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EXPERIMENTAL MEDIA
Writer, director Alfonso Cuaron’s hard scfi film Gravity sees it’s protagonist Ryan Stone isolated among the deep black emptiness of space. This mirrors the void and its isolating effect that has been left behind in her soul by the sudden and accidental death of her daughter that ultimately drew her to be among the vast emptiness of space, almost as if her soul belonged there. But on the other side of that space Earth awaits her return, full of the life that has been drained and taken away from her. The use of very wide angle lenses and long takes that depict the impossible void of space, is contrasted very effectively with short, claustrophic close ups of Stone literally stuck in her own insulating “bubble” of a space suit and helmet whilst facing adversities of both the physical and existential kind. This ensures that the prevailent visual metaphors of being lost among the stars and then rebirthed submerged among the embryonic fluids of Mother Earth, our ultimate symbol and provider of life, that Stone’s character arc communicates remain both engulfing in scope and deeply intimate and personal on an emotional level. To my mind, there has been a no more disorientating and terrifying image displayed on a cinema screen than seeing through Stone’s visor as she spins uncontrollably out into the unknown blackness of space.
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AuthorMy name is Clay Sandford and I am currently studying an FDA in Film and Media Production at University Centre Weston. I have a keen interest in directing, cinematography and camera operating. Archives
April 2017
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