VERBATIM TRANSCRIPT OF FEEDBACK:
Holger: Great to see the completion, I saw it last week, which was very very close to what we have now. Again, I really enjoyed it. I think you’re right, the pace is very good, you really keep a nice rhythm and you feed us with kind of really interesting portions of emotion, and a bit of background to the history, I think that works really well. The animation works well, the sound design, well done, it’s really lovely, it all fits into each other, all as a piece, comes really well together. I mean, it’s just minor things I thought the title at the end could have been at the beginning, but it doesn’t really matter. My question is, can you explain the connection between the food and revolution. Because we can get the information at the radio about Russia occupied Czechoslovakia, and then you cut to the food. The reason I am asking is that in the second one, about the hair, makes total sense because she’s, there’s a revolutionary act in playing music so I thought that was a nice connection, with food I didn’t. The only connection that I made is food is connected with memory, remember about mum’s food, recipe, or certain things they cook, so I felt, if that is your clue, maybe it should be at the end, instead of the keys, because then you have the family story, you have the history, and then we end up where we started, which is in the house, and then from the food back, lovely end from where we started. The is the first time I’ve seen this complete, and this is the only thing that I would try, it might not work. But other then that, it was all really coherent.
Sana: The structure didn’t bother me at all, the way it moves. Maybe it’s because I’ve spent a bit of time with them in the edit, maybe I need to watch it again with different eyes, just to see that one particular sequence. For me, it flowed beautifully. I love the pace of the film, of the edit, so well done. It’s really hard I think to be brave enough to let, to keep a shot for the length of time, and I love how that image of the balcony just stays and stays, and right at the end there’s a little bit of animation, so that’s really lovely. And pace, it’s not rushed, I like the sound design, at the beginning, how it draws you into the house, and then the story. I guess the only thing…I’m trying to think critically because I really enjoyed the film. The only thought that occurred to me was I wanted to see, so there is a lovely photograph of Jana when she’s older, and we see photographs of her with her family when she’s younger, but just to kind of help us get to know her, because it’s her story, it’s really about her, and you’ve done all of the rest so beautifully, I felt what was missing for me was to have one close up image of her when she’s younger, and something to bridge the gap. Actually, the story kind of jumps from young to then older, I just felt that you could have done a little bit more, I wonder if we could just see her more closer up at some point, so we can really emphasise with this character a bit more. For me, that’s what’s missing and I’d have watch the film again to see where, and I’m sure you could work this out yourselves, where could you see that. And is it possible to zoom in one of the photographs or put one in from when she’s younger. … (our response saying that we have one in film, with a little corner writing ‘Form mum, 1978’) …That was the only other thing that threw me off. It looked like a subtitle. The voice of the subtitles is the voice of the filmmakers in the film. And this is the only subtitle where the voice changes and I was wondering who wrote this, who is this from. Is this from Jana to her mum? I mean it clearly is, but that little bit of subtitle there was probably the only other moment that stood as questionable. … (Becky’s response saying why she wanted it, and that we shot without it too) … You could try it without, because it raised small questions that weren’t necessary, that took away from the narrative, rather than keeping us with the narrative. These are really minor things, but it’s good to be aware of these minor things, because they can take away from your film. But overall, I really enjoyed it. Really beautiful animation.
Holger: Yeah and you also used the, the use of music, very scarcely, when it came in, it was the right time, the structure of the voiceover, the soundtrack, then it added another layer, but you didn’t use it extensively, so it was just the right proportion, so, again, compliments to you.
Sana: And again, something very nice about personal story, against a bigger historical backdrop, all contained in this house, I mean structurally, there were many many layers, it works fantastically as a short film. You contained the whole film in that house, but there’s so much history in there, which is why I think, maybe that’s why I didn’t connect with that photograph because of that title, and if there’s any opportunity, without taking away from the nice harmony that you have there in your edit, to have a closer look then that would be good. … (class feedback) … it worked beautifully, the keys sequence works beautifully, I never saw that. And well done to the sound design as well through the whole film, just right.
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