Author: SHAHRAM RAHMAN

https://srahman17.myportfolio.com

 

 

 

Extremis Analysis

The Netflix short film Extremis follows doctors, patients and families in a hospital intensive care unit make difficult decisions and “hard to make” choices that really wrestle with their emotions. The filmmaking that was put into this film and the development, efficiency and organization of the filmmaking aspects allowed me to view the film as beautifully made.

The piano-like instrumental music in the film was really powerful for the documentary, because it really showed the simplicity of the film. The use of the music was also powerful in the sense that it created a sense of peace, which was important in terms of the environment of the film.

The filmmakers’ shooting style was really well done. The many close up shots of the patients and the respective families as well as the doctors was well done because it really captured the emotions that they felt and really showed their reactions as situations developed. The wide and medium shots of the ICU really captured the essence of the environment of the people.

The slow pacing of the story was also well done, as I was able to actually get a full grasp of the story and the pacing helped me (as a viewer) feel the emotions of the patient families as events unfolded throughout the film.

The story was structured with a beginning, middle, and end. The beginning showed a scene of a doctor caring for a patient (trying to discover what she was saying. The middle had different kind of scenes with families standing side by side the patients, talking with doctors, etc. The ending showed the aftermath of what happened to the patients and how they eventually died. The b-roll more or less were literal visuals of what was discussed between families and doctors, showing scenes of patients that showed that.

All of the filmmaking aspects gave me the thought that the filmmaker most likely got access by getting in touch with the hospital and see if he/she would be able to capture video of patients for the documentary. In order to achieve the sense of intimacy that the film developed, I think a lot of trust was necessary; trust to the extent that friendships developed between the filmmaking crew and patient families where patients would feel comfortable with them around. This makes me think that the filmmakers spent a few days with their subjects.

Pitch for Video #3: Short documentary

1. For my short documentary, before the whole Coronavirus epidemic, I was planning on focusing my short documentary around the life of a cancer patient. More specifically, I was planning on conducting a short documentary about my cousin, Waliul Islam, who was diagnosed with bone cancer in late February of 2020. This hit the whole family pretty hard, so I was thinking of making a video profile of him. I feel like I could make a really powerful video through showcasing him and gaining permission would be easy in this sense.

My b-roll would essentially be footage of how he is being taken care of, how he’s holding up, and when he is at the hospital. My music is really not that important, but I was considering some simple piano music to show the simplicity of my film. With my short doc, I really hope to show a message that shows how life can really change in the blink of an eye, and I think my cousin’s story could really invoke powerful emotions.

2. Because of the virus, my plan B for my short documentary is to just make a video profile of my grandfather, Waliur Rahman Thakur (who currently is residing in my household). My grandfather has led a very illustrious life, from living through the war between Pakistan & India and travelling around the world, among other moments. I think it would be interesting to capture in video the daily lifestyle of my grandfather and how he is living life now.

My visuals would include a sit-down interview of my grandfather and b-roll of him in his natural environment. I would also interview my other family members so I could get multiple perspectives of what kind of person he is. My audio would essentially be generic modern music. With my video, I hope to give off the impression that there more to people than what meets the eye, that basically there is much to learn about the lives of certain kinds of people

 

 

 

For my visual poem, I plan on composing a kind of story that shows the life of a college student, where I would basically shadow a specific individual and show through visuals a typical day in his/her life as a college student. I will gain permission through simply asking an individual if they would be interested in publicizing a typical day in their life. In this manner, I would essentially structure my video to capture (in video) daily events that this student encounters and/or acts in, and I would edit it to show such events happen in order to really show his/her perspective on what a typical day looks like.

Based on this, my visuals would basically include wide shots of a student committing specific acts and encountering specific events, close up shots of the student either focusing on something or showing specific feelings in the way of reacting to events, and I would try to mix different angles on various actions / events happen in their typical day. The video would mostly include natural sounds that would be necessary to understand specific actions/events that occur (rights would not be necessary in this case), and music that I’m thinking of including would have a kind of classical music to keep it simple (free music), which is the point of the video. Speaking of, the main point I want to get across with my visual poem is that all people basically function the same way. Although all human beings may have different ways/methods on how to get through their lives, they all essentially share the same days, months, and years to get there. I want to convey a feeling of simplicity and simple joy that makes people feel happy to be sharing the same time of day with each other, and that everyone shares a typical day, although it may be viewed in different perspectives.

https://vimeo.com/389749414

By Coty and Shahram

This is a story of a man telling an emotional story that affected his life greatly. In this story-telling video, I really enjoyed the angles of the camera on his face because it really captures all the emotions that the man feels in telling his story. I also liked the story itself, because in the long run, it teaches an important lesson about how giving to the community is a far more important objective to one’s goal in life rather than chasing after fame and money.