Francis Bacon

If a History Channel documentary spawned a love child with blogger.com you would have the exact style that this documentary is framed in. Informational at all times while still keeping an abstract tone this biography of Francis Bacon both entertains the viewer while still educating them on the topic. While watching this documentary I cannot help but feel that I am reading a blog entry with every intrusion of a clip being the click of a hyper link. The clip being that of moving cars, animals, trains or even people wrestling. These clips seem to have almost nothing to do with the story that is being told but they do invoke a certain subconscious emotional response, for example, during the painting segment when clips of the hawk and cheetah where both thrown in to evoke an idea of urgency. At the sudden site of those predatorial animals it causes the viewer to become a bit startled which causes adrenalin to be released then causing the viewer to yearn for what comes next. From this point on the frame of the biography changes, we then see Francis Bacon enter the gallery to be interviewed. The interviewer however seems to focus more on what Bacon’s opinion on other artists are which is a bit of an odd twist considering the biography is about Bacon himself. While odd the interview flows smoothly and continues to frame the story well.



In this segment we see a lot less of the “random hyperlinked” segments of the program that we saw before in the first segment. However in this portion I took more notice to the lighting of the first interview. The shadowing that was just an effect from the projector really made me pay more attention to that of the actual slides because when they weren’t shown the screen was more subdued and softer, primarily using shades of black and blue. But when the projection was shown I had more to take at and look in, I even felt that I was listening harder and really soaking in what they where saying about that particular piece. During the seg-way to the next interview they cleverly made the door seem as if it where one of his paintings even though in a way it is. He said himself that he uses the space around him to create art and he must live in chaos to do so. He even said that it was an “abstract picture.” When Bacon stops discussing his work studio and why he likes to keep it chaotic during the time passage of 5:03-5:14 we hear the faint sounds of the forest playing. This I believe is used to evoke a pathos charged response from the viewer, we hear these calming soothing sounds that completely juxtapose the images that are being displayed, this could either be to calm to viewer or to possibly give the air of birth of creativity which is often associated with sounds of nature.



At this point I just realized that the large paintings of his that where displayed where purposefully superimposed into his workshop this was probably done to show the piece of work in its natural habitat. During this segment a photographer comes into the studio and seems to surprise Bacon and the interviewer with several snaps of his camera. This brilliantly segways into several photographs some of them in color but most in black and white, among the photographs pictured one is of Bacon, perhaps this is done to have the viewer correlate the artist as a piece of the art. Later during another montage the documenter begins correlating black and white photographs with their painted counterparts in most cases striking similarities arise. But the documentary doesn’t give us any time to actually examine the photograph that is shown. It only gives us a brief image to take in the shape of the subject because that is what Bacon uses when looking at these photographs not the subject but the shape.



During the beginning of this segment Bacon begins discussing blood and the “horror images” seen in his paintings and I noticed that in his actual interview in the café, whether or not this was on purpose there was a lot of red in the frame, in the back ground there where two red cars and a red van, in the foreground they where both drinking red wine, there was a reddish purple flower sitting in a vase on the table and even Bacons face is gaining more red tones (probably due to the wine he has been drinking.) During this interview the normal style of framing that the documentary has established up until this point has been changed again, the segways are no longer as smooth as they once were; they are simple black-outs then fade-ins. Even the handling of the camera has become jerkier this could be due to Bacon’s BAC though. At the end of that interview the scene suddenly changes to a drinking club that Bacon frequents and the many shots pictured are all of different areas around the bar but they all have deep rich tones of red or gold, the colors that Bacon himself seems to prefer.



In the beginning of this segment there are many shots of the bar goers but none are as pictured as much as the rather flamboyant man in the begging. This could be because of the many lines and shadows that seem to dance and play across his face. Or possibly because he is the most animated individual in the bar which is quite a feet considering he seems to be completely stationary during all of the shots he is pictured in. Among most of the chatter that we hear as the scene plays most of the only distinguishable noise comes from either him or Bacon. When the scene changes from the crowded and sociable bar scene to the more somber and subdued one on one discussion the color of the scene even subtly changes. Many of the rich vibrant colors such as the reds, brasses and golds leave and are replaced by more somber Greens, blacks and just a few golds. In addition to the lack of color in the interview, we see that the backgrounds of the paintings pictured are completely black. We then cut to shots from Bacon’s favorite casino which is rich with both life and vibrant color such as many rich greens, reds and golds. Then in the last few seconds of the segment an interview with Bacon starts up again, this is when we see a definite contrast with colors. The entire background is red except for the lamps which are a shade of gold, which has a routed color of red. But Bacon is dressed in a blue scarf and blue suit the complete and polar opposite of red.




In the beginning of this final segment the interviewer begins discussing with Bacon why he gambles and his opinions on that matter and as he answers they space out his responses with that of fast paced shuffling around the roulette table, which in turn creates a sort of sense of urgency or haste that is often associated with the fast paced world of gambling. I have already discussed the use of red within this scene earlier but I believe that it ties in with Bacon’s discussion of violence and animalistic urges within his paintings that people often see. Within this entire documentary Bacon’s main focus and what he enjoys talking about most is his use of shadow, shape and color. These methods are used through out the film in order to convey his particular school of thought and artistic style and they are very effective in making the audience think.