1. Raindance Independent Film Festival Oct. 3rd
-4th
2015
Visiting Leicester Square in London for the Raindance Independent Film Festival gave me, as a
film student, an opportunity to view cinematic techniques used in real films which are not
shown in mainstream cinemas. This enabled me to learn about editing styles which bend or
break the rules of conventional cinema.
Pigs (Laura Mohai)
The short film ‘Pigs’ utilises long takes and slow edits which are coherent to the sombre feeling
of the film as we follow the young boy and his mother who is struggling with the loss of a child.
The cuts used in the film move with the pace of the music creating a steady rhythm throughout
the film.
The Reaper (Zvonimir Juric, Jelena Paljan)
‘The Reaper’ portrays the isolation and loneliness of different characters through several
separate narratives within a community in Slovenia. Long takes and slow cuts create a very
tense, enigmatic atmosphere, however, the editing, from the perspective of the spectator
makes the film difficult to watch and maintain attention to due to it’s slow progression. The
long takes, in my opinion, create almost still shots which I feel avert the audience’s attention
rather than attracting it.
