Prohibition 2020As one of three finalists in the 2008 Dell Frame of Reference competition, this short film won the grand prize, and they called me the Next Indie Film IT Kid. Just like the first round of the competition (The New Cook's Almanac), we combine a specified style, motif, and song. The song is Dignan's They're Outnumbered, and the motif is "Out of Your League", which was described as the motif in movies such as Weird Science, where the protagonist is out-classed by his love interest. The style is French New Wave, and before you watch, it's a good idea to understand a little more about what that means. The French New Wave started as a group of movie critics who thought film should be something different from what they were seeing in the theaters. The dawn of the style coincided with the availability of small movie cameras, which let them film anywhere and everywhere. Often only natural lighting was used, which fit with the lightweight run-and-gun filmmaking style. The style tends to show a fascination with the banality of everyday life, sometimes with drawn-out conversations that ultimately go nowhere. I hope it's obvoius that I tried to avoid that a bit. Very long individual shots, and the jarring use of jump cuts (discontinuous action) are used as tools to break the spell, reminding the viewer that they're watching a film, and the story is not told without the influence of the filmmakers. It seems pretentious to draw attention to filmmaking like this, but overall, learning about the style gave a definite boost to my understanding of film. Prohibition 2020 takes place in the not-too-distant future in San Francisco, where strict prohibition laws are being enforced. David's hobby is making moonshine whiskey in his garage, and he meets a well-connected wine dealer that he wants to impress. (Runtime: 16 minutes) |