Kitchen Stories
http://vogmae.net.au/classworks/2012/KitchenStories.html
As soon as the film begins, a soundtrack consisting of a reciting of various recipes plays first in English then in Chinese, Japanese and Indonesian. This recital was accompanied by a mellow soundtrack creating a relaxing mood for the audience. In a way, the exotic languages beckoned the audience onwards to explore the various dishes available. Even though it is relaxing, the voice itself seemed robotic. Perhaps, it is due to my inability to understand the other languages that my focus is on the English voice, but the voices themselves tell a different story altogether as the recipes listed are not in the images at all whether it is chicken, steak or even mapo tofu. The soundtrack does not match the events accompanying on screen which at times detracted from the experience. The utilisation of popcorn as the beginning is intriguing in that popcorn is often bland and repetitive. However, popcorn is also the food of entertainment and was a clever way of inducing nostalgia as it is tradition to have popcorn during films.
The interface is separated into a main window of focus of your chosen pathway on the left and on the right, 4 windows of different association with the main focus whether it is taste, sight or colour. The main window would play the scene which the viewer has chosen for its full duration and even will be repeated upon completion. The other scenes remained as stills unless clicked. Every video clip consisted of more than 1 shot of the same dish and always transitioned through the use of a fade away. By presenting each meal in such a way, the format was personified in the form of food. The one active window is the main meal as we as an audience garnish ourselves with condiments and options which are the 4 windows. The pathways or choices did not seem to have any discernable pattern, the pathways were merely enticing and the imagery beckons the audience into continuing on their food journey.
The red coloured foods often were basic in nature often being natural ingredients such as chilies, meats and other vegetables. Yellow represented more comfort foods which were ubiquitous and often formed the basis of a dish. Meals such as rice, chips and pastas were often the key thematic idea behind this colourisation. Orange being the mixture of both yellow and red consisted of completed dish’s, this is only logical as combining basic ingredients with a fundamental staple such as bread, rice or pasta will result in a refined dish. Together these colours provided an ironic idea that the colours itself created a recipe as well. The colour, sounds and film together provide an almost utopian outlook into the world of food which can be seen as an optimistic view on race and culture in the world. The way the scenes are filmed, it is presented in a dreamlike state with your memory “fading”. Both the sounds and the colours are warm in nature both complementing each other well. An interesting note was the ability to understand some recipes from keywords which are utilised even in the English language such as Mapo Tofu. Food in this sense transcends the racial barriers which normally occur when trying to communicate, in areas where aural information fails, visual sensors aid in filling in the gaps which we yearn to understand.
The film attempts to explore the nature of food. Food is addictive, it’s exotic, it’s comforting, food may change its appearance, but the meaning is the same to everyone. The use of the continual changing soundtrack along with the various footage and images of colour coordinated food accentuates the idea of food being a continuous cycle. The same scene or image could be clicked on more than once during the watch through, yet the results or future pathways were never the same. Food does not stop after a main and desert, the cycle begins all over with the ingredients, the cooking process and the enjoyment afterwards. I believe these key underlying factors is why the film is shot in such a positive thematic manner and achieves to explore the broader ideals of race, culture and acceptance through the metaphor of food.
