Francis Alÿs Reel-Unreel

 Francis Alÿs uses many different shot types in his short film. He begins with wide shots to provide the setting for the viewer. He then moves to closeups, tracking, tilt, etc. Having these many types of shots gives the watcher different viewpoints and allows them to see more specific detail throughout the film. The illusion of continuity is conveyed through visuals but it is also conveyed through audio. The amount of daylight also helps aid the illusion of continuity, the span of the film is approximately 17 minutes and the sunlight does not change so the idea of the children running around for 17 minutes is not outlandish. Every shot throughout the film sounds basically the same so the use of parallel editing is not distracting. Because of the asynchronous sound, the viewer can easily recognize that every action is happening very close to each other. This effect allows the viewer to believe that even though the children are not on-screen rolling the film, they are still somewhere rolling the film. The color throughout the film is overall very dreary, with very little splashes of color. Alÿs could have very easily color corrected it to be more vibrant, but as we know this was not an accident, nothing in film is an accident. Allowing the film to have this dreary look changes the tone of the film and makes the viewer see and feel what Kabul was enduring at this time. In the future, I will try to utilize asynchronous sound to help aid the illusion of continuity. Another action I would like to explore and test is parallel editing because it broadens the viewers' understanding of the overall film.