A Good Life, Too: Alonzo Clemons from The Good Line on Vimeo.
This is the story of a man that was institutionalized for 10 years after suffering a brain injury as a child. He began to make sculptures as a way to express himself. “When they wouldn’t give him clay, he would scrape warm tar from the parking lot.”
This is an example of a character profile that a filmmaker might stray away from due to fear of not being able to understanding the character and their message. However, the people that put together this video short thought outside of the normal realm of creativity to be able to help Alonzo Clemons tell his story. They used text as a tool to help the audience understand his message. Also, I thought that this was also a good example of Wes’s point that video is over 50% close-up shots. The detail shots of Alonzo’s face and hands as he was molding the clay figure were very powerful and effective.
I liked the close up shots here, they really helped in the transition from one moment to the next in a way they didn’t feel disjointed to the audience. I feel like that might be the hardest thing to accomplish with editing video as I am discovering for the first time today, to make these different shots all work together in one cohesive thing is so hard. These film makers just make it seem effortless.
Oh my gosh, this was beautiful. You’re right, the subtitles were spot on, and I loved how they didn’t draw your eye away from any of the film’s images
I agree that it could have been a project that some people might have shied away from because you can’t just get in and get out with your story. Working with someone like Alonzo requires patience and relationship building. I imagine after his experience in the institution he is somewhat wary of how people will treat him. As a filmmaker who appreciates getting to know people and seeing them open up to me I could see how it would be easy to spend the time necessary getting to know Alonzo. He is so kind despite the way some people have treated him.
My favorite part of the Extreme close ups was his eyes and his smile. That part when i saw him putting on a big smile yet i can see tears in his eyes got me, it was really moving and touching! great details specially for such a character like Alonzo.