F06 :: Feminist Film Studies

http://mirror4.video.blip.tv/Missintensity-beachEarlier789.mov
By Miss Intensity

The vlog's narrative consists of a conversation between two women lying in an Ontario park. Like any chat between friends, it flows naturally, from a discussion of future baby names (spurred by a passerby calling the name "Kennedy"), to what characteristics denote a musical. What makes this, a "typical" conversation that isn't particularly controversial or insightful, interesting, is that the viewer is hearing these women's private thoughts. Since they're friends, or at least comfortable enough with one another to say what they feel, we're catching a glimpse of humans connecting in a way that isn't normally seen on the silver screen, when a script controls dialogue meticulously crafted by a screenwriter.

Also adding interest is the camera work. The woman who tapes the conversation shoots from a low angle, so that the ground, towel she's lying on, and blades of grass are in the foreground, while her companion's head is often in the middle ground, and the background is filled with families enjoying a summer day in the park (they also provide background noise of laughter and conversations that aren't distinguishable from each other, but still almost drown out the vlog's main speakers).

Because the speakers' faces are often obscured by the objects in the foreground, it forces the viewer/listener to focus on the women's conversation. Like in The Piano, it also creates a feeling of voyeurism, because you're often peering through blades of grass to see a face or mouth moving. This also corroborates with the feeling of voyeurism you get from listening to a seemingly private conversation between companions.