I also viewed some more short films, as I see myself becoming a filmmaker I will begin with shorts before I attempt any bigger projects. I made another visit to staff pick section and vimeo to see what I could find and came across these titles: Knife Point, Beyond Nature Iceland Timelapse, Outlines and Brighton
Knife Point was kind like a religious, murder (crime) film. For starters, the way the audience is painting an image of the first main character introduced. A guy with a stack of knives putting them away as the radio presenter of the radio discusses a murder, first question is he the murderer? This assumption lead me to believe that he would kill someone visually. When he sets out to go meet his father and ends up in that cafe with the girl playing the arcade game, I thought she was likely to be the next victim. That was the expectation I was building. The portrayal of the travelling family is a bit creepy as well, as the father slowly shows he is extreme believer of his religion and slowly tries to more forward about other people who don't believe in his religion "America is at war". Another commonly used convention of an insane character is the taking of medication. Normally to portray characters that are either ill or have nothing to lose medication is used. In works such as Memento and Shutter Island, the main characters are either given or taken medication as a sign that they are ill and are later exposed to the audience as characters that are not of the right-minded civilian. The relationship between the daughter and hitchhiker create an interesting turn in the narrative, which cannot been seen till the end. Had the plot not followed in the pattern it did, the hitchhiker would likely be dead. The possibility of the father finding out about the affair the hitchhiker was having with his daughter could of invoked another stem of reactions as well. Some I would expect to be similar to the marine father in American Beauty. The cinematography impressed with the bright and colourful grading used after the daughter and hitchhiker's confession, there is a relation between the temperature of the shot and daughter's emotion as can be seen in previous shots where she tries to seclude herself and be silent, a lot of dark and dull colours are used in shots. Overall the film does a good job on building tension in the narrative, utilises conventions from other genres and uses sound to emphasise moments i.e the gunshot.
Beyond Nature Iceland Timelapse works on stunning the viewer with amazing visuals. It furthers the narrative of the film to lead the viewer to believe this is the journey the filmmaker makes. Whether or not that is true is based on the viewer's ideas of what makes a film. The appeal of this film comes from the hope that the viewer enjoys landscapes and open spaces as much the filmmaker does. The music chosen is definitely an incentive to lift the viewer and immersed into the world of what we can call the eye of the filmmaker, whether or not this is successful is based on once again the hope that viewer can enjoys landscapes. Arguably we would not expect music to play randomly in the background as we cross from one plain to another. The apparent change in time is something we can also note, as the filmmaker makes no attempt to hide the fact that the speed of time within in the film is not connected to or anywhere near real time, however this makes the art work even more abstract as it forces the viewer to indulge on the visuals shown without choice of thinking. The editing follows the rhythm of the music, which makes the film even more adventurous for the viewer. The expectancy of change can be anticipated with careful ears. Overall a beautiful piece of work, only a vampire would object (A great use of the timelapse technique).
Outlines is a promotional and inspirational piece, it follows a particular base jumper in a short documentary format and provides a bit of insight into who he is and what his life is about, base jumping. The filmmaker has made a clear consideration for the English speaking audiences as he has supplied English subtitles to go with the movie, however with these kind of decisions, normally an option for subtitles is provided. For viewers that can already understand the dialogue, this could seem as a disturbance or nuisance. As we follow the base jumper, he speaks about some of the troubles he has in his life and the decision he has had to make, which provides the inspiration behind the movie. The viewer is stunned with extreme jumps and movements made by the base jumper, what was very interesting is how other extreme sports such as skiing featured in the piece as well. Where the man has given a bit of information about extreme sports a short montage of extreme sports are shown. Overall this film would appeal to people ranging from the smallest to moderate interest in base jumping and possibly extreme sports and to people who are interested in the lives of another person, however the likeliness of this appealing to people who want are into the common feature film of today is minimal.
Brighton was interesting as the centre subject of the film was to do with someone, better to say with a couple, however it featured no dialogue. The narrative of the film ran on the visual captions the audience needed to follow in order to understand. This already demands the eye of the viewer to really pay attention to what is happening on-screen. The sound is possibly neglected or of bad quality, which is why the filmmaker has chosen this structure for the film, in the end it makes a successful attempt in carrying the plot of the film. The film is about a couple that moved to Pennsylvania and begin a farm, this follows the documentary format as we follow the factual subjects, or leads the viewer to believe the information presented is factual. With the captions of time and shots used. This was another inspirational film or the feeling of inspiration was an intended feeling for the audience. The montage where boyfriend beats cancer will bring a tear drop to any dragon, instantly any viewer would feel bad once they realise another person has caught cancer, regardless of which kind. The message to beat cancer is apparent and the feeling of inspiration is once again invoked by the ending sequence and the credit sequence. In the ending sequence the couple get married and live happily ever after, in the credit sequence the couple just hold each other as the credits appear. Overall a film that appeal to the majority as love and relationships are scenarios everybody can relate, promotes the message of people beating whatever life throws at them and intentionally makes viewers pay more attention to the screen. With this technique, however it does mean the sound is given a lesser role in production with a music that plays all the through. Arguably the music supports the message behind the film, which can combat the argument of sound being the lesser in this film.
Links:
Mirabella-Davis, C. (2013) Knife Point - http://vimeo.com/channels/staffpicks/74499750
Aprilgarden Film. (2013) BEYOND NATURE Iceland Timelapse - http://vimeo.com/channels/staffpicks/75736121
Goransson, P. (2013) Outlines - http://vimeo.com/channels/staffpicks/75721711
Zagar, J. (2013) Brighton - http://vimeo.com/channels/staffpicks/75962134
I may watch the old batman tonight
Ty
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