Youtube Assignment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnHLMA1qS-c

The video I picked for this assignment is called Chosen. It is a short film/commercial directed by Ang Lee and stars Clive Owen. This film is a commercial for BMW (and was originally released on their website) but it can be rightfully called a short film, clocking in at a little over 8 minutes and never shown on television. The story follows Clive Owen as the driver. He picks up a young Asian boy, presumably someone holy/important, that was brought to a dock via boat. The boy gives him a gift, which is “for later”. Once he starts driving away, he is beset upon by various bad guys in cars. He generally outmaneuvers them, while also showing his cars traction on snow and power sufficient to push another car away. They get away and he delivers the boy to a safe house. The boy looks uncertain though and Clive notices the monk greeting them wearing boots. Clive sneaks around a little, sees the real monks tied up, and goes to save the boy which he does. He then exits the house and opens the gift. It turns out to be a Band-Aid and he realizes that his ear is bleeding from a small injury received earlier Lee uses many different shots in the film. Most shots are close-ups, like in the car scenes or medium shots, used when there a lull in the action. Some shots that were particularly interesting were point of view shots. He uses shots from under the bumper, making the viewer the car, effectively. He also uses POV when Owen sees the boots on the monk. That was a very effective way of showing that something is wrong and Owen knows it. That same sort of shot is repeated near the end. Owen knocks out the imposter monk and we get a shot of his boots. We then get a POV shot from Owen’s position of the young boy smiling at him. The symmetry of the shots is very effective. Besides that, many shots are generally typical, at least in the action scenes. You get a high-angle tracking shot and some behind the driver’s shoulder shots, both of which stand out. The second is effective since it makes the viewer feel like the driver. It is too bad it is probably impossible to get a good quality shot from the driver’s position, so Lee had to go for the next best thing.

Overall, this is a very effective piece. Lee’s more “artsy” style comes out, which is effective in separating this from just another short film or commercial. Lee is also very skilled at creating relationships and this is seen here with the relationship between Owen and the boy. They only speak to each other once but their thoughts toward each other are shown well through camera work and the skilled actors. There is nothing I would change about it. One shot that Lee choose near the beginning (the boat rubbing up against the dock) is slightly jarring for the viewer so it might not have been what I done, but it is a pretty shot, so no real complaints there.