Aesthetics - Tim Powitz

1. Bunny
The short film begins with this bright image of a silhouette floating through light, then we soon discover the obnoxiousness that is the moth. The whole film is shown in close of bunny, the bowls, ingredients, the oven, etc. We feel very cramped and almost annoyed by this claustrophobia, just like the annoyance of the moth. The chaotic moments are emphasized by the short, choppy, angled shots that cause the viewers visual distress. We reach the height of our cramped feeling in the oven, and then we are relieved from all of the chaos, distress, and close-ups as the short film completes with one long shot of bunny flying into the light with the moths.

2. Northfork
The first clip shows us the boy, dressed in black, running against the backdrop of white fields and the black and white mountains towering above him. The second clip is that of the black car with the black coffin on top against the same mountainous background. These 2 clips show great juxtaposition of white vs. black/ life vs. death. With the background of the towering mountains over head of the characters, we see the death in the film. Erwin's death and the coffin. The mountains overhead symbolize burial. These characters are under the earth.

3. Paris Texas
The film begins with Travis wandering through the barren land with a barren gaze to match. He keeps this barren stare throughout this film which shows how he truly feels. He is dressed in a suit as if to suggest he escaped from civilization and yet his brother keeps pulling him in. The mountains in the background match each brother's image. Travis's mountain is jagged, rugged, harmful looking, and rocky with little greenery and life growing on it. The brother's mountain is neat, lively, smooth, and harmonious. The movie also follows the theme of communication. We see the evolution of communication through Travis. He first starts off walking over barren land. He follows power lines and phone lines, a rather simple technology of communication. He then graduates to trains and cars, as he sits under the overpasses, not knowing where to go. Finally back home is when he is watching the planes. But in the end, he falls back on the phone talking to his wife "face to face" as his face covers hers in the reflection of the glass making them one again.

4. The Wall
There was so much to take in with The Wall that I felt way in over my head on trying to get down everything. I did notice the excessive use of hammers, especially in the shadows of the factory during the education song, especially in context to the gears that looked like sickles, thus symbolizing communism and the origin of the Berlin wall. The symbolism of the hammer is good because it both builds and tears down walls, and either way you view the hammer, it still oppresses Pink.

5. Cabeza de Vaca
This is another powerful film that show importance to the "nonverbal" attributes of film. One of my favorite scenes was his speech after running full circle back into captivity. I especially liked the camera action at the end of the speech. The whole time during the speech and for most of the film, we see these wide shots that encompass a lot into view. But at the end of his speech as he lies in the fetal position, the camera zooms in on Alvar and finally rests on his chest/heart. I think this is very important because until this point, the Shaman and the helper have only viewed Alvar as another man who can be used for labor and be pushed around, but now I think it is this point that they see Alvar as more than a prisoner, but an actual suffering soul.