http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_HXUhShhmY
The avant-garde film I’d like to analyze is in fact a music video. Although music videos may not appear as serious a subject matter as full length movies, they can convey all the more powerful a message due to their short duration and small time frame to get that message across. One music video which indeed has many possibilities for interpretation and analysis is “Her Morning Elegance” by Oren Lavie. A sweet and placid tune accompanies the video, where stop-motion animation is used to tell a tale of a sleeping girl and her imagination. The entire video consists of different shots of the same aerial view of a bedroom, as if from the ceiling. We see a simple white sheeted mattress in the center. The floor is a simple hardwood, strewn with only a few basic items, such as a lamp, some open books, a coffee cup, and a pair of Keds. The scene begins with a girl with tousled hair sleeping with two pillows and a striped sheet: a minimalistic scene. We see her shifting as she sleeps, an action highlighted by the stop-motion animation. When the lyrics of the song begin, the sheet mysteriously pulls off of her on its own. It lines the bottom of the mattress and magically turns into a street which the still-sleeping girl appears to begin “walking” on. By carefully and individually lining up and shooting shots of the girl in different poses, the video gives the illusion of a girl walking through a moving backdrop. The mattress becomes a stage on which different scenes are acted out. Unlike some of the other avant-garde films we watched, I found this one to have a more comprehensible meaning. For example, at one point she appears to be falling through the sky before finally “crashing” into a blue abyss (created by a blue sheet). Her waving arms and flowing hair help us envision her floating under the ocean. Suddenly swarms of socks seem to dart by her like a school of fish, with one being so bold as to swim over her neck. Lavie uses scenes like these to paint a sort of narrative to accompany the lyrics. This film made me re-think film art by showing me a completed unexpected way to represent the concept of dreaming. I also loved how Lavie was able to juxtapose two different ideas between the lyrics and the visual. When one looks at the lyrics, they seem to describe a girl who is imagining doing the actions we are seeing visually, even citing the word “daydream” in one line. However, the visual contradicts this idea in that she is confined to the dimensions of her bed the entire time, as if her dreams at night, impressive as they are, are still only possible while in her bed. It’s also interesting to note that her eyes remain closed until the very end, when her initial sleeping position is resumed and a close-up of her face shows her eyes open, walking up into reality.
I believe new movie-viewing practices have definitely changed the way we think about cinema. New technology and modes of filming and viewing movies has also led to changes in the audience’s attitudes of what a movie should be. After the idea of the classical paradigm became popular, it was almost seen as wrong for a movie not to follow that predictable yet audience-pleasing pattern. Now audiences are much more likely to be receptive to films with unpredictable plot twists and unconventional narratives. The same occurred once films were commonly viewed on computers and television sets rather than theaters; all different types of films have a socially expected medium for viewing. For example, one would most likely not want to watch a feature length film on a small computer screen when given the alternative of watching in a theater. In a theater, the enormous screen and dim lighting help transport the audience within the movie, encompassing them with visuals and blaring sound effects. A computer cannot possible convey as powerful a screening. However, different types of videos have been developed specifically for the computer. Many people enjoy filming things they find interesting and posting them on sites like Youtube.com for others to view and comment on. Although these videos are often not the best quality, they are perfectly designed for computer use. The lower quality can be excused in exchange for a faster internet connection to watch the film. These videos are also typically very short in duration, lasting as little as a few seconds. Most people today wouldn’t be willing to go through the effort of driving to a theater to view such a short film, or one of subpar quality. The effortless accessibility of these types of videos available to anyone with internet have made an outlet of demand for novice filmmakers to get recognition. I think it’s wonderful that additional media outlets have allowed more styles of films to be viewed by a majority of people.
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