Film 301 - Iranian New Wave Cinema

Thursday 9th November 2017            Research and Experimentation     Lecturer: Kaz, Dan, Andy

The work of Abbas Kiarostami

Iranian New Wave Cinema - Five 2003  - pays homage to Japanese filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu

We watched a short film that was directed by Abbas Kiarostami Five (Five, 2003), a film which consists of 5 different long takes, with the themes of water, nature, and animals. I felt that this abstract piece of work was very interesting and I would like to have a go at implementing the ideas of long take and fixed camera angles into my research and experimentation module submission.What's unique about this piece of work is that it revolved heavily around fixed camera shots and visuals for the first 4 long takes. The short consisted of 5 sections which I have broken down below;

1). Sea waves close in towards the shore. we watch a piece of driftwood being swept along the beach, the force of the waves break the wood but we carry on spectating to see if the two bits of wood become connected and aligned within the frame. 

2). Wide angled shot which portrays the sea in the background, the consistent flow of waves and in the foreground, we witness passer by's. I felt like this shot, in particular, consisted of multiple layers, I also liked the way that there is an empty frame towards the end of the frame which we haven't seen up till now. 

3). At first glance, I thought that the animals were seals, I liked the transition changes through changing the saturation which fades us into the next shot as well as bleaching the ocean out. Particularly liked the ripple effect of the waves as they change course, visible in the background when the saturation adjustments take place. 

4). A wide-angle shot which portrays a group of ducks waddling in front of the screen, side to side, strange foley noises created to replicate the movement of the animals along the sand.  

5). Unlike the 4 shots previous, this long take revolves heavily around the sound design, we hear the animals and can see a small ripple of water which moves from the center of the screen to the top of the frame. About 3/4 of the way through this we can visibly see that the object that has been reflected in the moon, this then cuts out to a wide angled shot of the sea at Dawn.

Here is an image from the film Five (2003) - Long Take No.3

Here is a film that I created alongside a few students in response to Five called One Filling, I edited this piece with the intention of experimenting with sound distortion and color correction.

One Filling from Luke Curno on Vimeo.

References

Five. (2003). [film] The Caspian Sea in Iran and Spain: Kimstim.