Kristine Barclay I really liked the way this was all done, because it had a horror like feel. But because it was more like a documentary it was weird. It was hard to get through the whole 13 minutes.
Gwen Gardiner: Well that was an incredibly strange film. The music throughout the film was very creepy and gave it a very ominous feeling. The images were so sporadic and confusing that it made it very difficult to watch, especially to listen to the audio as well. I was very confused as to what was going on throughout most of the film, but I did have a continuous feeling that something very weird and probably not good was going on. All I can say is that must have taken forever to edit. I’m sure most of the images that were flashed on the screen were significant, especially the eyes that kept coming back, but most of the meaning was lost on me. I feel like this is one of those films you need to keep watching over and over again in order to catch everything that goes on, but since it left me with such a weird feeling I don’t really have any inclination to watch it again.
Josh Berry: Well... I'm slightly at a loss for words. This short film was quite interesting to say the least. I didn't really enjoy it. I tried to follow the concept the best that I could, but the immense level of strangeness was throwing me off. I even tried not to focus on the plot towards the middle of the film. I tried to focus more on the camera work, but that was also a challenge. I couldn't focus on the camera work due to the craziness of the film. The more that I watched it, the more pissed off I became that I couldn't fully understand it. I felt like I wasted thirteen minutes of my life.
Andy Barksdale: Yeah, that was definitely the least conventional film we've watched thus far and the hardest for me to really get a grasp on. I liked the black-and-white aesthetic and thought it added to the dream-like quality of the film, especially when it was paired with overlapping shots and dialogue that almost rendered it impossible to follow along with. Even though I'm not entirely sure that I understand what the "story" of the film was, I really appreciated its mood and unconventional editing. Maybe if I watched it a few more times, I would sort of understand it better. Or maybe not.
Jefferson Fabian: Overall, I THINK I enjoyed this but I'm not entirely sure. There are definitely aspects that I liked. I liked the b&w cinematography and I enjoyed how Maddin told his narrative. I didn't think it was hard to follow. The narration keeps you rooted in the story while the images seem to complement the words rather than simply depict them. I also like how ambitious and unique this is for a 13-minute film. The use of overlapping images to create ethereal, aurora-like pictures was interesting and yielded some genuinely otherworldly images (the double silhouette near the end comes to mind). However, I wasn't a big fan of the frenetic editing. For a film about uniting Canada over the airwaves through universal sound and images, this felt awfully claustrophobic. I would've preferred some shots longer than half a second to see what kind of lingering images Maddin can make with the techniques he's already using.
I liked the effects that were used at the beginning, all of the transitions with the footage of the guy. This looks like an editor's nightmare though because there are dozens of quick cuts and they are all throughout the film so there is never a dull moment, your eye is constantly being caught and so is your brain while it's trying to figure out what all is going on. I like the guy doing the VO mainly just because I like that Russian accent. As far as the story goes, it is hard to fully understand the complexity of the situation without having some background information on what this story is based on.
While I like the sporadic way it was shot and the perspective of a sort of fictional documentary, I was bored by it. The main character's voice was so monotone and it just droned on for 13 minutes. It didn't feel like it was working very hard to keep my attention. It felt a little like an old history channel special on acid. Very strange short film.
This film was very odd to say the least. Very confusing to our traditional American eyes. But even with that being said, I watched the first few minutes of this film without sound and it told the story of a strange scientist that had a million thoughts going back and forth in his mind. It was tough to follow, but as far as editing, they did a pretty good job of telling a story within a story by their shots. Also, the lighting was interesting and well executed because it was an important aspect of the black and white concept.
Kristine Barclay
ReplyDeleteI really liked the way this was all done, because it had a horror like feel. But because it was more like a documentary it was weird. It was hard to get through the whole 13 minutes.
Gwen Gardiner: Well that was an incredibly strange film. The music throughout the film was very creepy and gave it a very ominous feeling. The images were so sporadic and confusing that it made it very difficult to watch, especially to listen to the audio as well. I was very confused as to what was going on throughout most of the film, but I did have a continuous feeling that something very weird and probably not good was going on. All I can say is that must have taken forever to edit. I’m sure most of the images that were flashed on the screen were significant, especially the eyes that kept coming back, but most of the meaning was lost on me. I feel like this is one of those films you need to keep watching over and over again in order to catch everything that goes on, but since it left me with such a weird feeling I don’t really have any inclination to watch it again.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteJosh Berry:
ReplyDeleteWell... I'm slightly at a loss for words. This short film was quite interesting to say the least. I didn't really enjoy it. I tried to follow the concept the best that I could, but the immense level of strangeness was throwing me off. I even tried not to focus on the plot towards the middle of the film. I tried to focus more on the camera work, but that was also a challenge. I couldn't focus on the camera work due to the craziness of the film. The more that I watched it, the more pissed off I became that I couldn't fully understand it. I felt like I wasted thirteen minutes of my life.
Andy Barksdale:
ReplyDeleteYeah, that was definitely the least conventional film we've watched thus far and the hardest for me to really get a grasp on. I liked the black-and-white aesthetic and thought it added to the dream-like quality of the film, especially when it was paired with overlapping shots and dialogue that almost rendered it impossible to follow along with. Even though I'm not entirely sure that I understand what the "story" of the film was, I really appreciated its mood and unconventional editing. Maybe if I watched it a few more times, I would sort of understand it better. Or maybe not.
Jefferson Fabian:
ReplyDeleteOverall, I THINK I enjoyed this but I'm not entirely sure. There are definitely aspects that I liked. I liked the b&w cinematography and I enjoyed how Maddin told his narrative. I didn't think it was hard to follow. The narration keeps you rooted in the story while the images seem to complement the words rather than simply depict them. I also like how ambitious and unique this is for a 13-minute film. The use of overlapping images to create ethereal, aurora-like pictures was interesting and yielded some genuinely otherworldly images (the double silhouette near the end comes to mind).
However, I wasn't a big fan of the frenetic editing. For a film about uniting Canada over the airwaves through universal sound and images, this felt awfully claustrophobic. I would've preferred some shots longer than half a second to see what kind of lingering images Maddin can make with the techniques he's already using.
I liked the effects that were used at the beginning, all of the transitions with the footage of the guy. This looks like an editor's nightmare though because there are dozens of quick cuts and they are all throughout the film so there is never a dull moment, your eye is constantly being caught and so is your brain while it's trying to figure out what all is going on. I like the guy doing the VO mainly just because I like that Russian accent. As far as the story goes, it is hard to fully understand the complexity of the situation without having some background information on what this story is based on.
ReplyDeleteWhile I like the sporadic way it was shot and the perspective of a sort of fictional documentary, I was bored by it. The main character's voice was so monotone and it just droned on for 13 minutes. It didn't feel like it was working very hard to keep my attention. It felt a little like an old history channel special on acid. Very strange short film.
ReplyDeleteDenorrise Posey:
ReplyDeleteThis film was very odd to say the least. Very confusing to our traditional American eyes. But even with that being said, I watched the first few minutes of this film without sound and it told the story of a strange scientist that had a million thoughts going back and forth in his mind. It was tough to follow, but as far as editing, they did a pretty good job of telling a story within a story by their shots. Also, the lighting was interesting and well executed because it was an important aspect of the black and white concept.