Monday, June 23, 2008

Review of Жизнь Студента

I am part of a forum called Christianfilmmakers.org. We currently have about 550 members and Colton Davie is one of them. This is an experimental short film of his called Жизнь Студента which I believe is Russion for Student Life. Anyway, I was extremely interested by this work and wrote up a very detailed review.

I suggest watching the short, trying to figure out what it means to you, reading my thoughts on it, and then sharing your thoughts. I hope you enjoy!


http://openlightstudios.com/ZhiznStudenta.mov

Hey Colton,

I just watched your short twice and here are some thoughts:

I was very confused the first time and wondered if there was any point at
all... I think part of me, though, thought that there might be, but it had just
gone way over my head. However, I did really love the cinematography. Encouraged
after reading the posts about the short, I watched it a second time, this time
with my brother and I bounced ideas off of him of what I thought things
meant.

Opening credits: Just now, listening to the opening music a third time, I
get a early morning/sleepy feeling from it. Also, the way the credits disappear
is very sleepy.

Cell phone alarm goes off and then box alarm: This is something I've done.
I wake up to my alarm in the morning and then look at the time and go back to
sleep. Then, my box alarm (that I set to go off later as a safety measure) goes
off. While I can't identify with a loud dorm roommate, I do sympathise with the
obnoxiousness of it all and everyone has been rudely awoken at some time or
another.

Dropping down to the concrete floor: This seemed symbolic to me. To me it
represents how one feels in the morning. He has passed from the warm,
comfortable, wonderful bed onto the hard, cold, depressing floor. He has left
the comforting, restful world of dreams for the difficult, laborious, and
stressful world.

Everything in the opening part of the short is very sleepy. It seems that
he is taking a hot shower which may not be the best thing to wake one up, but it
is what one feels like doing in the morning. I'm not sure if the soaps signify
anything, but I noticed that two are upside down and one is right side up. Yeah,
maybe there's nothing to that... yet perhaps there is. *wink* Back to the
drowsiness thing, even pulling the towel down is down in a sleepy, morning
way.

I love the shot with the leaf rolling in the upper right corner. It gives
the feeling of freshness. The music also picks up here and I get the feeling
that the main character is more awake now, but not quite awake enough to be
almost-tackled by a friend (the friend has either more energy than the main
character or has been up a lot longer... afterall, it is at least 11:00.)

Some of the later stuff just feels like school or is confusing.

I think that the colored stuff is what he is dreaming rather than the black
and white. This goes along with the idea that the dream world can seem way
better than the real world. All the dream stuff is more random, but overall
feels more pleasant.

Talking with the girl: I love this part! I love the exchanged glances! I
think the green light shot goes along with the glances. Once they both smile at
each other, the main character feels like he has a green light to talk to her. I
think they both go to the same school and are perhaps even in a class together
(maybe Russian?), but he has never really talked to her. I think they say "hi"
to each other and then he asks her how she is. She responds by saying something
like "not too bad" or "alright" or "pretty good." I'm confused about what the
main character says next. I kinda get the feeling, but I'm having trouble
placing my finger on it.

Cutting back to the obnoxious roommate: From a cute dream to shocking
awakening... Once again the difference between the worlds.

Scene with main character, girl, and lights: Great lighting effect!
Beautiful! I don't completely get the point here, but it is comforting. The
scene feels like it's saying, "It's going to be okay." This is the last
comforting thing before he wakes up.

The second alarm and screaming roommate: He's back to the real world.

So, I'm not sure what I got right, but I love that I was able to pull all
these things out of the short even though the film is so out of the ordinary.
Thank you for sharing!

10 comments:

Bruce Kratky said...

I have not been able to activate the link you attached to your blog. I don't know if it is my ignorance of the system or if the link is not set correctly at your level. I'll continue to try to open it later today, but you may want to double check it if you have access to another computer somewhere and can have it or a friend verify that it works. I will note that you are getting ever more sophisticated on your blog in that you are actually using Russian characters. Between linking and foreign language usage, your own pictures and movie clips, you have BLOWN MY WEBSITE TO BITS OF SHAME! ha, ha.

Ms. Hope said...

Well, having been to Bible college, the sterile environment definitely felt familiar. I agree that the color scenes are his dreams. I like the symbol of the green light--I didn't catch that myself but I get it now. The last thing he said to her was to invite her to do something exciting with him: go dancing, go to a movie, go to a rock concert? Any of which were taboo at my Bible college. Her enthusiastic response seems a little bit of the temptress to me. Everything was just TOO easy, ya know? Loved the cinematography, too. Didn't get much out of the scene of him sitting in front of the computer. That could have been edited to make things move more quickly. But, yeah, the best thing in the cafeteria being boxed cereal? We would have accepted demerits if we'd had the chance for a bowl of Cheerios once in a while. We had to go to the dining hall for supper (not breakfast or lunch) and a couple of times I gladly accepted my demerits for skipping just to avoid the corned beef and cabbage. But I digress . . .

Josh said...

Keep on trying Bruce. It opens for me, but I had to wait about a minute. Yeah, it took me a little while to find out what the title meant... unfortunately I can't say that I know Russian, but it helped to know how the movie tied in with the title. Thanks for the complements! I hope you post soon on your blog. I miss your writings! :)

Josh said...

Becky, I liked your thoughts on the short. However, I don't think the girl was any sort of temptress. She is far too lady-like and kind for that. I'm not sure that he was asking her out either. It would be interesting to find out what really was saying.

In regard to the comment about the computer-in-the-background-shot. I don't understand that shot, but something important to know about this film is that one of the goals was to do things way out of the box, to do things that normally would be considered against the film "rules."

I'm glad you agree on the thought that the color shots were his dreams. That was an out of the ordinary thing to do, but I love that he was able to film without many of the usual constraints.

Josh

Bruce Kratky said...

I got it running on my Apple. Good old Apple. Can't beat the iMac. The shot in front of the computer terminal...electricity emulating from his head, his brain, his being. While you see him silhoutted in front of the tube his eyes are shut. This is the energy of man during the dream state. Also, you will notice that in the class room he is alone. Again, dream state. I am intrigued by the fact that he awakens at 10:30. Is it a.m. or p.m. Is he on time or is he late or is he early. Don't really know. The young woman is in no way a temptress. She is an ideal. You don't understand what she says because she is a woman, no? Interesting. Over all I do not understand all of what is intended in the short. What was his assignment? That would help me. Street light gives permission, enables him to bridge the gap between him and his dream ideal, the girl. Red is passion, green is cooler, more restful from a symbolic standpoint. Hanging lights with girl...that is a mystery. Pretty abstract short if you ask me. That is the best I can do.

Josh said...

I'm glad it worked for you Bruce.

I don't remember if he said much about his assignment except that he was supposed to be out-of-the-box.

Elenatintil said...

Hey Josh- I'm hoping that you'll update soon! Are you going to do a post about Challange?

Josh said...

Yeah, I definately want to write some more soon. Blogging time just seems to be evading me lately. I have several major events I to talk about so I sure hope I get to them soon. :)

Bruce Kratky said...

Josh, you have stopped writing. Have you stopped thinking?

Josh said...

Yes to the first and no to the second. My mind still is whirring with many thoughts every day. I just have been having difficulty sitting down and just writing. I will try to post sometime today.

Josh