "Black Forest Hospital". The methods to close this gap between two types of reality for a while are much more subtle and basically they are used by everyone: viewers, but also actors, script authors, directors and maybe production drivers.
Each TV series incorporates it’s own world, we follow the ups and downs of a family, a neighbourhood, a group of friends or a hospital. Within these worlds however we get familiar with lifestyles and ideology, aimed at the target group. In the U.S. we find beside the serials for white upper-class-kids the black sitcom, which shows life in Harlem as a picturesque exotic scenery in the middle of New York. In Kazakhstan a soap opera is being produced by British development specialists to support the start into a capitalistic economy. Especially conservative politicians have recognized long ago the potential of a soap opera to stabilize the sytem. A soap opera which shows that our values are the right ones and our moral is not out-dated.
Up to now there are just a few serials which follow the opposite idea, which make us worry or eben disturb the comfortable relaxation in front of the TV.
That "the real", "the authentic" reality also can’t exist without arrangements, drama structures, is a consense these days. The Super-8-material shot by a Berlin family can be intensified into a soap opera, situated between the garden colony and the family party.
Soap Around the World
- 1996/97
- dogfilm for ZDF/ARTE Thematic Eveneing
- DV/ Betacam SP
- length: 120 minutes
"Soap Around The World" is a journey through parallel worlds of everyday life which are spanned around the globe day after day, week after week. It examines the circumstances under which tv-serials are being produced and perceived. Beyond that it poses the question of political and societal effectiveness of such "designs of reality". From Hollywood, where the promise to show the US-Serials distributed all over the world neither can nor will be kept. Via Kazahkstan, where a soap opera is trying to help market economy to get accepted, being itself a product of effective market economy. The journey finally leads to Nigeria, where a sitcom using means of satire questions the whole political and social system.
"Soap Around The World/Archive": Harvey Elentuck presenting P & G"; length: 11:20 m
Soapfan and collector Harvey Elentuck from New York learned how to read through watching the American soap operas from Procter & Gamble. Today he is playing his very own interpretations of such famous title songs of "The Guiding Light" and "Search for Tomorrow" on his home organ. A compilation of exquisite archive material out of soap`s history and a personal meeting with Harvey Elentuck.
"Soap Around The World/Part 1: Berlin - Los Angeles"; length: 22:26 m
Five fans of the trendy serials "Beverly Hills 90210" and "Melrose Place" searching for their dreamworlds in Hollywood. An odyssey from the house of tv-serial godfather Aaron Spelling, via Malibu Beach and Melrose Avenue. Finally straight out of Hollywood the long yearned for interview with Darren Star, the author of "Beverly Hills 90210" and "Melrose Place".
"Soap Around The World/Part 2: Los Angeles - New York - Tijuana"; length: 15:30 m
Die Barragans, eine mexikanisch-amerikanische Familie aus Los Angeles, führen weiter in den Schoß der großen Familie der mexikanischen Telenovela. In einem Strudel aus Leidenschaft, Drama und Intrigen erscheint Pedro Font, Vizepräsident des mexikanischen Medienkonzerns Televisa und prophezeit eine globale Zukunft der Gefühle. In Tijuana verschwimmen die Grenzen zwischen mexikanischer Realität und "Maria aus dem Slum".
"Soap Around The World/Archive: Coronation Street"; length: 05:09 m
"Coronation Street" - a fictional working-class estate somewhere in Northern England. Since 1961 not only the British are following the destinies of the working-class community which members are neither rich nor beautiful as are most of their counterparts in American soap opera.
"Soap Around The World/Part 3: Alma Ata - London"; length: 23:02 m
From London the trail leads to Alma-Ata in Kazahkstan. The "Know How Fund" of the British Ministery of Foreign Affairs finances the first Kazakhian soap opera, which helps to get the idea of market economy accepted within the population of Kazakhstan. British bankers meet with Russian film artists in the Kazakh Film Studios, where already Sergej Eisenstein shot "Iwan the Terrible".
"Soap Around The World/Part 4: Cologne - Munich"; length: 12:10 m
Since 12 years German reality is being edited and commented in the "Lindenstreet". Author and producer Hans W. Geissendörfer discusses with himself the political possibilities of a tv-serial, the wear and tear of topics and the utopia behind the "Lindenstreet". The empty settings of the "Lindenstreet" become a ghost train of Germans everyday life.
"Soap Around The World/Archive: Ken Saro Wiwa"; length: 05:11 m
Ken Saro-Wiwa - A Struggle Against The Nigerian Military Dictatorship and the Oil Company Shell. A compilation out of archive material of the Nigerian resistance movement and an interview with Ken Wiwa, the son of the late Ken Saro-Wiwa, a civil rights activist who was convicted to death and executed by the Nigerian military dictatorship.
"Soap Around The World/Part 5: Berlin - Lagos - Port Harcourt"; length: 16:22 m
For four years the sitcom "Basi & Company", written and produced by Ken Saro-Wiwa was a weekly event in Nigeria. Ken Wiwa explains the meaning of Mr. Basi for thousands of Nigerians who left the social security of their villages to fight for daily survival in the city of Lagos. In Berlin three Nigerians reflect on the sitcom in which satirical humour reveals the political situation in Nigeria.
For a video of this production, please send your enquiry to dog@dogfilm.de.
My Life Is A Soap Opera
- 1996/97
- dogfilm for ZDF/ARTE Thematic Evening
- DV/ Betacam SP
- length: 35 m
Three women are being portrayed whose lifes are determined by the phenomenon of "Soap Opera" in totally different ways. Carola is beaming herself straight out of Sachsen directly into her favourite serial "Dallas" or just talks with "Roseanne". Ewa who looks like Pamela Anderson would love to play Laura Palmer in "Twin Peaks". Melodie takes on both roles as a psychoanalyst and as an actress and analyses the dramatic production, the craving for the "high" and the drama we put into our lifes ourselves. Each of these three women lives in her own personal universe where sometimes reality bumps into their serial parallel world and contours start to blur. Each portray has its own formal touch to pay tribute to the different individual universes of the three women.
CAROLA
Carola Möbius from Kiebethal in Sachsen watches up to fifteen tv-serials a day. In this parallel world contrasting her own everyday life she is not becoming a pitiful couch potato but develops many of her different personalities, whether in "Dallas" or as fan and potential co-activist of the american fat white bitch "Roseanne".
EWA
Ewa works for a Berlin agency as a Pamela Anderson look-alike. Her biggest dream is to free herself of the double identity and to go to Hollywood to play Laura Palmer from "Twin Peaks". After a short moment of glamour her appearance in a red swimsuit in a discotheque becomes a nightmare.
MELODIE
Melodie Somers as an actress and a psychoanalyst talks in different roles about the phenomenon "Soap Opera". The everyday production of ones own life as a serial drama. The figure of an actress being "high" on a succession of excellent play and then the crash of reality.
For a video of this production, please send your enquiry to dog@dogfilm.de.