We found out about a film competition while in class today in which we have to create a 2 minute film/animation on whatever subject is of most interest to us. As I haven't done much film work within the past I thought that I would have a go at creating a film to enter the competition.
To inspire us further, our class went to 'Pavilion Dance' where we watched a sequence of short films about different aspects of dance which in all created the series, "Forward Motion".
I found them very inspirational and creative as well as each one being unique in its own way. Here are a few of my thoughts to a few of the films that I felt have most inspired me:
Touched:
This was the first short film of the sequence in which was based on the movement of dance and how we interpret dance through our everyday movements.
It almost had that airiness to it like we had went straight back to 1950's photography and film. The likes of Robert frank and Bill Brandt's photography come to mind in particular with the American 1950's club and touchy, almost claustrophobic feel to it, as well as being fun and playful in context.
A still image from the short film "touched"
Robert Frank, (left) and Bill Brandt's, (right) photo's
However, even though I found the clip/ short film quite interesting and playful, after a while I found that it became too over repetitive as each character completed their sequence within the film a minimum of about 3 times. I also didn't really capture what was wanted out of the film as you didn't really know whether some of the couples were fighting or being passionate as you could only see parts of their bodies at one time, e.g. their hands or legs.
Line Dance:
I thought the simpleness of this film was very creative in how it was used throughout. It almost had that Jamaican feel to it, with the Jamaican music that the line figures were dancing to and the style of their dancing. I liked the way the line figures were harsh to start off with, with the bold and vibrant white lines on top of the dark black background, in which changed throughout the film into white dots which at first looked as though they were creating a pattern, but as the camera moved out we could then see the circles actually connecting to make up the lined figures.
Coming to the end of the film, the lined figures went into a colour palette of mainly yellows, reds, oranges and greens, Jamaican colours, absorbed once again by the linear figures.
I also thought that the using the same entrance and exit of the line figures was very inspiring as it shows that repetition can be effective when used sparsely unlike that of "Touched".
Motion control:
I have added a hyperlink to this film as this was one of my favourites out of the ones seen as I could relate to the eeriness that it created.
From the start, this film has you gripped and intrigued from the high contrast of the pavement and within the hotel/ flat staircase and the fact that there is a cat present brings the thought of darkness as a black cat is associated with bad luck and witches.
The minute the film takes you into the hotel room/ flat apartment, (at 30 seconds into the film), you get that sense of a Tim Burton animation with his eeriness, darkness and high contrasts of his settings and backgrounds. You can almost imagine Helena Bon-Carter playing the role of the woman on the bed with her wild quirkiness.
Both the woman and the camera are moving simultaneously but in different directions with the woman creating quite solid and bold moves as well as the odd fast and slow movement. The woman is grotesque with the clicking of her neck and leg as well as the wiping of her nose and teeth and last spit into the camera. Does the creator of this film want you to like her?
We then seem to soar into her mind, (at 2:38mins into film) in which brings us out into quite a pure, white room. Are we actually in her mind? With the slowly decreasing box and the fact that she has literally no room to move within it, is this showing us that she is trapped inside herself? Is this her actual self, quite pure, compared to her outer self.
She has now fallen, (at 5mins into the film), has she fallen into a trap? With the redness of her dress in which connects to a sign of danger, is she trapped? She's almost trying to escape from the devilish person she has become. The fact that her dress is stuck to the floor could mean that she is in actual fact trapped, is it a dream, a nightmare or her reality?
I could really relate to this film as Tim Burton is one of my all time favourite creators and directors as I just love his passion and what he brings to a film. You can always tell when Tim Burton has taken part in a film as he leaves that eeriness and darkness to it that you just can't help but fall in love with it, even though the characters are so deathly which brings that quirky and wackiness to them.
