Wierd, Artsy, Shorts, a danger ?

M

MelonDome

Now there is a film festival with Apple. Called Apple insomnia. open to students. Long story short, I have an idea for a 3 minute short. It is very simple, and somewhat random. But it may have a hidden political cogitation in it.

There are alot of shorts that are artsy and visually stunning, but to the average viewer, they may think, "what does this mean? What was that about?"

Is it a bad move to make a short like that and enter it to this festival? I fear that people may think, "that was cool, but what did it mean?"

I want the viewer to have their own interpretation.

One example of what im trying to make is this Martin Scorsese short. it is 5 and a half minutes long. Called "The Big Shave" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83i8G6o0quc

What do you guys think?
 
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MelonDome said:
Is it a bad move to make a short like that and enter it to this festival? I fear that people may think, "that was cool, but what did it mean?"

I want the viewer to have their own interpretation.
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...movies like this are called "experimental"..... :D ....and they don't have to make sense outside the world of the film....


-- spinner :cool:
 
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Heaven forbid you make a film that challenges the audience to think! :eek:



Is it a bad move to make a short like that and enter it to this festival?
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Imo, it would only be a bad move if the fest was one of those with specific themes that you don't address at all. Kinda pointless entering a light romantic comedy into the "Blood, Guts & Gore Psycho-Extravaganza & Serial-Killer Tribute Festival".

Aside from extremes like that, I would think you're good to go. :cool:
 
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Make it, throw it out there and let the audience decide :) I had the experience of being able to make a film for a film studies class that we made in a painfully short amount of time. We had audio issues due to the noise level of our location and pieced together the best ambient noise bed out of small slices of background noise we could. It looped obviously and badly, but we were finishing it just before it had to screen for credit in the class.

When the class was allowed to ask us questions, one student asked what the significance of the repeating ambient noise was. Wanting to see what they thought it was, I turned the question back to the student and asked for their interpretation.

The response: I thought the repeating background noise served to show the unravelling emotional state of the antagonist...

The reality, we had no technical control over the background noise in a working bowling alley. We patched up what we could. What you put into an edit is not what the audience sees. They don't see technical coverups or simply artistic pretty shots... they have to apply meaning to it to make it make sense to them... they will stretch almost to the breaking point to do so in the correct setting. Some of the interpretations are absolutely fascinating that I've heard in film studies classes (on the theory side, not the production side - production students view film very differently than theory students in my experience).
 
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knightly said:
When the class was allowed to ask us questions, one student asked what the significance of the repeating ambient noise was. Wanting to see what they thought it was, I turned the question back to the student and asked for their interpretation.

The response: I thought the repeating background noise served to show the unravelling emotional state of the antagonist...
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....whoa, knightly! Who-da thought you were the cerebral, brooding observer of the deteriorating human condition!:D

-- spinner :cool:
 
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Well first of all you are not speaking as an artist, so maybe art films are not for you. If you want to make a crowd pleaser that everyone gets, stick with commercial, or at least narrative.
 
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I think art films and experimental films are a good excercise even for commercial filmmakers to explore technique and experiment (hence the name ;) ) with style and format.
 
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knightly said:
I think art films and experimental films are a good excercise even for commercial filmmakers to explore technique and experiment (hence the name ;) ) with style and format.
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I would never discourage anyone but you have to make films for the right reasons.
 
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And don't go light on the point of the story.

There are a number of films that look great or are possibly groundbreaking in what the technology or FX program can do, but then the rest of the film doesn't hold water. Make sure you can still get people into the theater to see how edgy you are...


-- spinner :cool:
 
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knightly said:
IMHO, any reason you make a film is right for the person making it or it would simply be a pointless exercise.

What would the wrong reasons be?
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The wrong reason would be to make an art film for the sake of making an art film instead of trying to make an impact or having a statement with your art. Like "I saw this film that was just a dot for thirty seconds, I think I'll do that with a square for my art film." instead of "I just want to show a square for thirty seconds to see how people react to my statement on anti-circlism." or whatever.
 
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indietalk said:
.... "I saw this film that was just a dot for thirty seconds, I think I'll do that with a square for my art film." instead of "I just want to show a square for thirty seconds to see how people react to my statement on anti-circlism." or whatever....
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....dude,......like, it was totally a statement on why dots are, like, better than squares....:abduct:







......finally! a reason to use that smilie!.....I'll go sit in the corner now.....:lol:


-- spinner :cool:
 
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indietalk said:
The wrong reason would be to make an art film for the sake of making an art film instead of trying to make an impact or having a statement with your art. Like "I saw this film that was just a dot for thirty seconds, I think I'll do that with a square for my art film." instead of "I just want to show a square for thirty seconds to see how people react to my statement on anti-circlism." or whatever.
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I agree with this. I hadn't even considered that as a possible argument :)
 
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....okay, here's the serious reply....

I think that people who do experimental films or things that have a particularly artistic leaning, for the most part just see things that way. The problem comes when people try to recreate it without having any of that artistic vision.

The only example I can give right now is when Pulp Fiction came out, there were a number of films that tried to be "the next Pulp Fiction". I can even remember the films, but the problem with them is that everyone who saw it knew what was going on and the films didn't work.

So, maybe its not make the film for the right reasons so much as the point would be to try to be true to your vision. And if you are lucky, people will at least like it even if they don't get it.

....I'm still trying to figure out Donnie Darko. I should watch it again when I have absolutely nothing to do so I am not distracted.....

-- spinner :cool:
 
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well indietalk, Ive had this little short in my head for a long time. However, I continue to doubt myself. I think I will make it. See what happens. Then I will show it to you guys later.
 
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MelonDome said:
well indietalk, Ive had this little short in my head for a long time. However, I continue to doubt myself. I think I will make it. See what happens. Then I will show it to you guys later.
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That's the spirit! Now you're talking like an artist ;)
 
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