By: Kendall and Jade
Category: Uncategorized
Short Films Response (Late)
All of the films have a sense of on-going-ness to them. They don’t happen in any specific time frame, but occur across a long period of time. We are given a sense that the story continues even beyond what we as viewers are shown, and that there was likely some story that occurred before the start of the films that we never get to see. The conflict is with more daily-life issues that are not a one off occurrence: mental illness, the loss of innocence, a limited worldview, an absent parent. These stories hold our attention because they call to some deeper part of ourselves who recognize these strife that often affect us in our real life. They are linear, but unpredictable, just like time and life itself. The two films I’ve chosen to look at more closely are ‘Meshes of the Afternoon’ and ‘160 Characters’, which both show off this snapshot realism, because those are the two that I felt I connected with on a deeper level.
‘Meshes of the Afternoon’, to me, shows a woman struggling with her mental illness. As I was watching the film, I saw the recurring flower as a symbol of life or the will to keep living; the figure in all black was her ‘monster’, which wore a mirror of her face because she is her own inner demon. The house was representative of the darker sides of her own mind, where she is constantly battling with noise and unstable ground and nonsensical chaos. Her hesitancy to enter, shown by her knocking and the slow opening of the door, is her trying to reject her darker thoughts, but inevitably she always returns again, no matter how many times she chases that dark figure down in an attempt to regain her will to live. This could also explain why the house is so plain in design, as those with extreme mental illness are known to lack observation skills, often missing smaller details of the world around them; and the phone that is off of its hook is symbolic of her either giving up on or feeling as if she cannot call for help. To me, the key to the house felt like an indicator of self-harm, as seen by the way it turns into the knife on and off, and by the fact that it always is the thing that lets her into this house of instability. I have a feeling that the record, which plays a somber tune, is reminiscent of the loud, negative thoughts in her head. When we are introduced to the man that seems to be her partner, it feels as though he has walked (confidently, I might add, no knocking at the door) into this space of her darker thoughts, bringing the life flower with him in an attempt to help her settle down with it. Her attacking him seems like it might be indicative of a scene where she lashes out at him as he tries to help her come to some level of peace with her own illness, and yet we do see him come back again. I believe that the image of the broken mirror is showing us that she eventually attacked her ‘monster’ and took her own life. The man comes to her one day and finds the life-flower on the ground outside, and goes in to find her dead in the house, having succumbed to the chaos and violence of her own mind. What we do not get to see, though, is his reaction, and what ensues after. This would likely be an entirely separate story of its own.
‘160 characters’ didn’t mean as much to me in terms of symbolism, as ‘Meshes in the Afternoon’ did, but rather it was a story of sad reality and emotion. As somebody who has a strained relationship with her own father and has seen her mother struggle with trying to get him to be active in her children’s lives, I felt the emotional impact of this film personally. Telling a story through text messages seems to be the producer’s way of adding an extra layer of distance between the characters– we see the mother and her child together several times throughout the film, but never once the father. He doesn’t have a face in this story, really driving home his absence in his son’s life. Due to his neglect as a parent, the narrator– the boy’s mother– likely struggled financially, relying on the help of friends and family. The few shots we have of the apartment they lived in indicate that it was simply a cheap place to live. This is especially driven home by the shot of the balcony, where we hear sirens echoing outside, possibly indicating that they are in a bad part of town. We also know that her son does not get his first mobile phone until he is well into his teens, which may be another nod to their more meager means of living. The man’s absence and sporadic involvement is very likely going to have an effect on Jim in the future as well, as he wonders who his father is (which his mother is preparing for) and why he didn’t stick around.
Diagrammatic Narrative: Mirror of mine
Diagrammatic Narrative
Diagrammatic Narrative
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
When comparing the movie to the short story, a chunk about how the man, Peyton Farquhar, encountered a Federal scout that alludes to the reason why he is being hanged is completely removed and left at the audience discretion on how he ended up in his position. I think this decision to remove this part of the story in the film helps the following scenes to be more real and trick the audience into thinking Peyton did manage to escape. It is unnecessary information to take the time to tell it all when the audience can connect to the character and project their thoughts to the character.
During the part when Peyton fell into the water and the Federal army began to shoot at him, everything slowed down to the audio and movements. I believe this helps translate the feeling of someone who just escaped death and now has to come up with a decision on what to do. It reminds me of quick time events in games where the character may be falling or doing something in slow motion and the player has to hit a button. It drives a feeling of urgency for the next move that can potentially save your life. The close ups and the composition of the man always at the center of the frame makes me feel motivated that he will actually make it to his family. While watching this movie, I was constantly on the edge that something may come and hinder the man and kill him after his journey thus far. Shots are framed and choreographed in a way that made me anticipate a federal guard will come and stab him. The constant flipping angles between the man and the wife really did drive home the hopeful feeling I had that he did manage to escape. Unfortunately, it was taken away when the final sequence showed that it was all the man’s wishful thinking and he died as he was intended to.
Overall, it’s a great short film that goes through a lot of emotions and raises hope only to crush them at the end.
Diagrammatic Narrative
I present my Diagrammatic writing based upon an interaction between me, my sister, and a moth. Enjoy!
WEEK 6: Visual Narative II – 5 Photos
tommy o
Short Journey
I wanted a lot more panels, but then I didn’t want to need more panels to tell the story. The story is a very simple journey from one place to another. I kept the idea as spare as possible in order to tell it as clearly as I was able to. The shots are sequenced close-wide-close-wide-close. I also included a hand in each of the close shots in the hope of bringing the viewer into the story with a first person perspective. The wide shots are from a standing perspective for that same reason. Developing this short sequence pattern was done to allow the viewer to create a link of moving through a routine which might make the narrative readable as intended. The concept of a 5 shot story is abstract to me by its nature. So, I used the idea of motion that we carry through our daily lives to suggest both physical and temporal progression: moving through a door, crossing a street, starting a car, walking between visually receding buildings, traversing web space.
