Experimental video review - The Girl Chewing Gun

"The Girl Chewing Gum" created by John Smith, is a 9 minute piece of footage taken from a street in the mid 1970's. A director character instructs the people seen on film what to do, the timing of camera panning and add stories and scenarios to those seen. As the film progresses, the director character is giving even more detailed instructions to his cast, until he reveilles that he is actually 15 miles away in a field, and he is actually just commentating on previously filmed events.

The key visual sense within the piece is that it has been filmed using a very low definition black and white lens. The camera is uses a number of different shots and panning techniques including extreme close up, long shots and low angle panning shots. Throughout the 9 minutes of film, there are only two uses of the cut. Which occur in the later moments of the film, meaning the shot seen by the audience is a continuous shot.

John Smith's video has an interesting use of sound. There is no use of diegetic sound just non-diegetic sound. This sound is created by two sources. The first is the alarm bell ringing continuously throughout the piece. The other non-diegetic sound is the voice of the director character. The audience never sees him but can always hear him. In the closing moments of the film, the directions being given by the male character become far more complex and the timing of which he gives them becomes more irregular.

"The Girl Chewing Gum" has a strong message within it. It highlights how people can be fooled by others, when they do not know all the facts and the information being given by them is incorrect. This leads those receiving the information to believe that the provider is in control; Even though the control is false. This also tells the audience that trusting their assumptions and what they think they know can sometimes be incorrect. Therefore indicating that people need to savvy about who they trust or what they trust.

One word that can describe this interesting piece is betrayal. If somebody you don't know can influence your thoughts and lead you to trust them. How easy could it be for somebody you know, trust and love to do the same and betray you?