Sundace films in review.

Christopher Galarza
Core 2: time based media
N00395152
Spring 2007


“Black and white trypps number three”


One of the most interesting short films are made to move, in my opinion a short films goal is a great story told in a minimal amount of time. I watch this following film “Black and white trypps number three” for the fact that it’s about and it states “The transformation of a rock audience’s freak out into a trance ritual of the highest spiritual order”. Wow. So I watched this in my opinion is one of the worst short films I have seen. The point to why I hated it was because of the fact that it had no story line its just a bunch of pale kids bopping there heads to music, the footage is rather disturbing to me for some reason, they look like there going to die by the end. The run time of this short is to long. In the end no story line equals no interest to me. Horrible I want my 10 minutes back.


“Conversion”

“Christian missionaries make a catastrophic visit to Navajo family” this is the story to the short. I chose to right this while I watched it to see how my opinion might change threw out the film. In terms of shots they have some beautiful ones, my favorite being the ones with the main character the little girl and her auntie in the desert, the use of these shots really show the vastness of where they live, and how small they are. In terms of story in my opinion it fell flat you never really get an understanding to what happened. Christian missionaries came told there grandpa not to take medicine and in the end he just dies. I can’t help but to think that there is a hidden meaning in this film. Shots of her aunt ripping the picture of Jesus that her niece starts to make into her own personal tourniquet. and then right after the grim news. The finale shot was of the little girl taking the pieces of the picture and putting it back together child she just stares at it, then the last shot is a far one with the silhouette of her in the sunset. Story wise again it fell flat, but it developed with the importance of the picture of Jesus.


“Happiness”

By god my dream came true a movie with an older woman working in a condom factory. This is the setting that we are introduced to in the beginning. I have to say I really enjoyed this film it quickly became a story of the definition of happiness. “The story a woman finds a store that sells happiness in a box!!” Early on in the film there is a scene with her boss taking a look around the company, the main character notices her nice white stilettos, and then we get a shot of her ugly worn brown shoes. This later is made to one of the most important parts in the film. Also along with those white shoes is a bandage on one of the boss’s foot. Later after she buys happiness nothing happens she opens it, but we the viewer never get to see what’s inside which is an obvious method of making us determine for ourselves what happiness is. Later on she returns the box but to return to work but nothing other then a pair of white heels of her own. After a couple of seconds there is a price of this happiness, pain. She puts on a bandage on the back of her heel to relieve the pain from the shoes, then the boss walks in , and my favorite shot of the short takes place, they face each other, but the shot only shows the shoes facing each other almost taunting each other, then one smart look on her face and it ends. Story wise the development was great one of my favorite short films to date. I believe the intentions of the film where made and successful with the development. Great.