Did you make the leaps?
What could I have done differently?
Twilight Zone
Movies vs. books is a debate that rages on for everything. Generally, stories tend to be better in their original book form. For me personally, I enjoyed reading Paper Towns more than I did watching the movie. However, some could argue that the Harry Potter movies are even better than the books (which, in my humble opinion, they are). In the case of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, whether you prefer the written version or the film adaptation really depends on the individual. Both versions take significant liberties with the story. The book spends more time building up the world, while the film cuts out the whole middle part of the story. There could be a number of reasons for this, but one possibility is that it didn’t fit with the vision of The Twilight Zone. Also, since the main character dies early on, the film might have felt it was pointless to waste time on his journey back home. Personally, I think the movie did a great job of illustrating the beginning of part three of the story. While they kept the foundation of the character’s actions, they changed the pace and emphasis of each scene. Overall, I prefer the film version of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, but that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily the superior version.
Project #1: Diagrammatic Writing
Brayden Sathrum
2/21/23
DTC 354
Link:
Artist Statement:
This piece revolves around the relationship between my sister and I and the way it changed over time. My sister and I communicated frequently over text, so all the dialogue came from our real conversations. I created simple diagrams to communicate our backgrounds and relationship in a way that couldn’t be expressed in text. If I expand this to be my final project, I’d add more depth with extra conversations and make it a blend of images, video, and text.
Two Occurrences at Owl Creek Bridge
I had never read the short story or seen the film for An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, but both were shocking to say the least. I watched the film episode first with my friends and roommates while we ate dinner and to be completely honest, it was very slow. That is something any type of video adaptation does that is slightly annoying for me, personally. I can always read the book, manga, comic faster than the film, anime, or tv episode can portray it. If they do not do it quickly, succinctly, or well then it can become a slog. That is one of the differences between the two. Another is in the film he only had a wife not a child, in fact we do not even know the main character’s first name or motivations, or why he was even being hanged. In the short story we do, which was interesting, as well as his general thoughts and feelings towards situations instead of having to rely on his actor to portray his feelings as best he can.
Events of the story were also rearranged differently in the film version. In that sense I think the show did well, however the pacing was so sluggish it was hard to care. I can appreciate slow narratives, but the antiquated colorless show made it even more so. The editing was pretty good, the snap and death took me by quite a surprise even though I was expecting it right at the end when he ran at his wife for too long. The shot composition was okay as well, the different shots for him drowning and pulling himself out of the river seemed advanced. I would say both versions do good for the story in different aspects, like getting to know more in writing but the music and gunshots adds more tension in the show. All in all, an interesting concept!
Cinema Language – An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” by Ambrose Pierce, follows the tale of a man that is about to be hanged but miraculously escapes death, or so he thinks. I thought both the short story and the film were well-done and accentuated different aspects of the plot. The written version includes many added details that help us get into the mind of the main character. An example of this is when he is drowning after the rope breaks. There is a lengthy paragraph dedicated to his thoughts and feelings as he tries to free himself and get to the surface. Adding these little moments gives us a better sense of who he is and what he’s feeling in these intense sequences. While in the film we witness this event unfold, we have no idea what he’s thinking and therefore lose that perspective.
With that said, the movie has its own elements that provide a unique take on the story. The imagery and sounds largely tell the tale as there is little to no dialogue. I think these add to the tension, particularly when he is fleeing and you can hear the guns and cannons going off around him. You never know if he is actually going to make it and pairing this unknown with the loud sounds of gunfire elevates the suspense. The film also gives us sympathy for the man through its music and camera angles. Even though we don’t know what he’s thinking, the camera focuses on him enough for us to see his emotions. I thought the song that was used several times also played a role in making him feel more human and allowed us to grieve over his circumstances. Overall, I enjoyed both versions of this story and it was interesting to see what aspects each medium chose to focus on.
Diagrammatic Story (Interesting Title)
Here ya go!
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vQmTpmO-jp8hkCQu1hTKwn70vFIVobVDziLoPV4e_eG-O3bJ80ymTSkGOpx7k9Oiizi781GrJhznq2R/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=60000
The Occurrences Between Film and Word
The short film adaptation of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge delivered the story very faithfully to the original. In both, the scene is set in a highly detailed manner. Subject to subject transitions provide the reader/viewer a well-established sense of the space in which the plot begins. In the story, these are written. In the film, these take the form of long opening shots. Starting wide and narrowing in, they take the scene from large and open to right on the man about to be hanged.
The largest difference between film and story comes in the second section of Bierce’s original. This background section is omitted from the film entirely, which is a suitable translation. In it, we get a flashback to our main character relaxing with his wife and talking with a soldier about the Yankees repairing the railroads nearby. This is fitting because it leaves the short film to be about a particular moment, opening it up to more imaginative viewing. If the background scene were to be included, it would take away the mystery enveloping the scene. It would also feel much less like an episode of The Twilight Zone.
The final section of the story is similar to the first in its presentation. Sticking much more to the source material, we get slow shots at first, but as the man realizes his situation of being hanged and drowned, the shots speed up with his panic. And like the original, the realization that he’s been in a dream-like flash before his eyes comes suddenly.
Diagrammatic Narrative
Diagrammatic Narrative
Here is my Diagrammatic Narrative.