The first thing that needs to be mentioned about AMNESIA/DENIAL | THE SEATTLE TIMES by Lauren Frohne is that objects filmed in shallow depth of field can be considered a specific feature of this work. Especially, even several hours after the first watch it was vivid images of canvas, brushes and painting what came across when I think about this video. Moreover, the director draws the viewers’ attention to paints and the narrator’s working process with them to demonstrate how art can push out all other things, sometimes bothering ones, from the mind of a person. Thus, the director makes sure to put drawing in the center of the frame as if to narrow all the surrounding world to colors and moves of the artist’s hands. (02:57)(03:41)
Another point worth mentioning is the director’s decision to implement both the voiceover track and natural sound. The purpose of such choice is to reflect the duality of a person’s self-expression. To be more specific, there are some things people usually do not talk about only silently consider in their thoughts. The kind of speech the narrator gives about her experience in the US army (rape and only nominal equality between the male and female staff) is exactly that type of things which people try to keep to themselves. Therefore, here the viewers hear voiceover as if it reflects the thoughts of the narrator. It creates a feeling of a private conversation and is more likely to win the trust of the audience. However, when she talks about art, the socially accepted topic, the video switches to natural sound, both for the sake of audio diversity and to show how deeply art has permeated in the narrator’s life that it now constitutes a natural part of her life. (00:27)
As it has been mentioned above, the director makes profound use of cutaways and inserts them massively in the footage. From the perspective of the efficient arrangement of frames, they help to avoid jump cuts and add artistic value and specification of what the director wants the viewers to see and feel. In this specific case, these are cutaways of the narrator working with canvas, paints, and brushes. They allow the viewer the insight into the world as it is seen through the narrator’s eyes. Especially, when three small paint cans fill the frame, it means that the narrator is concentrated on them in this particular point of time. (01:08)
Video reference:
Frohne, L. FILMS & PROJECTS BLOG ABOUT AMNESIA / DENIAL | THE SEATTLE TIMES [Video]. Retrieved from http://laurenfrohne.com/portfolio/amnesia-denial-the-seattle-times/