The screening was the most funny and interesting moment in this course. It is also one of the most important ones, as we as new filmmakers get the chance to see our work on the cinema screen, which can be quite a nerve wrecking presentation.
“Kaleidoscopic Views” Melissa Toh, Louise Chang, Hui Xiong and Ao Xu.
“Kaleidoscopic Views” opened up with a sentence saying ‘perception is subjective’. This way of thinking in colored letters was quite new for me and the creativity the producers used, managed to put a lot of colorful aspects of the documentary. The construction of enabling the documentary makers together with the characters, was good and it was interesting to see how this all together became a documentary. The choice of being part of the docu worked for this documentary and I think it is quite up to date with the use of technology that we have been taught in this course. Also, thinking about truth, relationship building and the choice of characters, was fascinating as it is representing something very unusual.
“Pip” Tom Farnan, Ryan Tan, Eliza Beveridge and Sher Wong.
This documentary started very strong with the soun disappearing introduction. The trick of making the audience sense the silence aspect of this docu, really persuades the audience into listening more to what is being said by pip. The framing and construction of Philippa was done well, not only because of the shots, but also because it varied with Pip’s own bits of footage. This demonstrates the producers’ narrative they were aiming to create, about Pip’s dream of becoming an actress. What strengthened this documentary was the use of audio and the choice of character. One can see how this group had to really step out of the comfort zone to create this portrait of Pip, through the establishing trust and relationship that is ongoing in the documentary. The last part of the documentary was quite strong, as it forced the audience to listen to what Philippa had to say. This phase of the documentary made it stand out, with its links to “Silent world”. I think the producers did a great job in selecting to do their documentary on ‘Pip’ and it was very interesting and fun to see the result of it after seeing the development of the docu in class.
“Oliver’s Girl” Flavia Browne, Tim Kennedy and Julian Dan.
This teenage mother documentary contained a very strong narrative about young girls pregnancy. The idea of creating a documentary about this shows how this group wanted to make something, and convey information about something that is really an important part of Melbourne’s social culture. It engaged with a broad set of audience (mothers, academics, students and people that has experienced the same) into a real life situation. What I missed in this documentary was more sound effects and more visuals. Having said that, a lot of the footage of Oliver backed it up and there were two camera angles with excellent sound that really stood out. One was when Oliver picked the flower up and I as an audience could clearly hear the young boy’s breathe being half fast, blocked with nose bears. The other angle was when the camera was still on the ground and Oliver stood up – this frame featured Oliver’s lower body but it had it all from an object, to lawn, sky blue, white flowers, and also a great depth of field that shows the neighborhood. This frame can tell more than the narrative of the teenage mum, this silent still neighborhood shot could feature the society and how much it is talked about in reality. It also links a bit to the guest lecture about conveying the truth. Having a kid by the age of 17 is known to be hard in itself, and the footage showed this through its construction. It also opened up the naïve perception amongst this, by relating it to a local Australian girl and the footages of her son.
“The Last Dance” Aloysius Teo, Kapila Selvadurai and Ivan Tay.
A dance documentary about Sean Brandt and rheumatism was a very deep and well-presented documentary. I think, that this docu strongest sides were the various clips of him being interviewed – it became a very dimensional documentary filled with visuals, very good sound and excellent construction. The filmmakers did well on the establishment of Sean Brandt and this is where sound, dance moves and the thought of the American Dream, seduced me as an audience. The selection of him talking about the disease together with dance and passion really incorporated the docu as a whole and it was a wise choice of not using any sound effects here. While watching this docu, when the Ministry of Sound music video of Sean Brandt danced his moonwalk appeared, this was absolutely marvelous inserted. I personally cant think of a better dance documentary – this one was really amazing.
“Game Theory” Ryan Gasparini, Eric Dittloff, Adam Tzinis and Nick Shomburgk
The Electronical Arts documentary featured a fascinating aspect of game theory through history and its industry. Growing up with Grand Theft Auto, Nintendo, Play Station, and now X-Box and Wii, this documentary did the contrary of what earlier filmmakers has done when presenting electronical arts – it showed the truth of it. The interview being based on the gaming theory and knowledge contributed to the truth of video games - its success is seen in how kids and adults uses this as a learning tool for knowledge. The documentary was balanced because of this as it also took the critique of video gaming into consideration. The shots here were great, good framings and good sounds. The one scene where a guy was interviewed and the screen in the background was showing persuasive words was funny! The footages of videogames and the close up of the iPad were interesting and well colorgraded. Further on it discussed the industry and the money involved in this mass medium. When the producers talked about video gaming as a business, the interactive play with the electronical arts creators, owners and players showed what gaming is all about – it is a part of the childhood essence. This play, even though some stakeholders uses this as a tool for marketing and sale, reminded the audience of earlier games (as the ‘back packer game’ and learning geographics, Sims and learning about finance) and developed the linkage of us as a players of this medium, actually contributes to the industry.
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