Documentary Analysis

The poetic documentary had a theme of skating, with sub-themes of women's rights to skate, as well as war and peace. This is established through the locations used, shots and subtitled dialogue linking to the children skating in their home environment. The journalistic approach was taken by filmmakers to construct well thought out aesthetically pleasing shots, whilst displaying a topic (skating) which for children in Afghanistan is used as a way of being young despite the violence surrounding them, with the world at war in their home country. The particular grand scenery of buildings and landscapes explores the beauty of the country behind the doors of the war that the rest of the world see on the television. This reveals an insight into the culture of the people, particularly children who live in this area, and how there is beauty in every part of the world despite the bad. The use of still images to focus on the person in context being interviewed is effective because it creates an emotional connection between the child and the viewer through eye contact. This is a technique I wish to adapt and use in my documentary as I feel it makes the film more personal to the viewer, and explores the sensitive matter of war and peace, and their passion for skating in a wonderful way.

Evaluation

CPDR Evaluation

Bibliography

D'ospina, V (2014) weburbanist.com, Drawing and Digital, Page 1

Thomas, V (2014) Fables and Flora, Colours Lights and Blurred Lines, Image 3, Page 1

Ramsay, L (1997) Total Short Films, Short Films, Page 1

Bordwell D, Thompson, K (2010) Film Art: An Introduction, McGraw-Hill Higher Education

Experimental Film and Audio

Exploring Anxiety from Natalie on Vimeo.

6 Images & Draft Audio

Sound & Equipment List / Schedule

Sound List:

• A Walk Through The Train Station
• Running Water
• Piano Playing
• Church Bells Ringing
• Heavy Traffic
• Traffic Lights
• Trains Braking
• Trams Travelling At Speed
• Light Breathing
• Heavy Breathing
• Footsteps
• Passing Conversations

Equipment List & Strategy:

• Zoom H4N 
• Audio Technica
• Mac
• Pro Tools

Our strategy was to ensure we had written down on paper as many sounds as possible we thought we may need to use in our audio track. We then set an order for us to collect these sounds, walking around the city centre for a few hours, also opening ourselves to opportunity to collecting other sounds which may be useful. 

We have prepared ourselves and collected sounds very early on to ensure if we don't have enough to work with in post-production, we have time to go out and collect some more. 

Schedule:

• Train station recordings, including piano and running water from fountains outside 
• Footsteps in tunnel above the train station 
• Train braking and trams travelling at speed collected via the tram tracks
• Walking through the town then gather both breathing sounds, lots of conversations in passing, the heavy rush hour traffic, and traffic signal lights. 
• Finally finishing off collecting the church bells on the hour 

Analysis of Experimental Film

The abstract style of 'Telling Lies' showcases a playful mix of dialogue and text which connects well emotionally to the audience. This is executed through the films simplicity. I believe this to be an abstract film because it expresses art through comedic dialogue and slick editing, which can be appreciated by the reaction the audience gives as the film progresses. The creative choices regarding the font size and colour make the basic style more intriguing to view, and certain colours correspond to mood and volume of the dialogue expressed by different characters. 

The Bordwell and Thompson article on 'Experimental Film' states that filmmakers with in this genre 'challenge orthodox notions of what a movie  can show and how it can show it'. Rather than the mainstream rom com's on the market, this film decided to follow the typical romance-breakup narrative, only with text and phone call dialogue, relying solely on the audio and basic imagery presented to connect emotionally to its audience. I feel that this film was 'built to mathematical plan' and that the comedy was staged, however I do believe that because the filmmaker connected to the audience through tone of voice and vibrant text, thus meaning it is successful in doing what it was set out to do, and that is to entertain.