Francis Alÿs Analysis - DJ
I noticed Alÿs choice in using a bunch of different shots to give a feel for what the kids see and the people around them. I think one shot that was interesting is when the camera is set up kind of in an alley looking out at the street. You see the first kid walk with the first roll of film then the second kid, then all kids that are running behind and last the man with all the balloons. I think it was a smart choice to keep the camera rolling instead of cutting because it’s something you don’t expect. I also found it interesting in the beginning of the film to not show the kid in the back because it tricked me into thinking this kid had a really long piece of never ending film.
I like the choice of not overlaying music and leaving the original sound. Something I noticed as the reel went on is that it is kinda showing the area in a unique way. We are seeing everything from the children's point of view. They make something that seems so small to us seem like so fun and enjoyable to watch. You are really getting to feel the childhood come out. As far as the coloring it was kept neutral to match the surrounding. A lot of the builds were beige and the coloring felt being.
You're hitting at some important points here, your analysis just needs more detail and development to solidify your ideas. For instance, your observation that the children, through their game, are exposing us to a unique perspective on their city—a perspective that we, as a western audience, would not otherwise have access to through news footage, for instance. This is not a passive accident, but rather an integral detail in the construction of this film and its overall intentions. To push that point further, the man carrying the balloons is not a happy accident that the filmmakers decided to simply keep in the cut; rather his inclusion is a highly stylized tip to the audience that what they are seeing is a construction (hence our emphasis of continuity shooting and editing). Good, analytical eye to notice these details! Now we'll get more used to breaking down their conceptual and compositional intentions so that we might better weave such formal sensitivity into our own work.
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