Experimental video reviews - Telling Lies

Simon Ellis' clever and sometimes funny experimental video, "Telling Lies" is a text and sound based film. It documents are series of phone calls made and received by main character, calls from his mother and to his ex-girlfriend, his best friend and a mysterious woman. In four short minutes, you find out what happened the night before, and why it was a complete disaster for the main character. The main character supposedly got very drunk, split with his girlfriend, perused another woman, while his girlfriend slept with his best mate. He wakes up the next morning, finding himself looking for answers, and answering some of his own.

The film has no visual use of actors; all that is seen in the shot are the words being spoken over the phone. Sometimes however, the text on screen does not match the dialogue being delivered by the characters. It actually shows the true thoughts of the characters at the time. As a way of identifying the different characters; the text seen on screen changes colours, this makes it easier for the audience to separate the characters and follow the story. In order to make it easier to follow the rapid text, it is placed on top of a black backdrop. The colours of the text then seem to be a complete contrast to the dark background. This piece has also been heavily edited in post production, as every sentence and single word phrases had to be created individually in separate frames. They were then pieced together and sequenced at the correct speed to match the soundtrack.

The soundtrack within "Telling Lies" is non-diegetic sound created by the actors. The dialogue used however, has been scripted. The sound heard by the audience is that of a number of unusual telephone convocations. As the convocations progress the tone of voice and speed of diction varies regularly, giving a sense of reality to the audience. The last kind of sound heard by the audience is the sound of a dialling tone. This too is non-diegetic sound, which has been added in post production.A key theme which Simon Ellis has created in "Telling Lies" is that it is far easier to lie to somebody over the phone. Mainly because the person you are lying to cannot see the expressions on your face or read your body language when you are lying.