Creation of a Short Film : Exploring The Slow Film Movement...

Through my revision task for my AS exam preparation I came across the concept of slow film movement, and decided that at A2 would be an element which I would do some research into to gain inspiration for my short film. Slow cinema or sometimes called "contemplative cinema" is specific genre of art cinema film-making, and it is a genre that emphasizes long takes and is often minimalist, observational, and with little or no narrative. Greek director Theo Angleoplioulos has been described an an "icon of the so-called Slow Cinema movement". Some examples of films within this concept is 'Two years at Sea' (2011) a film directed by Ben Rivers and 'Le Quattro Volte' (2010) a film directed by Michelangelo Frammartino, which converges a beautiful combination of an old mans struggle to continue his goat hearding life, the birth of baby goats and the lives of the simple people in the hills of Calabria, Italy, therefore through the use of beautiful imagery the audience sees the stages of life.

The Guardian contrasted the long takes of the genre with the two-second average shot length in Hollywood action movies and noted that "they opt for ambient noises or field recordings rather than bombastic sound design, embrace subdued visual schemes that require the viewer's eye to do more work and evoke a sense of mystery that springs from the landscapes and local customs they depict more than it does from generic convention". The AV festival held a Slow Cinema Weekend in Newcastle, UK in March 2012, including the films of Rivers, 'Lav Diaz', 'Lisandro Alonso' and 'Fred Kelemen'. Through my research of this movement I came across a post by Robert Snow on the concept (http://robertsnow.wordpress.com/2011/09/25/the-case-for-a-slow-food-movement-for-movies/), he argued that too many films bombard the audience with "high calibre action and incomprehensible visuals", and stated that films that take time building the tension and carefully blending drama with action is more powerful as the audience has a more intensive connection with the characters. He refereed to it as the slow food metaphor, whereby he looked at the slow food movement which began in 1986 and was founded by Carlo Petrini, who tried to slow down how people eat, as they saw food less as a fuel but more of an experience that is meant to be savoured. He used two films that both represent this form of slow film movement, 'Drive' (2011) directed by Nicolas Refn and 'The American' (2010) directed by Anton Corbijn. Both films present long sections of slow and quiet action.

 

The main question to be asked however is what have I taken from my research into slow cinema and the slow film movement, well as I am creating a silent film the visual image is a very symbolic element and it is vital that through creating longer shots, slowing the action down I feel that the audience will be able to have a more intensive connection with my protagonist character, and through observation be able to make there own interpretations of the film rather than being over powered by specific dialogue or extreme visuals that the audience would be unable to relate to. This although I feel is controversial element to include within a five minute short where after all time is enemy is an element which will create a difference and for my film, the longer takes will symbolise the thought process of the mind of both the character and the audience working out the meaning of the shoes, of the male and of the labels.