Experimental: Short film research

Following our first session with Martine I have looked at various short films in order to get an idea of what I would like to produce but also what techniques can be used to help me achieve a better piece of work. To begin with I looked at a more light-hearted approach to a short film. This piece is called 'Happy Sushi'

Happy Sushi from Happy Sushi on Vimeo.

I particularly liked this short as it is both amusing and cleverly written. The premise is simple and draws on a common problem we have all faced at some point or another; a wobbly table in a restraunt. The man being of a practical nature attempts to fix the issue with a small book of matches. The minor conflict between him and the seemingly inanimate yet charasmatic match book provides comic relief until the film itself climaxes in an unexpected way. This twist in turn brings home the importance of the man's fight with his table and provided me as the audience with the impression that fate was guiding him and that all things happen for a reason, sometimes hindering you and at other times saving your life.

Next up I looked at an artist I'd known of for a while. Jimmy Joe Roche is known for his strange films and his use of analog signal iterference. This short piece is called 'Beam Splitter' and showcases what I think is a really interesting editing technique. It is particularly strange; you have been warned.

This is only the begining of my research and I want to look in detail at some classic experimental films of the avant-garde / surrealist period. I shall tackle this in my next blog post.