Widrich Virgil - Copy Shop (2001)

i watched this film to try and get some inspiration for our experimental piece. the first observation i made was how it has the appearance of a film that was made in the 20's rather than a film that was made in 2001 which i think is a brilliant way to make the film stand out. This also makes this experimental piece look more authentic as many of the original experimental shorts i have seen are black and white and contain no dialogue.

i don't know if Virgil intended any meaning behind this piece, but to me it speaks of consumerism. how in our modern climate, because of our use of technology to make life easier and the way our education system works we are not really individual people anymore. rather we are a mass of churned out or 'photocopied' identical machines that are conditioned into a exact routine. and this film is showing us that we need to break away from it. and i think the message is even stronger with the fact that Virgil hand cut all the clips and tape himself rather than using editing software.
The scene at around 8 minutes when he goes back to the copy shop and all the copies are standing outside, seems to relate to the mass of people fighting over jobs and careers, i.e. young people go to uni to better themselves and persue a dream career, but because there are so many people also wanting to the same thing and because of the way everyone is churned out to be identical, it becomes a game of lining up waiting for the job rather than showing off your individuality and skills.

i really enjoyed this piece. which i was rather surprised at because i have not usually enjoyed many of the experimental films i have watched. and although our piece is a seperate subject i think we will be able to use the idea of the same person appearing in the same shot but in a different way, rather than being the same person, ours is the same person but as the main character would like to see himself.