Research Task: Colour Bleed by Freya

Colour Bleed-8 minutes-by Peter Szewczyk, produced in 2011

• I thought that this short film had conventions of a drama, but with aspects of a fantasy world; because of the use of special affects that's usually not focused on in this genre.  
• Conventions of a drama:

1. Serious and plot driven
2. Containing realistic characters, settings, life situations, and stories (this is why I think 'Colour Bleed' has a fantasy aspect-the story is not realistic)
3. Intense character development and interaction 
4. Not involving comedy

• The thing I enjoyed most in this film was the use of editing and special effects to convey certain themes.  Specifically I enjoyed the use of the hummingbird in different scenes.
• In these three shots we see an image of a humminbird, all three of them in a similar pose.  The image seems to connote freedom, beauty and joy.  In the second shot it's movement reflects fun, happiness, laughter, and ease: something that the desolate city lacks.  Along with the main character it's the only colourful thing left in the dark city, the only light in her darkness-which is shown by one of the lights flickering on in the background when she sees the hummingbird through the window-brightening up the room.
• The tinkly, magical music that plays over the dark, heavy music when she sees the hummingbird also expresses the joy that the hummingbird brings, and how it compares to the monotonic world around her.  A similar sound is made when she cuts into her nails, and begins to bleed colour-suggesting the same kind of magic is about to happen. 
• Main characters costume  While other people are dressed plainly, in morbid colours and similar clothes, almost in uniform, the main character stands out:

• I was inspired by this short film because it can be read by the audience in so many different ways.  The narrative seems to contain so many microcosms and metaphores for underlying themes that many different things can be taken away from this story.  Examples of how this text can be read:

• The idea of her bleeding colour could be perceived as both a good and a bad thing.  It could show this idea of her excreting creativity, brightness and individuality; making it spread.  But it could also show her being sucked dry of these qualities; making her conform like everyone else.  It could even mean that being different has killed her.  

• When she touched the man on the bus and her colour dripped on him, not coming off, it could reflect this idea of being 'inked'-tatood; and how she's infecting other with the ink that's in her body, and how they're disgusted by it.  This could be addressing the way people react to her tatoos, placing her under a stereotype, and how this is hurting her, making her believe that her tatoos are all that she is, so much so that she bleeds ink.  
• Her tatoos are what really seems to anger the older woman; especially the 'love' one on her knuckles, suggesting that this is something that the older woman-who seems to a metaphore for the government, wants to stamp out.

• The prop of the stamp, which is the thing that spreads this horror, could suggests that the bureaucracy in this country are the 'baddies', turning people to charcoal, breaking them and making them bleed.  The way the city bleeds at the end could be showing this pain through tears, how there is no originality and happiness in its society anymore.  

• This movie could just be about a ‘small act of cruelty between strangers fracturing the foundations of the city', how one action can affect everything, like dominoes.
• But the graffiti at the end links back to graffiti that she's doing at the beginning-maybe the whole thing isn’t about the city bleeding and crying these colours-it’s just her graffiti we see, but to her it’s expressing all this pain.  The fact only the child seems to see the graffiti suggests that maybe only people who are capable of sticking out, capable of imagination can see it.  Similar to her seeing the hummingbird at the beginning
  -Freya