In Depth Films

In the film, “Close Quarters” by Jim Jennings, This felt like more of a photographer’s film. This film was black and white with incredible shadows and silhouettes. I really like the shot of the cat’s silhouette, the cat seems not to move as if it doesn’t even notice the camera, but like it is a living shadow of it’s self. All the shots in the film are tight and up close on the object’s hence the title Close Quarters, where we see Jim’s apartment in very close in depth shots. He films these lines in the light and connects them to other lines as if there graphic matches. Thoughts that come up in the piece are things I wonder about in the frame, for example when the cat is staring at the bird. I wonder if the cat is going to jump and try to get this bird, but you realize that this is a reflection of the film maker. This is his world and he is inviting you to look into to it very closely. In the film, “Circling the Image” by James Benning we get this view of a documenter filmmaker from a third person view. James is always being filmed in his natural state or filming his own film. I’ve never seen a documentary within a documentary. He is filming 1 great lakes of the world. He goes into one very detailed in the film that he sort of begins to ramble about for to long. That just shows that he really knows and loves what he is doing. These were the films that stuck out to me. -Randal Jackson-