Peter Lewis in his short film, The Camera does a great job of creating an interesting and flowing narrative. He is able to really play with suspense by introducing a house, then a camera, and then a person that can only be seen through the lense of a polaroid, only to have him disappear. The whole story is very mysterious and makes us, the viewer, want to continue watching. Also, all of his shots are beautifully composed. I think both the opening shot and the shot of the female actress in front of the chest is striking. Finally, I thought the music really did a good job of building the story as the main character gets more and more anxious to find the boy in the pictures. My only critique was that the sound effects of a bird and cricket chirping in the beginning were repetitive and a little annoying. It just seemed like he was repeating the same sound effect over and over again, which I don't think were necessary.
I really enjoyed this film I found it to be very interesting. All of the bird and cricket noises at the beginning really helped to set the scene for me at the beginning of the film. As the story continued I really liked how every time the girl would take a picture a mysterious boy would appear in the photos. It reminded me of horror movies. I also enjoyed how the pace of the music increased once the boy stopped appearing in the pictures and the girl was running around the house frantically to find him. That increase in the speed of the music helped me to sense the girls urgency. There were a lot of different shot types in this film especially in the beginning we were given a wide shot, a lot of medium shots, a few close ups, some back shots, and even some over the shoulder shots. All of these different shot selections in the film I found to be useful in letting the viewer get a better view of the scene and also to see the story from different point of views.
In Peter Lewis' short film The Camera, the viewer is shown many different and beautiful shots. The different camera angles made the story very easy to follow and interesting to watch. The short film kept me guessing as to where the next place the boy would show up and had a slight horror movie vibe to it. I liked that the story had different twists and turns in it and had you on your toes at all times. The music also helped push the story along as well. It was very calming and whimsical while she walked along the beach and then sped up to show how anxious she was to find the boy after he vanished from the pictures. The setting at the beach and inside the house was also visually appealing. Overall, the story structure was really good and the film was enjoyable.
What a beautiful film! Before the girl gets to the house, we get a very clear feel of her loneliness and solitude by the directors choice of showing her alone, seemingly walking through a very large field for an extensive amount of time, shown by the repeated various shots of her walking. Once she arrives at the house, and starts looking around, which could be portrayed as a very different situation if her facial expressions, body language or camera angle were different, she seems happier. The house represents the presence of other people, which her life seems to be void of. She then finds the camera, and makes an invisible friend through its lens. This plot line could easily be transformed into a horror film with different music (in this short film, the music was absolutely gorgeous and uplifting) and different facial expressions, camera angles, and body language. The narrative of the film illustrates a lonely girl who makes an obscure friend, and then disappears with him, again, which could easily be horrifying but ends up to be an uplifting film due to the music, the shots that portray her positive emotion, and the quickening pace of the shots when she begins to "get to know" this new friend through the lens of her camera.
I absolutely loved this short film! Lewis's way of story telling along with the audio ques in key parts of the story structure, really pulled on my emotions. A great example of this would be the instance of a minor key change when she witnessed what the first picture actually contained! It honestly scared me for a bit! I also loved the shots of her feet in the sand, the imprints look nice, in particular the last shot of the imprint of her toes next to her last picture. The female actress in the short really is what made the film so fantastic. The emotions on her face just made it seem so much more real. I also really did not mind the somewhat shaky camera in some areas, it didn't really take away from the story itself. I feel like the shot of her coming up the stairs was brought together very nicely. It kept her in frame but I did notice some head room issues. All in all I loved it!
In The Camera, director Peter Lewis was able to change the pace and the momentum of the film by making faster cuts and with the music to enhance those cuts. At the beginning the pace is slow as the girl walks to the house, explores the house, and takes the first picture. The pace picks up a little as she goes room to room taking pictures to see where the boy it. The pace speeds up more as the girl takes a picture without the boy in it and tries to figure out where he is, ultimately running out and to the beach. Then the pace slows down as the girl decides to take a picture of herself. I loved the simplicity and uniqueness to this film. The ending was not what I was expecting to happen and I enjoyed the suprise.
This film, in my opinion, by Peter Lewis was absolutely phenomenal. Every shot from beginning to end had amazing resolution and clarity . It almost made the entire movie seem very delicate . Another attribution to the delicacy of this film was the music composition . The cuts in the shots matched almost every piano note . The story itself was very interesting and sweet as the actress goes along this journey with the boy that can only be shot through the Polaroid . The film capture a bunch of emotion portrayed by these two actors . Loneliness , as the girl walks by herself . Curiousity as she walks into the vacant house and searches until she finds the chest containing the Polaroid . Friendship as she follows the boy on the journey. Finally And what I believe to be the overall meaning of the film ... acceptance as she joins the boy by taking a Polaroid picture of herself . Overall I really enjoyed many aspects of the film and give credit to all that contributed to creating such a beautiful story .
Dan Bryan: So...hmm. I'm genuinely not sure how to feel about this film, and almost all my ambiguity ties inexorably back into how it ends. The movie wanted to tie its use of the musical score closely with the events of the film, which is exactly how a musical score should be used--not to tell the audience how to feel about a scene, but to act as an ever-engaged and fluid companion component to the visuals. The ending kind of highlights my big problem with the movie: it had no idea what it wanted its tone to be. Is it reflective, with the girl contemplating her general loneliness? Is it haunting, with the girl yearning for something in her past which she has lost and can never have back except through supernatural means? Is it uncertain, with the girl making first contact with an alien boy who exists only in images? I would be fine with the ambiguity of the film's story if not for the ending wherein the girl traps herself, intentionally or unintentionally, on the boy's plane of existence. While the movie wants to use the music to reassure the audience that the girl is no longer lonely, the music seems blissfully unaware, possibly in-denial, that even taking into account all the different tones in which this movie can be interpreted, the implications of the girl disappearing are horrifying. Even if this boy meant only the best for the girl, we were given no indication that the girl knew she might disappear altogether--I sure as hell didn't see that coming. So...was this meant to be a horror story, then, with the music meant to provide a subtle misleading juxtaposition? I don't know, and that's the kind of ambiguity you *don't* want your audience to feel: that the filmmakers were uncertain of what they were trying to convey, rather than intentionally leaving the events up to personal interpretation.
Lydia Eichler: I enjoyed that this film was sweet and simple. From the dedication at the end, it was clear that this film was made with a particular person in mind, and I feel that this was evident through the entire short film; the whole thing was very intimate with the girl and we feel like we get to know her just through her actions and expressions as she discovers the man in the photographs and follows him. Our relationship, as viewers, with this girl is not complicated by any other characters or a loud, bustling setting. Instead we are with her as she is alone, allowing us to see her truest actions.
Thomas Meason- This film, The Camera was very interesting but very visually pleasing to the eye. Every shot in this short was very in depth and showed a great amount of detail through the clarity. Although we did not see much of a storyline, the camera shots show a story through the girls actions. Throughout the short we saw a variety of shots from overhead, closeup and a lot of establishing shots. In this film I wish we could have seen more detail in the beginning but this is what the director wanted. He wanted to save the shots of the boy until the end because it made the girl seem lonely in her friendship. Overall I enjoyed this film and its great quality shots.
Wilson Weirich: I really enjoyed this film! I thought the concept of a world within photos was fascinating, and it played out on screen perfectly. I was initially very confused by the “happy” sounding chords that followed the first chord stab as the first picture developed. After the happy music continued I realized it must not be a horror short and became even clearer after the protagonist panicked that the man wasn’t appearing in the photos. The progression of the story was easy to comprehend yet kept the viewer in the dark to be wonderfully gripping. The camerawork throughout was very inspiring, especially in reference to the camera movement during the tracking shots in the intro and the end on the beach. My favorite section by far is the end reveal when the music dies out and lets the impact of the message take over, slowly followed by the music softly returning, effectively establishing a sense of relief.
