The Illustrated Auschwitz

Last week in cinema studies I was able to experience an Australian student film called ‘The Illustrated Auschwitz.” The film itself is a documentary, how ever it differs from other holocaust documentaries as rather using facts and figures, it shows obscure images (such as short clips from the ‘Wizard of Oz’) to the story of a holocaust survivor Zsuzsi Weinstock.

At first the images, may present themselves as odd, or lead you to believe they might subtract from the seriousness of the story. However it’s the combination of Weinstocks emotional story and images that hint at whats going on that forces the viewer to imagine whats happening. Like mentioned in this weeks reading, “to kill a man between panels is to condemn him to a thousands deaths” you can’t help but imagine the worst.

For example a scene that really affected me was the use of found footage (‘Wizard of Oz’) in combination with the story being told. The film marker uses the line; “There’s no place like home” and trims it to say “There’s no place,” as Weinstock speaks about knowing that she would return the ruins. She then goes on to say about seeing the Wizard of Oz and thinking to herself, that maybe she to would be able to return home and everyone would be there waiting for her and that it was a hope she kept with her for her entire journey home. The last spoken words of the film is again from the Wizard of Oz and it’s Dorothy saying “I don’t ever want to go home”. For me this only made me think of a young girl afraid that when she finally arrives the hope she carried with her would finally die out.

Like the reading suggests the imagination is a powerful thing, and is taken advantage of by many creative mediums. Through this course I think it’s important to recognise when to add less so that the audience can experience more.

View The Illustrated Auschwitz here

 

Blood in the Gutter

Some thoughts on the reading this week:

In an English class a teacher talks about ambiguity it’s the first time I’ve ever heard the word. He explains the ending of ‘Blade Runner’ as ambiguous, and praises it. He dismisses the ending of the Lord of The Rings, telling us, it leaves nothing up to the imagination. At first I shrugged the comment off, like maybe he really didn’t like ‘Lord of The Rings’ but after a while it started to make sense. Ambiguity when used properly is a great story telling technique. I learnt that in year ten english, however it never occurred to me until this weeks reading that comics implore a similar ambiguity between the panels.

During the week, while reading comics I’ve become painfully aware of ‘closure’ and just how much my imagination comes into play between the panels. For example when reading, one panel showed a boy climbing over a fence, while the next showed him standing on the ground. Without even realising it, I had imagined the whole fence climbing scene in my head.

Audiences’ Imaginations are important in any medium. When it comes to our second project brief, allowing the viewer to work to connect the ideas we are trying to convey about our self will help with presenting an abstract piece.