The Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah kicked off yesterday and Eric will be blogging live all weekend as he covers the best in the Short Film Program. Check back throughout the holiday weekend for reviews, links, and maybe even some of the actual shorts themselves posted right here! This blog is also a part of the live coverage over at DigitalContentProducer.com, where Eric works as an associate editor. Head on over there for a podcast with Michel Gondry (”Eternal Sunshine,” “Be Kind, Rewind”) and more…
This year, 45 of the 83 short films in the 2008 Sundance Film Festival are available at for viewing and/or download at iTunes, Netflix, and Xbox.com.
Often times, even when dealing with short films, it is sometimes difficult to remember that storytelling is not always the first priority. After all, film is like any other form of art and should not be held to any hard and fast rules—like plot, character development, and all the other things we associate with narrative filmmaking. Rather than being relegated to the art museum, experimental films get their day in the sun at Sundance (no pun intended) right alongside the more traditional modes of filmmaking.
Shawn Bannon’s Ignite is a three-minute film that surveys the raging intensity with which the fires in Griffith Park, Calif. burned last year by using stark, color time-lapse cinematography sped up to an alarming degree. Helicopters streak through the night sky, but are mere flashes. They look more like comets with blinding tails. Later, the ashes of the landscape are contrasted with cigarette ashes and only a brief flash, burning photo, of the people who were affected by it. Seven time-lapse cameras were used to capture the event, which is melded together with a soundtrack of crackling fire that’s all wind and clipped microphones.
“You cut my tongue, now only my heart speaks.”
- Tania Willard
Nikamowin is a fascinating 12-minute short from Director/Editor Kevin Lee Burton that asks the musical question, “What happens when you start speaking Cree?” D’arcy O’Connor is responsible for the intricate score/sound design, which is made up entirely of spoken words in the Cree language. While O’Connor’s linguistic soundscape unfolds with rhythmic cadence, Burton channels a little bit of Koyaanisqatsi, using both city and natural landscapes to illustrate the impressive sound collage. He also employs quite a bit of split screen, only he visually highlights the layers of Nikamowin’s complicated music by going horizontal—and using up to five images consecutively. The short was produced with cooperation from the Canada Council for the Arts.
Conceived as a single piece of a six-channel art installation piece commissioned by the Luce Gallery of Art, Leighton Pierce’s Number One is a contrast in fluidity and rigidity. After the 10 minutes of this experimental film go by, you may find yourself in a bit of a trance. This multi-image abstract short uses water as its foundation image and from there, springs off into all kinds of swirling, interwoven patterns. Shot on HD and MiniDV, Number One divides the screen up vertically into thirds with a focus on a central rectangular shape that is constantly shifting in color and texture. Although the frequent elasticity in the film’s movement makes it easy to zone out sometimes, the superimpositions and symmetrical imagery are fixed enough to re-focus your attention. Pierce mirrors the constant push/pull perception of life in this way.
Here is a filmed document of Convection, the full piece that uses Number One as a single part:
