Cecelia Baez, Short Video Response

My absolute favorite  video that was viewed during class would have had to be the old man and his blockage towards reality. At first glance of the film, I began to think that his wife died during 9/11 and that his whole life he never knew what happened. Abe brought up that he realized it wasn't because of his wife dying, but the towers that fell in which helped him to see the light of reality. Aside from the sad love story of an old man, which touched my heart, I saw that the act of 9/11 opened the eyes of many individuals. It opened the eyes for truth, reality, and that doesn't mean for just terrorism schemes from other countries. I allowed people to value each others lives, and allowed people to actually LIVE, because you never know when something like that could happen again. It faced us with reality that we don't live in the best or worst country. That aside from our bubbles we are always in war being one… or the top country in the world. That there is more than the next party, or the next crush, but doing something with your life. That's what I felt towards it. I also believed that finally seeing the light, isn't always the high light of anyones day. Some individuals cannot take the truth. The old man wheeping for his love, that he finally realized was gone, it hurt. He could finally move on.. but it hurt. Some people are happier not knowing what happen. I take that example from the Children who were unable to grasp the true meaning of 9/11. I think of it.. would it really benefit them or hurt them to see how cruel or sad the world could be? Would I really want my children to know that terrible things could happen like that, or allow their innocent minds to learn things later in life. It;s touching.. and confusing :)

Where do I even start? I guess I could say that I like all the videos but not all of them struck me in a certain way. But I can definitely say that each director used their brains very intellectually. To start off, I want to say that the video with the little kids was the most heart warming one because of the characters. I just want to point out that I think serious movies with little kids are more effective. The reason why is because it shows you that not only does the event affect us adults, but it also has a role in a 7 year's old mind and heart. When we first watched this video, no one knew what the children were saying so we started to use our visual techniques and tried to comprehend what was going on. When the children were putting mud into the bricks, I thought that they were just really poor and it was child labor. We can forget that the little girls were so cute and talkative. Not the point, but I thought that they were just talking about things that little kids do. Come to find out, I was totally wrong. The way the director used the children was so strong. When we were able to understand what the children were saying, it shocked me and made me giggle because all they were talking about throughout the entire movie was about someone dying. It was also a strong piece because they involve religion into the script. They were taught that God has a cycle. He creates the human beings, destroys them, and then makes again. I thought that was interesting because they're so used to people dying and whatnot. That's not how a kid's mind should be like. I think at this point, I didn't really care about the camera angles, I just cared about the script. And the script just took me to a whole different mindset.

I also like the video with the guy who was accused of being a terrorist because he's not a typical American and the way that the government treated him was not cool. I wasn't originally from America and I would be super pissed if the government did that to me. USA is known for their freedom, speech, and to bare arms. Where was his speech in this movie? They didn't even give him a chance to say anything. They just assumed that he was a terrorist because of his race and it just so happened that he was there during the attack. America was accusing him of something that he's not and created this big issue about him, and after 6 months, they want to act like nothing happened and call him a hero. I think that America should be less judgmental towards people because not everyone is a criminal. And ANYONE can be a hero. Just because you're white, it doesn't make you a hero. 

Out of all the short films, the one that touched me the most was the last one we watched. When we watch movies we always expect or want music to explain to us the emotion for the scene we are watching. Another way to show the type of emotion is of course the tone of a characters voice. In this short film there was no audio to us at all except when the man was talking on the phone to one of his friends. This was just for us to look at the perspective of the woman since she is deaf. In the beginning was where she just moved to New York and the man was deaf tourist and that's how they met. Her laying on the piano showed how she can feel vibrations and can feel a little which came up again when she was typing her letter. She saw her coffee mug shaking, table moving and the dog barking. She knew something was going on but she just didn't know what it was. It made me anxious and frustrated when she kept walking to the television and almost saw what was going on but kept going back to the computer to finish writing her letter. Finally at the end of the letter she wrote basically should she leave and end the relationship or should she wait for a miracle, than he shows up at the door covered in dust and dirt. This element to me is surprising to me because in the beginning she tells him that she had a dream that a voice told her he wasn't coming back home. To me, if the fight had not have lasted the length that it did and he left earlier than he might actually be dead. Also it's like she saved her relationship thanks to this miracle but it's also a tragedy to everyone else in the city that lost loved ones. I kind of want to see how this scene would end if he left earlier or if she wasn't deaf. Would she look at the tv sooner and try to go after him. Overall the silent to the short scene just added more of an element of surprise that made me question other elements in the film.

