Public Spaces

Directed by Martijn Veldhoen

Cinematographer: Jaap Veldhoen & Martijn Veldhoen

Country: The Netherlands

A man, and later a woman are walking through public space with the phones to their ear. They are carrying a bag containing an electronic counting device. It looks like they're involved in a very serious matter, but then something happens that seems to neutralize the importance of their actions. The question is: will they notice it?

 

Director Martijn Veldhoen- Artistic Statement

Statement of the director about PUBLIC SPACES

The reason for using one long uninterrupted camera movement, is to give the viewer an experience of time that is just as 'continuous' as the way we experience time ourself; like a totally lineair continuum that has no edit points or cross-fades. The film in its own way  paraphrases the famous longshots in films like Profession Reporter from Antonioni and Touch of Evil by Orson Welles.

Public Spaces also pays hommage to the the film noir and the author films of the 70's and 80's of the past century, but at the same time it deals with public space in the present time, where the dominance of mobile phones and the vague thread of terrorist assaults have changed the way we behave slightly, but distinctively.

Public Spaces is not really a plot based film; the story is quite abstract and deliberately tries to invoke a slight confusion. The highly stylised cinematographic pictures are hopefully able to grab the audience by visual means, rather than by telling a recognisable story.

Except for the actors, the film is actually totally animated. This however does not play any role in the content of the film and is probably not seen by most of the viewers. I used the CG-animation technique as a production-alternative for film or HD. It also enabled me to work on the visual style of the film in a way that would not have been possible otherwise.

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