I watched the film Shutters Closed by Jonty Yeo, Tristan Buesst, Clare Walker and Isabella Cook. It tells the story of Melbourne’s elusive shops, sealed in time, that tell the story of Melbourne and the feelings its residents have for them. Over the course of six weeks, the creators concretized their own experiences as Melbournians to create the work.
I especially like the shots and angles of this documentary. I can feel the charm of the camera language from this documentary, and what each shot is trying to express – the passage of time, closely tied to the theme. I think its shooting Angle is very mature, and like most documentaries played in theaters, it has the texture of the big screen, which is worth learning from. Although this is a relatively new niche subject, these shots make the overall viewing of the documentary particularly good, and the high quality of the picture presentation alone made me curious about this documentary.
In terms of sound, I can see the design of the documentary is clever – just right background music and clear interview voice. Several piano chords in the background music at the beginning of the film immediately immerse people in it. The rhythm of the background music is suitable for the film, inadvertently slowing down the audience’s heart and feeling the flow of time. In addition, the design of the camera and sound effects make the film more atmosphere. I hope to make documentaries with this texture in the future.
I also saw Distant Ties: Portraits of Belonging Outside the Home by Janeca Cabanayan, Joline Kinsachi, Kelly Elizabeth Lukman, and Olivia Thomas. The film focuses on three people from overseas who connect with culture while away from home. I think it has something in common with A Bite of China that I mentioned in the class discussion, which focuses on people’s emotional expression by focusing on food. As a Guangzhou native, I was pleasantly surprised to see the film because it retained the Cantonese soundtrack of the interview.
In terms of the making of the film, I felt that the pace of it was comfortable – gradually getting to know the lives of these people as immigrants from non-Western backgrounds. At the same time, I think the shots are very delicate, the cooking shots, the display of paintings and the group photos of the family all create a subtle poetic atmosphere. It is not difficult to see that even when they are in a foreign country, their emotions are still very close to home.
In terms of sound, the background music of this work plays a good role in setting off the atmosphere, so that the audience is attracted by the sound and immersed in it at the beginning. A small understanding is that about one minute and fifty seconds can retain a little bit of the video’s original sound, because the people in the picture are talking, but the audience can not hear any sound, which makes me a little confused. All in all, this is a very delicate documentary, and it is worth me to learn the emotional expression in it.
Another studio video I watched was Between Two Worlds created by Anna Duong from Heads Won’t Roll. The film tells the story of a Vietnamese woman who married and moved from rural Vietnam to the suburbs of Melbourne, demonstrating the resilience and sacrifice of being a mother despite leaving everything familiar and facing linguistic and cultural differences.
First of all, I think the film is very creative, the video is slowly developed by some video material, about the mother’s experience from rural Vietnam to the suburbs of Melbourne, you can’t help but wonder if she is used to or adjusted to life here. Another point is that Anna showed vivid hand-drawn animation in the video, which I think is very creative and requires high artistic talent.
The film’s narrative is also just right, introducing Mother’s past and present, highlighting the differences between the two different living environments, and the cultural and linguistic challenges she faces, which is realistic and thought-provoking.
About the camera, I think it is very rare that even when the video author tells about the past, there are still enough video materials, and these video materials are clear enough, which helps the audience understand the past. The scene that I appreciate most is the last scene of the film, when only the picture of the mother is grey, but the camera pulls away, the family walks to the mother, the original grey picture becomes bright. It was like a true reflection of mother’s heart that life in a country with huge cultural differences was difficult, and it was her family that lit up her otherwise dark inner world. I appreciate Anna’s talent very much, and I hope I can create such profound and creative works in the future.