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Short Films Inspire Change
Filmink speaks with 2008 Tropfest winners who strive for social change in their new short film
In 2008 Australian filmmakers, Shane Emmet and Jason van Genderen, took out first prize at Tropfest in New York for their short film Mankind is no Island, a film that was shot entirely on a mobile phone and cost a miniscule $57 to make.
The film, largely a visual narrative utilising words from the street signs of New York and Sydney, challenged our understanding of homeless communities and resonated with the thousands of people who watched it.
It obviously struck a chord with Oxfam who thought the boys would be the perfect candidates to design a film to help launch the organisation's new website 3things.org.au which aims to provide a space for young people to talk about social inequalities.
"They brought us in, they told us what Oxfam really stood for all around the world and asked us to try and find an illustrative way to bring that to life in a film," Emmet says.
The boys came up with the short film Frames, which is premised on a similar concept to Mankind is no Island, and aims to spread the message that there is hope in everyday surroundings, no matter how mundane they may be.
Genderen explains that Frames explored the way in which signs continually surround and limit us in our daily lives. "We try and take the audience to the point of view of what if we actually remove the context of all the signs we see in the city streets, what if all those signs went completely blank and there was not a single obstruction or message in an urban area that told us what we could or could not do.
"And then we gradually rephrased the message on the signs to try and inspire more thinking and to relate to urban environments in a different way and think about how we can change that environment."
Emmett and Genderen are glad to be able to help promote Oxfam's new website. "Young people can use 3things.org.au to talk about issues, things they talk about and just as a forum for them to share ideas on how they can be part of a solution. It's the idea that everyone has at least three things they want to change in the world. It's quite unique because it allows people to manage the content themselves," Emmett enthuses.
Having made two short films with social messages, the question is whether Emmett and Genderen want to continue making films which strive for social change. "I think as filmmakers as soon as you make something, or you make two of something in a row, you tend to get a little bit pigeonholed. In a similar way, we got dubbed as the kids of mobile filmmaking," Genderen says.
However the boys make it clear they have myriad project ideas when it comes to filmmaking, one of which is Design Crimes, a short film they entered in this year's Tropfest. "It's a look at advertising and how it affects us, and a comedic examination of trying to rid the world of bad design one crime at a time," Emmett says.
Genderen adds, "Filmmaking is the way we explore connecting with audiences and for us it's all about different messages, we have just as many comedies and documentaries in our hearts we want to tell as we have social messages."
Watch Frames by logging on to the 3things site here or follow the project on Facebook or Twitter.