Today I watched a piece called Koyanisquatsi, This was an experimental piece made in 1982/83, which is 1hour 23mins long This is an experimental piece, which I feel is very 'in your face'.
I feel that there is a very strong message in this video, the images used are very prominent, you can't really look away. The film starts off with old cave buildings and finishes with a rocket at the end, in the middle section there are old buildings being replaced with brand new buildings and skyscrapers, I believe the buildings used in this image, were especially chosen to make a point and make the viewer feel a certain emotion. For example, there is a clip of a delabated buiding with with broken bricks and deb re from where the building is falling apart, this brings across the feeling of darkness, destruction and even loneliness. Another clip used is a huge contrast to this, its a huge skyscraper glistening in the sun, the angle used to film this was a low angle shot looking up at the building, this puts across the feeling of 'newness', power and change.
The audio used for this piece fits in really well with the imagery, it is non diagetic, this means it was chosed especially to be put on top of the imagery to put across a certain emotion with the viewer. The music alone portrays very strong emotions i.e happiness, busyness and destruction/sadness. This put together with the Strong imagery, put across a very powerful piece. For example when there is a clip of several business men rushing to catch a lift, the music is very fast pace, which puts across the feeling of busyness. Another clip compared to this, I feel is one of the most poinient, scenes in this film, it is a rocket taking off then imploding on itself, the music alongside this is very slow with very deep vocals going over the top, this puts across a very strong feeling of sadness, depression and even to some degree even calmness.
The concept of this piece is quite prominent, it has a defiant middle, beginning and end. At the start it has images of ancient cave buildings, this moves on to people rushing around and old buildings being knocked down to make room for brand new ones, it then ends with a rocket imploding after take off. I feel the main concept for this film is about evolution/change and the modern world. There is alot of footage of humans rushing around in crowded spaces and footage of lots of new buildings being made, this shows us the modern world as it is , cramped/running out of space. it finishes with a rocket (one of the main simples of modern technology) imploding on itself. I think he is trying to show if we evolving and changing, the world will destroy itself, and it would be our fault.
Very good Kesh, some clear and insightful observations. welldone.
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