The first production from my studio I would like to reflect on is the ‘Death of Cinema: The Chronicles of Cinema’s Demise Pt 1”. The production splits into two parts, the first part is the ‘invitation’ to the funeral of cinema and an introduction of their project. For part 1, I really enjoy their way of presenting their ideas, they sort of mocking the death of Cinema which humanised the Cinema into a person with flesh and bones, in my opinion are very creative and fit with studio prompt. Secondly, I really enjoy their way of shooting the video, they scope through the death of cinema from audiences’ perspectives. For example, at the beginning of the video, they introduced their prompts by using a normal cinema goer perspective, from buying popcorn to sitting in the cinema and watching films on giant screen in Capitol, the harmony scene stopped until the girl sees herself lying on the bed and watching films at her home. The video ends with the empty popcorn box and the blackout of the Capitol which simply indicates the death of the cinema. For part two, ‘Death of Cinema: In Loving Memory’, continued with their ideology in part 1. I was watching their video on my laptop, but I wish I was in Capitol on exhibition day. They uses cut through and montage way of presenting by using clips from different films. Thus, I can scope through the history of film making and filmgoing, which left the gratitude for the ‘death’ of cinema. I also saw the video that Chloe took for me of their speech before projection the speeches were a great way to incorporate film history and facts into the project in a light-hearted and enjoyable manner, and the mourners’ presence on stage and the pamphlet distribution significantly contributed to the intended atmosphere.

The second project from our studio I would like to reflect on is ‘Cut into the Capitol,’ by Nick.  ‘The notion of ghosts and phantoms became a strong point of inspiration as I considered how many films have visited cinemas such as The Capitol over decades and decades and how those films have left their mark on these locations.’ As what he wrote on studio website. In his project “Cut into the Capitol,” Nick investigated the number of movies that have been shot inside the Capitol over the years and the possibility that these movies are “phantoms” that continue to haunt the building. For his project, he combined elements from well-known movies with Capitol locations using a variety of animation techniques. This project consists of multiple short, animated segments featuring film clips from The Capitol featuring movie characters. Nick’s effort on showing us a vivid history of the cinema and consider he was doing this project all by himself, it is truly a remarkable project to watch.

 

The project from other studio I would like to reflect on is Tare, by Danielle Atherton, Mark Cheng, Nam Tran, and Spring Li from Synthetic Video Studio. This film is a very mature and well shotted piece which are very enjoyable to watch. The film has a captivating visual aesthetic thanks to the use of girlish, dreamy blues and purple cream colours, as well as hazy, romantic music. The film chronicles Rose, the lead character, as she grows internally. Following her breakup with her boyfriend, Rose finds that the demands of social media and artificial intelligence have created duplicates of various aspects of her identity. She eventually comes to the realization that these are all true versions of herself after a time of self-denial and struggles. The movie looks at identity, self-love, and personal development. The outstanding pre-production methods and incredible post-production editing abilities make the movie a captivating watch. Each shot is expertly and meticulously planned.

 

The other studio production I would like to reflect on is Luciana Nicolaci short horror film Gooey from ‘Shock, A New Horror’. Another film that I was very kin to watch on the big screen of Capitol. The movie addresses the “horror through a contemporary lens” theme put forth by the studio. The use of sort of 50s element with jazz are very vivid which create the sense of terror. Another noticeable part is the acting. The actresses who portrayed Katy and her grandmother, respectively, gave outstanding performances that required a lot of physical exertion and dramatic acting. The film is expertly edited, particularly in the dialogue montage. Everything in this movie seems to be well planned and executed, especially the dialogue, which fits together flawlessly.