The film that touched me the most was the one directed by sean penn. The film caught my attention in the first minute just by showing the setting. I felt like i was in a sort of time machine seeing the way the older man's apartment was set up. He was older and a lot of the things in his house and even some of his mannerisms were very old fashioned which was interesting to see when it was related to something that had happened in a more modern time period. The film was able to grab my attention in many ways and make me really feel for the man with use of the music, camera angles, effects and dialogue. The dialogue i think is what got me most because the man's actions and speech were so dark to a point of almost insanity throughout the film and that really threw my emotions around. Sean penn has an amazing style of directing and it was shown very well through this piece. 

The video the made me feel the most had to be the one with the man.  There were a couple powerful part in the movie but the one that really hit me hard was when you saw the light slowly being brought back into his room.  It looked like something falling but it was a shadow.  You know right away that it was tower one that was the shadow that was falling.  But that was not the powerful the part I am talking about is when he doesn't even stop to think why there is now light seen in his room but instead he is so happy that his dead wifes flowers grow, but when he goes to show he, he finally realizes that for many years his wife has been dead and he starts to cry.  To me I think it is to symbolize all the people in America that were crying on that day that the light came into the building.  I still remember that day 9/11/01 like it was yesterday as weird as it seems so when i see videos or documentary I get a sick feeling and get emotional so all of this videos made me have feeling but the one with the old man made me have the most.

This is a response to the last video with the death lady. In the class discussion, I noticed a lot of people got the impression that the end meant that you shouldn't leave the house mad at someone you love but I think the message of this film was much more deeper then that, but I'm not sure how. I like how we were able to feel what it was like to be in the shoes of the woman in the video since she was deaf and then how in the middle of the film, we were able to hear normally and then it went right back. I was confused on the part about the woman in the film talking about her hearing voices. It made me think that the guy in the film really was not returning home after he left for work. Either way, returning or not, I'm not really not sure how I would feel if he did return v.s if he did not come back alive. What stood out most to me was the audio and I think it was really creative how the director took advantage of that. I believe that the fact that she was deaf and a mute had a lot to do with the message of the film. I think it reflects on America in general. Overall, this film stood out the the most to me and it affected me the most. 

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.