The
great benefit in shooting a movie in this kind of Blair
Witch-type format is that any technical flaws usually
serve to enhance the movie's look rather than detract
from it. Of course, the problem comes when a director
goes over the top with this kind of film, ensuring that
the audience will either end up with motion sickness or
that they just won't understand the film at all. Fortunately,
that is not the case with Televisual Man. The filmmakers
show a clear knowledge of the medium, without taking it
too far. Visually, this is a unique movie that does a
good job at getting its message across.
Use
of Audio
One
of my favorite parts of watching this film was in the
background score in the song "Creeping Emptiness
Over The Street" by Amir Baghiri. The music had a
great ethereal quality, and really matched well with the
slow motion and fuzzy images.
Toward
the end of the film there were a few moments of ambient
sound that didn't seem to match either the audio or the
visual images. The vague talking, traffic sounds, and
bumping noises sounded like someone forgot to turn off
the mic during filming, or that the chosen ambient noise
for the scene got a little bit too loud. This, coupled
with the fact that the ambient noise coming from the TV
was minimal at best and didn't seem to match the visuals,
seems a little out of place. As the television is such
a key part of the message of the film, it might be a good
idea to get rid of any other ambient noises, except for
those that are coming from the TV. This choice may help
to enhance the feeling that the watcher is so engrossed
in his own little world that he is incapable of comprehending
anything outside of the world of the television.
Use
of Budget
I'm
not sure how to address this aspect of the review as the
budget is a bit vagbue. But judging from what the director
said, this was just an experimental project that initially
involved borrowing a friend's camera and playing around.
In that case, it couldn't have cost a whole lot of money
to make, and it obviously doesn't look like an expensive
film. My guess would be that the greatest expense involved
in making this movie would be procuring the music that
was used, but as the director mentioned that the artist
was a friend of his, that couldn't have cost a whole lot
of money, either.
