Symmetry

Director:  Everynone 

Year: 2011

This film has a rigid presentation of a split screen of equal size. So in effect we are watching two screens. The images shown oscillate between  opposites, for example cop and robber to people and things that seem to go naturally together such as salt and pepper, popcorn and movies. 

The film starts off showing almost humorous opposites, like cat and mouse as well as visual plays on words for instance we see a paint box with brushes that an artist would use and on the other screen we see a decorators kit. 

The short film then moves into a more reflective area, for instance we see a toddler walk across his screen reappearing on the other screen as an old person using a stick to walk across his screen, alluding to the life cycle, again this idea is repeated with the end shot where the camera looks down at a new born baby and a old person, both are in hospital type environments but one has just arrived whilst the other is dying or even dead, we can tell this by the diegectic sound of the medical equipment making a series of beeps that gradually slow down to one continuous beep. 

The split screen often shows two images that are opposite but as with the toddler becoming the old man the split screen is used to make a point, we see two cars, one in each screen, driving in different directions which in this case is towards each other.  We see a young boy in an arcade pointing a toy gun at a an older man in the other screen who is in the country also with a rifle pointing back at the child.  So the split screen allows for the images to combine.

The photography is quite static in style for instance we see a corn field, the shot is still but the corn is blowing in the wind. The same shot is then set up at night.  Other static shots use the frame to make the story, for example we see half a boys face and half a girls face in their respective frames which then creates a whole face and shows the natural symmetry. 

For all the shots there is growing and continuos non diegectic soundtrack of music which seems to get faster as the film progresses. This creates a strong sense of an unfolding story and manages to make it a cohesive story. There is also diegectic sound, for example the squeezing of the ketchup, the sounds of children crying,

I feel the theme of the entire film deals with the different stages of life and the naturally occurring symmetries that occur even when they are opposites such as man and woman or child and an adult.