Red Mist by Emily Richardson used time lapse to create a mystical scene of stars passing overhead. I particularly liked the shots where the camera was shooting on it's side making new shapes and made me look at the scene anew. The sound was recreated and worked really well in accompanying footage at a different pace to the audio.
We then watched part of the film 'Continental Drift' by William Robson which was filmed in a travelogue style with long takes, and part of 'Worst Case Scenario' by John Smith. In a previous post I wrote about individual filmmakers' styles. John Smith films are a good example of this. Smith, who also made the film 'The Girl Chewing Gum' has a definite style playing with what, at first appears, to be relevant audio and image, only for it to be exposed as a set up by the end of the films. In Worst Case Scenario Smith uses still images, and different transitions and editing to show scenes and tell a (kind of) story. This is similar to the technique used by Chris Marker in the film La Jette and can prove to be very dramatic, thought provoking and emotional. By concentrating on a sequence of still images we take time to look at the contents of the image and build our own story around the pictures, probably more so than if we are presented with moving image footage which creates an environment and narrative for us. The possible exception to this being the long take which also allow the viewer time to study the image presented and create possible variations of what is being represented.
Still pictures were used in the animation 200,000 Fantoms by Jean-Gabriel Périot which in later scenes showed photographs of one specific building before, during and after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. It showed the various states of the building, the Hiroshima Centre for the World Expo, throughout a number of years in different photos but even though the photos are different sizes and ratios the pictures were shown on screen resized so that the building in each picture was presented the same size, then the photos were edited in sequence in such a way that the building remained in one place on the screen regardless of where the building was in the photo, ie, the building part of the photo acted as a pivet.
The following short article features on the website page: http://shortsbay.com/film/200000-fantomes
In 1914, the Czech architect Jan Letzel designed in the Japanese city of Hiroshima Center for the World Expo, which has turned into ruins after the atomic bombing in August 1945. “Atomic Dome” – all that remains of the destroyed palace of the exhibition – has become part of the Hiroshima memorial.
In 2007, French sculptor, painter and film director Jean-Gabriel Périot assembled this cinematic collage from hundreds of multi-format, color and black and white photographs of different years’ of “Genbaku Dome”.
Directed by Jean-Gabriel Périot / France / 2007
In the film 2 into 1 by Gillian Wearing we saw a technique whereby a mother was interviewed independently of her two sons and then the other party was asked to learn the interview answers that the other had given and lipsynch the answers, so that the boys were mouthing the words that the mother had said about them and vice versa. This created an unusual feeling to the viewer as it breaks the idea of them being interviewed privately from each other, and being frank in their appraisals of each other yet each party was obviously let in on the answers as they are asked to lipsynch them back. The result was funny to watch and seemed like a good way to introduce family therapy!
We also discussed breaking the fourth wall, whereby, a character from the film breaks from the imaginary premise of the film and acknowledges the audience of the film. Jean Luc Godard used this device in Two or Three Things (1966) and has become a quirky tool sometimes used in films. Another example would be the villain in horror films looking menacingly to the camera at the end of the film to show that the baddie hadn't been defeated and that threat still prevails (and usually indicating that a sequel is possible!).
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