 I think the video that made an impact on me the most was the 2nd video with the guy never got over the fact that his wife had passed. It started off with the dead flowers and to be honest I never understood that part and why the flowers were the subject at the moment. The part when when it went to the guy and he was talking to his "wife" and looking for a new outfit for "her" to wear was really confusing. I assumed that she died during the plane crash and that it was sort of like an anniversary type thing. 
Later, however, as the video progressed as the man was asleep, the twin towers were hit and as one began to fall the light began to come through the window into the appartment. That was the most powerful part of the video because it made me think like, imagine the people that were home close by as the towers collapsed and how the lighting and scenery changed. It made me think and left a big impression on me.  
Then when the flowers came back to life and the guy woke up to them excited. He seemed happy to me but I just thought it was strange. It wasn't til the end that I realized that it wasn't until the light came in that the guy woke up from his delusion that his wife was long gone. Pretty sad ending and again very powerful as the last tower fell and its shadow disappeared from the outside walls of the appartment.

Usually, abstract films (like Sean Penn's short) confuses me. Most of the time throughout the film, I was trying to piece together what I am seeing before my eyes. It didn't take until the end for me to figure out the details of the film. Even though I found the film interesting, I couldn't connect to it in any way since I didn't make said connection during the film. And of course, I don't really know what to say about the first film since I don't understand Italian. So that pretty much leaves the third and final film. 

The one thing that stood out to me before anything else about the film was: the intensity. The missing soundtrack and use of muffled silence almost put me over the edge. Here we see (hear) the world through a deaf/mute woman during the event of 9/11. Sure it's an interesting take on the way to tell the story of 9/11 differently, but it was more than that. To me, that (the whole film) symbolized the millions of stories that people across the world have to tell. Everyone went through something different; experienced unique happenings throughout the course of 9/11. That's why that film especially stood out to me. It wasn't just about her or his (the characters), it was about my story. My friend's story. My mom's story. My neighbor's story. My neighbor's friend's story. And his family's story and so on and so on. We all have something different and unique to bring tot he table, and the film was the medium in which people could voice their story, even without the actual use of sound. The film, to me, was all about the story of the people. 

Out of the three short films we watched today I think I took the most out of the second one. Being that it wasn't my first time watching it I understood a bit more of it. From the first time I was able to watch it my view of the message behind it has changed. I went from thinking his wife died on 9/11 when in reality the "light" that was brought upon him was thanks to 9/11 in some way. He was living a life of pure imagination and lies. He stilled liked to think that his wife was there by his side, growing old with him. I think that this is what attracts me more to the film. It takes something to deep and hurtful and turns it into something so interesting and shows it in a way where different people can take it in different ways. I took at as his light was his wife he loved her too much to even let her rest in complete peace because he himself didn't accept her death and her no longer being by his side. Which I take as him being selfish cause regardless she is now in a better place. I also really liked how there wast much eye contact with the camera. The old man was always focused on something more which to me made it a bit more touching, it made it more realistic. The end confused me for while until Mr.Herman told me why the flowers were blooming. The fact that they took the idea of something so tragic giving him this light after loosing someone he really loved intrigued me and till this day I wish I could meet the director to ask him why ? why take this approach to something so tragic and giving it a beautiful meaning, well at least to me. 

When I watched Sean Penn's video I've aready expected everything. After watching it two other times, it still remains one of my favorite short films. The way the man in the film lives on with his life even after his wife's death, tells quite a story. I still find it interesting that 9/11 was the date when he finally found out the reality about his life and if it never happened, he'd still be in denial. Also, the contrast between his public appearance, and his home appearance was interesting. In public, he was this old man who looked somewhat decent. You knew nothing about him, you'd think he was normal. But at home, he was this lunatic (to some), who couldn't move on from his spouse's death. Overall, I think Sean Penn did a very good job over all expressing indirect loss (loss that maybe wasn't from the towers collapsing), especially with this humble old man that just wanted to enjoy the rest of his life with his wife alive.