I like the real industry and real human nature reflected in this documentary.

The core of the documentary is authenticity. The documentary presents the audience with the whole model industry chain of the most real model industry from the perspectives of headhunter Abe (Ashley Arbaugh) and the discovered little girl Nadia (Nadja). From the perspective of moving mirrors, lighting and illustrations of past videotapes, the viewer can experience a strong sense of realism.

In terms of specific types, this film belongs to the observation documentary (Observational Documentary), observation documentary appeared in the 1960s, its technical basis is the emergence of portable cameras and tape cameras, giving creators a lot of space. The documentary gave up narration and gave up acting, and the documentary director and team became the "flies on the wall" (fly on the wall). In this impetuous age, perhaps only by observing everything around us so quietly and thinking calmly, can we see the truth. In recent years, there have been many documentaries of this type in China, such as Duan Jinchuan's "16 Baguannan Street", Kang Jianning's "Yin and Yang" and so on. This kind of documentary is longer than the real world expression, because give up the explanation, the subtitle, the image expression is very easy to flow into the long and dull. The film's solution to this problem is to provide viewers with two perspectives-the main line is the experience of the discovered little girl Nadia (Nadja), interspersed with memories of headhunter Abe (Ashley Arbaugh) when he first entered the modeling industry. Back in the documentary, Abe (Ashley Arbaugh) travels through Siberia, New York and the world as a headhunter, looking for younger models who are young and fit the market. These models are believed to have different qualities from mature models-young, eager to be independent, eager to work, malleable, easy to develop-in other words, easy to manipulate. The market is also increasingly biased towards bony beauties and young models, and the younger the better seems to be the benchmark for the industry, with the film mentioning that girls who intend to enter the modeling industry should even be ready by the age of 5-10. At the end of the film, it is also mentioned that these new models often do not make money for economic companies, and Nadia (Nadja) has returned to his hometown, which is the real modeling industry. The agency offers opportunities, ethereal and precious opportunities for little girls like Nadia (Nadja). Ethereal-in this model industry chain, there are only a handful of new models who are "famous" after all, and for girls like Nadia (Nadja), who are "not lucky enough to be famous," it may be a lucky ending to be back home. In the film, headhunter (Ashley Arbaugh) also implied that many bad companies can mislead girls into using their bodies to make quick money, and even go astray because they are too young to resist the temptation of material desires and die early as a "bad example" for brokerage firms to educate new models in the film.

Abnormal aesthetics and capital have spawned a deformed industry, as Ashley Sabine (Ashley Sabin), a producer of the film, said: "We hope that some organizations, such as the Model Alliance (Models Alliance), will develop a set of industry standards after watching our film." He has publicly praised several of the group's top executives who are committed to winning better working conditions for models, adding, "at least after reading it, it can lead to a lack of transparency in the industry."
-----
我喜欢这部纪录片所反映的真实的行业与真实的人性。
纪录片的核心是真实,这部纪录片分别从猎头艾博(Ashley Arbaugh)和被发掘的小女孩儿纳蒂亚(Nadja)两个视角给观众呈现最真实的模特行业中的整个模特产业链,从运镜、采光以及对过往录像带的插叙都能让观者体会到浓浓的写实意味。
从具体类型来说,本片属于观察型纪录片(Observational Documentary)
观察型纪录片出现于 20 世纪 60 年代,其技术基础在于便携式摄影机和磁带摄像机的出现,给了创作者们巨大的空间。这种纪录片放弃解说,放弃扮演,纪录片导演和团队成了“墙壁上的苍蝇”(fly on the wall)。在当今这个浮躁的时代,也许只有这样不动声色地观察周围的一切,冷静思考,我们才有可能看到真相。近年来中国也出现很多这种类型的纪录片,如段锦川的《八廓南街 16 号》、康健宁的《阴阳》等。
这种纪录片长于现实世界的表达,由于放弃了解说、字幕,影像的表达很容易流于冗长而沉闷。本片解决这个问题的办法是提供给观者两种视角—— 主线是被发掘的小女孩儿纳蒂亚(Nadja)的经历,中间大量穿插了猎头艾博(Ashley Arbaugh)在自己初入模特行业时的各类回忆影像。
回到纪录片的内容,艾博(Ashley Arbaugh)作为经纪公司的猎头,遍历西伯利亚、纽约乃至全世界,寻找美好年轻而符合 “市场” 的低龄模特,这些模特据信有着不同于成熟模特的特质 —— 她们年轻、渴望独立、渴望工作、可塑性强、易于培养 —— 换言之,也易于操控摆布。市场也越来越偏向于骨感美女和年轻的模特,越年轻越好似乎成了行业的标杆,片中提及意图进入模特行业的女孩儿甚至应该在 5-10 岁就做好准备。片尾也提及对于经济公司来说这些新人模特往往是不挣钱的,纳蒂亚(Nadja)也回到了自己的家乡,这就是真实的模特行业。经纪公司给纳蒂亚(Nadja)这样的小女孩儿们提供的是机会,飘渺而宝贵的机会。飘渺 —— 在这个模特产业链里,能够 “扬名立万” 的新人模特终究只是极少数,对于纳蒂亚(Nadja)这样 “不够幸运没能扬名立万” 的女孩儿来说,能够回到家乡也许是很幸运的结局了。猎头艾博(Ashley Arbaugh)在片中也隐晦地暗示了很多不良公司会误导女孩儿让她们利用自己的身体赚快钱,甚至由于过于年轻抵挡不住物欲的诱惑而走上歧途早早夭亡成为片中经纪公司教育新人模特的 “反面教材”。
畸形的审美和资本催生了畸形的行业,正如影片的一位制片人,阿什利・萨宾(Ashley Sabin)说:“我们希望一些组织,比如模特联盟(Models Alliance)看过我们的影片后,能制定出一套行业标准”。对于该组织几位致力于为模特赢取更好的工作条件的高层,他曾多次公开表达过赞许,他接着说,“至少看了之后,能引起他们对这个行业缺乏透明度的探讨。”


想做模特的女孩Girl Model(2012)

上映日期:2012-02-10(爱尔兰)片长:78分钟

主演:Ashley Arbaugh Rachel Blais Tigran Khachatrian Nadya Vall 

导演:David Redmon / Ashley Sabin /