Peter Lewis in his short film, The Camera does a great job of creating an interesting and flowing narrative. He is able to really play with suspense by introducing a house, then a camera, and then a person that can only be seen through the lense of a polaroid, only to have him disappear. The whole story is very mysterious and makes us, the viewer, want to continue watching. Also, all of his shots are beautifully composed. I think both the opening shot and the shot of the female actress in front of the chest is striking. Finally, I thought the music really did a good job of building the story as the main character gets more and more anxious to find the boy in the pictures. My only critique was that the sound effects of a bird and cricket chirping in the beginning were repetitive and a little annoying. It just seemed like he was repeating the same sound effect over and over again, which I don't think were necessary.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this film I found it to be very interesting. All of the bird and cricket noises at the beginning really helped to set the scene for me at the beginning of the film. As the story continued I really liked how every time the girl would take a picture a mysterious boy would appear in the photos. It reminded me of horror movies. I also enjoyed how the pace of the music increased once the boy stopped appearing in the pictures and the girl was running around the house frantically to find him. That increase in the speed of the music helped me to sense the girls urgency. There were a lot of different shot types in this film especially in the beginning we were given a wide shot, a lot of medium shots, a few close ups, some back shots, and even some over the shoulder shots. All of these different shot selections in the film I found to be useful in letting the viewer get a better view of the scene and also to see the story from different point of views.
ReplyDeleteIn Peter Lewis' short film The Camera, the viewer is shown many different and beautiful shots. The different camera angles made the story very easy to follow and interesting to watch. The short film kept me guessing as to where the next place the boy would show up and had a slight horror movie vibe to it. I liked that the story had different twists and turns in it and had you on your toes at all times. The music also helped push the story along as well. It was very calming and whimsical while she walked along the beach and then sped up to show how anxious she was to find the boy after he vanished from the pictures. The setting at the beach and inside the house was also visually appealing. Overall, the story structure was really good and the film was enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful film! Before the girl gets to the house, we get a very clear feel of her loneliness and solitude by the directors choice of showing her alone, seemingly walking through a very large field for an extensive amount of time, shown by the repeated various shots of her walking. Once she arrives at the house, and starts looking around, which could be portrayed as a very different situation if her facial expressions, body language or camera angle were different, she seems happier. The house represents the presence of other people, which her life seems to be void of. She then finds the camera, and makes an invisible friend through its lens. This plot line could easily be transformed into a horror film with different music (in this short film, the music was absolutely gorgeous and uplifting) and different facial expressions, camera angles, and body language. The narrative of the film illustrates a lonely girl who makes an obscure friend, and then disappears with him, again, which could easily be horrifying but ends up to be an uplifting film due to the music, the shots that portray her positive emotion, and the quickening pace of the shots when she begins to "get to know" this new friend through the lens of her camera.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely loved this short film! Lewis's way of story telling along with the audio ques in key parts of the story structure, really pulled on my emotions. A great example of this would be the instance of a minor key change when she witnessed what the first picture actually contained! It honestly scared me for a bit! I also loved the shots of her feet in the sand, the imprints look nice, in particular the last shot of the imprint of her toes next to her last picture. The female actress in the short really is what made the film so fantastic. The emotions on her face just made it seem so much more real. I also really did not mind the somewhat shaky camera in some areas, it didn't really take away from the story itself. I feel like the shot of her coming up the stairs was brought together very nicely. It kept her in frame but I did notice some head room issues. All in all I loved it!
ReplyDeleteIn The Camera, director Peter Lewis was able to change the pace and the momentum of the film by making faster cuts and with the music to enhance those cuts. At the beginning the pace is slow as the girl walks to the house, explores the house, and takes the first picture. The pace picks up a little as she goes room to room taking pictures to see where the boy it. The pace speeds up more as the girl takes a picture without the boy in it and tries to figure out where he is, ultimately running out and to the beach. Then the pace slows down as the girl decides to take a picture of herself. I loved the simplicity and uniqueness to this film. The ending was not what I was expecting to happen and I enjoyed the suprise.
