A Little Perspective
Arts
Film 172 Film and Video Studio
A Little Perspective, is a experimental narrative short film that visually and aurally expresses three different points of view (POV), one per character. I chose this style because I felt that it was important to use my time as a student to experiment with production, and unconventional filmic choices. These decisions helped me understand and express creative ways to go about storytelling. I feel that it was important for me, as an undergraduate, to expand my creative path and take risks. Risk taking is generally less common in the professional world. School gives me a chance to step out of the conventional realm, by stepping across invisible boundaries, all the while producing innovative and exciting material. This film signified my attempt to step out of my comfort zone, and to expand my knowledge as a filmmaker.
Each individual POV in A Little Perspective experiments with long takes as the initial mode of storytelling. Each perspective is stylized to create an internal space for the character. For instance, the color correction evokes a hyper-stylized portrait of the landscape of the character’s mind. The interpretation combines the stylized POV with voice over that communicates internal thoughts. These carry a different voice than the synched sound representation of their spoken voice. Each one of the characters interacts with each other through the internal dialogue, which conveys the way the characters behave toward, and think about one another.
This film is written as an interpretation of our societal class structure in America, although it is not necessarily about plot and story construction. My intent is for the audience to interpret the homeless man as lower class, the bartender as working class, and the patron as middle class. The homeless man is only worth the pile of coins he has; whereas the patron has a credit card, and tips to the bartender with cash; the bartender’s worth is the money that she is given by the patron in exchange for her services. As the film advances, the homeless man is thrown outside the bar, away from the others and the safety of the encompassing walls. The climax is when you see all three characters superimposed next to each other, doing the exact same thing which is drinking alcohol. The spatial relation to one another is distant but their actions make them one and the same. Gesturing towards the broader idea that “we are all human” no matter your social status,. The film closes with the patron and the bartender exiting the bar, leaving the homeless man alone.
