From my studio: Contemporary Documentary
I watched Distant Ties: Portraits of belonging in a home away from home, by Janeca Cabayan, Kelly Lukma, Joline Kinsachi, and Olivia Thomas. I felt the documentary really captured some of the ideas expressed throughout the contemporary documentary, particularly our learnings of the modes of documentary. The film was very poetic, especially in its editing. The choice by the team to make the interview content non linear created a film that told a story in the format of a collage almost. It painted a really beautiful picture of the emotions of living as a migrant in Australia with a non-Western background. This was amplified by the close up shots of cooking, and the intimate imagery of their subject in his own home.
I also watched Chinese Hip-hop in Melbourne, created by Tony, Helen, Ivonna, and Lan. I found this documentary did well at the storytelling element of documentary-making – it was really effective in conveying its narrative, which is a crucial aspect of the medium. Not only did it tell a compelling story, but it also explored an interesting topic that grabbed my interest—Chinese hip-hop and its scene in Melbourne and Australia, which I was previously unaware of. I think this choice of story was great, and one that a lot of people would be curious to see more about.
Additionally, I appreciated how they presented this story in a fun and lively manner; the editing incorporated fun music and dynamic cuts between shots, managing to convey a lot within just three minutes.
From one other studio: Creative Constraints as Fuel
Strangers, written and directed by Harriet Minty is a short film that grapples with themes of grief and friendship. I think the writing does a great job of articulating the non-linear and complex nature of grief, and how it is shaped by the people of whom we share it with. In the narrative, two friends meet a year after their friend has passed, with the intention of spreading her ashes. The meeting stirs up unresolved issues with their friendship, and it becomes clear they have reconciling to do, the tension comes to a head as one friend discovers the other has taken the ashes without the parent’s knowledge. In the end, the friendship conflict and the grief, are alleviated with humour. I felt this execution of these themes was well done, and it captured the reality of the human experience wonderfully.
The framing also assisted in capturing this idea of grief being messy, and not always just sad and poetic. In certain shots, we see flies on the face, or spilled ice cream dripping down the car’s bonnet. All of these set design and framing elements work together to deliver an intentionally unpolished image, which encompasses the feeling of ‘going through it’ in your early 20s. Overall, I really loved the concept of this studio, and the work of Harriett Minty, Kaitlyn Ngyuen, Linh Dan Dan, and Ash Griffiths.