ReplyDeleteThis film, in my opinion, by Peter Lewis was absolutely phenomenal. Every shot from beginning to end had amazing resolution and clarity . It almost made the entire movie seem very delicate . Another attribution to the delicacy of this film was the music composition . The cuts in the shots matched almost every piano note . The story itself was very interesting and sweet as the actress goes along this journey with the boy that can only be shot through the Polaroid . The film capture a bunch of emotion portrayed by these two actors . Loneliness , as the girl walks by herself . Curiousity as she walks into the vacant house and searches until she finds the chest containing the Polaroid . Friendship as she follows the boy on the journey. Finally And what I believe to be the overall meaning of the film ... acceptance as she joins the boy by taking a Polaroid picture of herself . Overall I really enjoyed many aspects of the film and give credit to all that contributed to creating such a beautiful story .
ReplyDeleteDan Bryan: So...hmm. I'm genuinely not sure how to feel about this film, and almost all my ambiguity ties inexorably back into how it ends. The movie wanted to tie its use of the musical score closely with the events of the film, which is exactly how a musical score should be used--not to tell the audience how to feel about a scene, but to act as an ever-engaged and fluid companion component to the visuals. The ending kind of highlights my big problem with the movie: it had no idea what it wanted its tone to be. Is it reflective, with the girl contemplating her general loneliness? Is it haunting, with the girl yearning for something in her past which she has lost and can never have back except through supernatural means? Is it uncertain, with the girl making first contact with an alien boy who exists only in images? I would be fine with the ambiguity of the film's story if not for the ending wherein the girl traps herself, intentionally or unintentionally, on the boy's plane of existence. While the movie wants to use the music to reassure the audience that the girl is no longer lonely, the music seems blissfully unaware, possibly in-denial, that even taking into account all the different tones in which this movie can be interpreted, the implications of the girl disappearing are horrifying. Even if this boy meant only the best for the girl, we were given no indication that the girl knew she might disappear altogether--I sure as hell didn't see that coming. So...was this meant to be a horror story, then, with the music meant to provide a subtle misleading juxtaposition? I don't know, and that's the kind of ambiguity you *don't* want your audience to feel: that the filmmakers were uncertain of what they were trying to convey, rather than intentionally leaving the events up to personal interpretation.
ReplyDeleteLydia Eichler: I enjoyed that this film was sweet and simple. From the dedication at the end, it was clear that this film was made with a particular person in mind, and I feel that this was evident through the entire short film; the whole thing was very intimate with the girl and we feel like we get to know her just through her actions and expressions as she discovers the man in the photographs and follows him. Our relationship, as viewers, with this girl is not complicated by any other characters or a loud, bustling setting. Instead we are with her as she is alone, allowing us to see her truest actions.
ReplyDeleteThomas Meason- This film, The Camera was very interesting but very visually pleasing to the eye. Every shot in this short was very in depth and showed a great amount of detail through the clarity. Although we did not see much of a storyline, the camera shots show a story through the girls actions. Throughout the short we saw a variety of shots from overhead, closeup and a lot of establishing shots. In this film I wish we could have seen more detail in the beginning but this is what the director wanted. He wanted to save the shots of the boy until the end because it made the girl seem lonely in her friendship. Overall I enjoyed this film and its great quality shots.
ReplyDeleteWilson Weirich: I really enjoyed this film! I thought the concept of a world within photos was fascinating, and it played out on screen perfectly. I was initially very confused by the “happy” sounding chords that followed the first chord stab as the first picture developed. After the happy music continued I realized it must not be a horror short and became even clearer after the protagonist panicked that the man wasn’t appearing in the photos. The progression of the story was easy to comprehend yet kept the viewer in the dark to be wonderfully gripping. The camerawork throughout was very inspiring, especially in reference to the camera movement during the tracking shots in the intro and the end on the beach. My favorite section by far is the end reveal when the music dies out and lets the impact of the message take over, slowly followed by the music softly returning, effectively establishing a sense of relief.
ReplyDelete