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Friday Film Screening 1 Writeup

For the first Friday film screening we looked at a selection of films created by the recently graduated undergrads and postgrads. I found them all to be very successful and entertaining, but there were a few I have been particularly inspired by that I'd like to incorporate into my own final film.

At first, Maddie's Laundromat 1, 2 and 3 looks to be a simple yet pretty film about a day at a laundromat, without a complicated or in depth narrative. I watched it initially at the graduate show, but after a second watch I found there was much more going on - the colours, characters and time all tell their own stories that is revealed after looking closer on a second watch. I am particularly inspired by its simplicity - to be able to have a narrative that can be interpreted and thought about well after the film has finished. I also found that the limited use of a 3-colour palette for each time of day's background made each shot very aesthetically pleasing and prevented the film from being too garish or bright, and could even be interpreted to match the mood of the laundromat's customers - one student noted that in Laundromat 2 the the red evening scene felt 'hellish' while each character was isolated in their own world, but 'cozy' when they all came together to watch the television.

Simon's Movement, One presented a very different style of film, reminding me more of an experimental music video, or a projection at a live concert, rather than a traditional film screening. I found it very successful that the entire film took place in one single shot, with lines and shapes moving around to create space for more animation. As I've always had an interest in experimental forms, I found this great to watch, and I have thought how I can incorporate this into my own idea, particularly with my jinn character. However, I found that the pace was slowed by the overly repeated 'cell' scene, which seemed to stop the film in its tracks, rather than build up tension. However, this could possibly be due to the fact that the film is meant to be projected onto a dancer, and so I may be missing a key part of the performance.

As I am certain that I will use 3D animation in my own film, Toby's Playtime was particularly interesting to me. His character models, rigging, and animations were spot on and you could tell exactly what each character was doing. By only having two characters, he could take the focus away from pre-production work such as modelling and rigging and put it into the actual animations of the characters. It seemed that his intended audience is a much younger crowd, so I did not feel as entertained as I did watching the other films, however the from a narrative perspective the story was coherent and tight and everything made sense. It was cute, colourful, and well executed.

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