Amari Champion - Reel/Unreel Response
When I was kid, I was a part of the "Big Brother/Big Sister Program" and I recall a weekend when my "Big Brother" took me to a renaissance fair that introduced me to many archaic games. The one that stuck out to me the most was a circular ring made of wood that you hit receptively with a stick to keep rolling. The first and last thing that came to my mind while watching this film was that one particular game. As cliche as it would be to mention the circle of life, I feel like this film represents just with an emphasis of a third world country in particular. The fact that only children are seen rolling the reel, represents a lifestyle being repetitively inherited by the next generation.
The use of film reel was crossing the bridge leading into music implied the segregation which was further emphasized in the time stamp more than half way through the clip. The coloratura of sound between the natural background and the rolling of the reel implied the focus of the storyline of a third world country that has been monitored or imperialized by another with the accent of the helicopters hovering in the sky through the POV of a local. This was emphasized around the 9 minute mark where you can also hear the sound of police sirens as the reel is being rolled through the corridor of an ally around the neighborhood.
I appreciated the use of color highlighting the theme and geographical setting. Outside of the consistent pastel, red and blue stood out the most, possibly narrating the flow of blood and tears the echoes through the streets.
The balloons were a nice touch, symbolizing youth and innocence. At one point there was a shot of the reel with a blue boarder that changed into a transparent boarder which implied that it might being telling two different stories which lines up with the continuity of story telling from different perspectives.
Overall, as simplistic as this film was, there was a massive sensory overload. I would have to watch it a few more times to fully appreciate the artistic vantage point.
Your perspectives on the heavy symbolism in the piece are appreciated, and well explained. Some analyses might feel like a stretch in their subtly, but your generosity in offering your points of view—where the film took you in your mind—makes for a great read. That said, your analysis is missing attention to formal choices that might help us to understand the ways in which the film was organized and constructed. The large variety of shot types stitch together to create the illusion of continuity, however the film is essentially a fiction, as opposed to documentation of an action. That action is loaded with symbolic and cultural significance, as you mention, but the nature of its construction should be addressed as well. The balloons, for instance, are a tip to the viewer that the film is somewhere between fact and fiction; documentation and construction. While the children's game is staged and pieced together to create the illusion of fluidity, the settings, locals, and day-in-the-life information going on is not. Might the film offer an often missed vantage point to a western audience? The bright balloons, in such stark contrast to the monotones of the landscape, are a reminder to read between the lines of what is real and unreal. Nice breakdown of the sound, although it's also important to note that the constant drone of the reels against the cobblestone keeps us grounded in a first-person perspective as we explore the path that the children trek through the city.
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