Analysing Depict Entries

Watch a range of Depict entries, both past and present and shortlist your favourites.

Six mothers  Coping  You Died  La Forêt Sauvage 

 Six Mothers 

https://www.depict.org/2019/six-mothers/?category_request=2019

Six Mothers is a short, non-fiction, video which tells the story of motherhood and captures the sense of how one can interpret childbirth, The art behind the frames and shadows allow the film to illustrate birth in a creative and powerful way, capturing your senses and drawing in the mind to focus on the slow shots and aesthetic of movements. It connects mothers with the sense of nostalgia from experiencing a visual art form representation of the life they gave birth to. The video is shot like a still image but with the slow and forceful surroundings capturing the camera it creates a sense of reality as beauty. Even though the camera itself stays still the water crashing against the camera gives off the illusion of you slowly sinking with every frame. There was dialogue spoken by Six women from six different countries describing in a short their experiences. A soft sound of waves could be heard in the background as a backing effect. The lighting was dimmed and contrasted to fit the aesthetic of a soft but vibrant glow. The saturated frames fit so perfectly, pleasing the eye and capturing the overall intensity of emotions being produced. The pace would change from slow-motion shots to quick fiery movements but they all were edited with such care as the syncing of each clip flowed within each other portraying the visual image as a unique interpretation of childbirth. The theme is intense but captures the warm embrace of motherhood within its dramatic shots. 

Coping 

https://www.depict.org/2019/coping/?category_request=2019

Coping is a short, bright, film which focuses upon a group of four creatures coming home after a long day of work. It shows each of their different coping mechanisms, how they relax. It gradually builds up and becomes more intense as the video goes on. The music also speeds up with the progression of the video to help create the build-up to a dramatic end. You see the characters become overwhelmed with their activities and ‘explode’ under the dramatic pressure. It shows an artistic, colourful creation on each character, giving it a cartoon style while still appropriating towards the older category of people. The whole film is shot in a still image. It focuses on one scene for each character and that is how it stays for the entire film. The video itself is quite humorous with the dramatic music and crazy imagery it has shown, the cartoons slowly morphing and colours flashing creates a comedic undertone from the idea of coping mechanisms as a whole. It reminds me of a series of paintings because of the funky art style and bold outlining. It's like looking at a museum painting featured in the Tate modern. 

 

You Died

https://www.depict.org/2019/you-died/?category_request=2019

You Died is a funny, cartoon briefing into your new life as a dead spirit. It brings a sense of humour towards one of the most feared thoughts, death by talking you through your new life as a dead person and how to tell if you are in fact, dead. You died allows you to laugh at the concept of death which is something portrayed really well throughout the video. So funny I literally died. The video plays a really good role in sarcastic humour “and now you can watch this video for the rest of eternity, on loop” while playing laughing and cheery music in the background. It captures the witty humour much needed upon such a heavy topic. It's executed really well with the animated smooth running imagery uplifting the heavy undertone, styling it towards children yet voicing it towards adults. It's shot as an old-timely video with the black and white colouring and dramatic, exaggerated voice acting which ties together that comedic relief value, making it a worthwhile short film. 

 La Forêt Sauvage

https://www.depict.org/2014/la-foret-sauvage/?category_request=2014 

La Forêt Sauvage is a dark twist on puppeteering and the world of thriller. This by far was one of my favourite short films as it really does involve a lot of key aspects in a successful, talented, well-shot film. The story is about a greedy landowner who accosts a farmer, demanding that he pays the rent but something sinister occurs because of his actions. The atmosphere of the film is chilling yet charming, it draws in your senses from the dramatic, well-timed music to the perfectly executed animation of the characters. It's bold and eerie which portrays the perfect message for greed, your greed can consume you, destroy your life as depicted in this short film. The landowner got what was coming for him, his greed for money ended his life. It's dramatic but extremely effective. The way the film is shot is beautiful, the constant change of direction to signify an upcoming event about to take place and the way you can feel the exact expressions and thoughts of the characters is incredibly well done. Like ‘You died’ it’s shot as a black and white movie which really gives it that horrific and sinister feel, which is exactly its intentions. It's incredibly well done and one of my favourite pieces.