Research Findings

In order to express my research findings, it is necessary to return to my initial questions:

1. What is the purpose behind the chosen angle?
2. What is the meaning of the mime? Is there a meaning at all?
3. Why does Gene Hackman’s character try to avoid the mime? Is it deeper than mere annoyance?
4. Why a San Francisco park?
5. What is the interference and does it have a meaning?

At he beginning of this blog I stated that:

I chose this clip against all the others because there seemed, at first glance, to be less meaning in the events in this video and I felt it would pose more of a challenge to me. There is in fact just as much meaning in this as in the others, and it’s this subtlety that convinced me to pick The Conversation as my subject.

I knew from the beginning that there were layers of meaning within the clip that had to be researched in order to find that meaning, and I was right.

To gain an understanding of my subject these questions would prove to be of critical importance to me not only to establish context socially and historically, but also to learn about the influences that helped make this film what it is and to find out more about Francis Ford Coppola.

To my mind my focus has been on the aspect of sound throughout this blog, how the sound plays an important part within the film and even the clip on its own. My research into Walter Murch revealed just how difficult the sound recording was for the film and the methods they used to get around it.[1]

It was this interview with Murch that enlightened me to five things: Touch of Evil by Orson Welles, Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse, Blow-Up by Michelangelo Anonioni, Watergate and Hal Lipset [2] – who were mentioned separately in the interview, but are actually related themselves. I discovered that the initial break-in at Watergate happened while the film was being made and that the script had actually been written in the late sixties [3] [4]. The inspiration for the film came largely from an article in Life magazine about Hal Lipset, a private detective who began his career in the 40’s. Lipset would serve as a technical consultant and possibly a model for Harry Caul. Lipset also served as a chief investigator to Sam Dash on the Senate Watergate Committee. Touch of Evil may very well have inspired the opening shot as they are both around three minutes long, are both single-shots and they both follow two different subjects at various points. Steppenwolf‘s main character Harry Hall served as the main inspiration for Caul in that they are both very private an reclusive and Blow-Up was a huge influence on the whole script; the narrative for both films are incredibly similar, the main difference being that Blow-Up deals with images and The Conversation deals with audio.

I also did some background research into the mime, Robert Shields, and discovered that Union Square – the park in which the opening is set – is where Shields used to perform when he was younger, that he was very famous, had his own television show as part of an act called Shields and Yarnell and when he graduated highschool he joined a circus act. [5] [6]

 

[1]: The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film by Michael Ondaatje, published in 2002 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (page 265)
[2]: The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film by Michael Ondaatje, published in 2002 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (page 152)
[3]: Francis Ford Coppola by Robert K. Johnson, published in 1977 by Twayne Publishers (page 130)
[4]: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/watergate/part1.html
[5]: http://www.steveakash.com/robertshields/robert.html
[6]: http://www.robertshields.com/robert.html