FILM/TV2 – A&R2 – Question One
In the lecture we screened a short film called ‘End of the Line’ – the film shot in Broken Hill.
Please describe in 300 words or less if you think they achieved what they set out to do.
You may not remember much detail, if so, it could be helpful to talk about your first impressions, after all this is what most of us are left with after one viewing. The treatment which we showed in the lecture is avalaible here
Feel free to write to any categories you wish. eg. story, choice of participants, sound, camera, editing etc.
As the questions suggests, I do not remember in great detail the short film “End of the Line”, however it was powerful enough in its message that it left a mark in my memory. My first impressions of the film was that it was disturbing. From the main older woman speaking (especially about going there to die) to the shots of nothing but barren, open dead land. Partnered with the particular music it was paired with, the whole aesthetic of the film was very unsettling. Getting up and leaving the lecture I felt as though these filmmakers could be involved in a making of a film such as Wolf Creek – I was that rattled by it. There was something about the participants the filmmakers chose to include – they were clearly people who lived away from civilisation – different and secluded. The people chosen to speak very clearly fit into the film; the barren land being presented.
In the treatment provided (in the question) under the section APPROACH TO VISUAL DESIGN, it is noted that the filmmakers wish to “emphasize the beauty, the vastness and the harshness of the land. We want the footage to make the audience realise how small they are in comparison to nature. We want to capture the red, rusty tones of the outback. We want to capture the brightness of the sunrise and the glow of the sunset. We want to use the landscape to show a contrast between the worn and the rugged, in comparison to the beauty and magnificence of the outback. ”
In the treatment provided (in the question) under the section APPROACH TO VISUAL DESIGN, it is noted that the filmmakers wish to “emphasize the beauty, the vastness and the harshness of the land. We want the footage to make the audience realise how small they are in comparison to nature. We want to capture the red, rusty tones of the outback. We want to capture the brightness of the sunrise and the glow of the sunset. We want to use the landscape to show a contrast between the worn and the rugged, in comparison to the beauty and magnificence of the outback. ”
In many ways, I believe that the group achieved this. They definitely were able to emphasise the “vastness and the harshness of the land”, however, I believe in the way of which the shots were presented (as a whole, music and context included), I felt as though “the beauty” they were trying to present could be overlooked due to how the film was created. Instead of seeing Broken Hill’s “beauty and (the) magnificence of the outback”, I was left with the impression of the town being nothing more than a ghost town, where people went to die.
rebeccaskilton • August 4, 2014