Blind Devotion

BLIND DEVOTION – VIDEO ANALYSIS

SYNOPSIS

‘Blind Devotion’ is an ‘overcoming the monster’ romance set in contemporary New York showing a slice of life of the journey a woman embarked on to adapt to the onset of blindness.

( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_99ySDoC1fw )

‘Blind Devotion’ is a short film produced by the Jubilee Project surrounding themes of love and blindness and the ways in which blindness can affect a relationship. It emphasises the idea that love is unconditional and obstacles can be overcome if you are secure in your relationship.

The film opens with a birds-eye-view of the main protagonist in a bed, immediately introducing their relationship; the smile of the woman and man exemplifies the strong connection between these two characters and the positive state that their relationship is in. This frame shows the playful aspect of their relationship where the two main protagonists are pillow fighting and

laughing, this enhances the sense of a strong bond between the characters and shows the audience that the couple are used to one another’s company. The music slowly fades in as the woman’s dialogue opens stating ‘I love my husband’ this line enhances the connection and love shown in later frames. The happy, joyful atmosphere juxtaposes with the dulcet tones of the piano in the foreground which produce a sad and slightly ominous feel to the scene. The scene continues describing the odd quirks that each partner has as well as establishing a typical day in the life for this couple. The voiceover describes how making her husband breakfast and doing the laundry makes her happy and shows her love for her husband and her commitment to their relationship. This enhances the sense of routine in her life and her joy in having the ability to do these small things.

BLIND DEVOTION – VIDEO ANALYSIS

Similarly to the short film ‘Blind Devotion’ our film will be focusing on a couple’s story and overcoming the hardships faced by people who have become blind and the obstacles they have to tackle to continue a loving relationship and a fulfilled life.

A shot-reverse shot technique is used to show her husband calling her as he walks away and telling her ‘you look beautiful’ this technique is effective as it gives us an insight to the way the protagonists

are feeling and their reactions to one another. Their facial expressions reflect their love for one another and their smiles show that they are happy and secure in their relationship; the couple being married, yet still being playful and loving with one another shows the extent of their love and suggests that they can overcome any obstacles in their relationship. An interpretation of the beginning of the short film may be that the couple seem almost too happy and that it can’t last, the happiness almost seems short-lived and the audience gets the impression that a force may drive this couple apart or put a strain on their relationship. This suggests a similar structure to ‘Overcoming the Monster’ where the protagonist sets out to defeat an antagonistic force, which threatens the protagonist and/or their homeland; however at this point in the film the antagonistic

force remains unknown. The film continues with a set of artistic shots of the light trickling through the trees at a canted angle to show the picturesque journey that the protagonist has on her commute to work. She talks about liking having time to herself- this separates her from her relationship and the audience begins to gain a better insight to this character as a whole rather than simply being defined by her relationship and marital status. Equally in our film, we aim to explore the protagonist’s life without the relationship and to show the audience how they coped before and once they became blind. We aim to show the aspects of our protagonist’s life both with and without the support of a partner and how they managed to cope by themselves and manage their life around their blindness.

In the next important scene of the film the light dims and becomes hazy. A hand-held camera technique is used to enhance the feeling of instability and chaos in the protagonist’s life and to create a sense of disorder and unpredictability. The music dims and is replaced by harsh sounding winds and a series of unusual disturbing sounds- this helps to set the scene and allows the audience to see the change in tone and to highlight the approaching antagonistic force which the protagonist may have

BLIND DEVOTION – VIDEO ANALYSIS

to overcome. We’re given a close-up of the protagonist’s face to reflect the despair and confusion the protagonist is experiencing.

The screen then fades to white before focusing on the protagonist taking an eye test, we’re shown a series of blurred letters to emphasise the blurriness and confusion that the character is experiencing.

Since the period where the antagonistic force has entered the picture, there has been no voiceover. This adds to the sense of isolation that the protagonist may be feeling and creates a sense of eeriness; this contributes to the vulnerability of the character and makes her seem disconnected from the world. Her first words after this period are ‘I’m going blind.’

This short sentence is powerful yet effective as it clearly states the force, which she has to adapt round. She describes her concern over losing her career and expresses her worry at telling her husband. All of this is said in the voiceover, which shows that her thought processes differ from her actions as she fails to open up to her husband and tell

him about her condition. She lashes out at her husband; visibly upset as she struggles to cope with coming to terms with her condition- this is shown to impact their relationship. The film shows all the flaws in their relationship and previous routine, due to her blindness and gives us close-ups on tasks such as the laundry and making breakfast that have now been made near impossible due to her lack of sight. We’re given a series of close-ups of her husband

to express his concern and worry for her; he continues to try and cheer her up and to get her to open up to him without success. He finally manages and we’re given a mid-shot with a panning camera technique to show the character’s facial expressions and body language, his expressing shock and her looking pained and upset. A powerful statement follows this: ‘how do you tell the person you love that you’re going blind?’ this statement is powerful and may be relatable for anyone listening who is going through a similar hardship to the protagonist. We’re immediately shown the support of the husband by him clasping her hand reflecting unity and compassion. The voiceover continues to express her worry about becoming a ‘burden’ to her husband and a ‘patient rather than partner’ and that he ‘may be happier with someone else’.

This short film is now revealed to follow a plot line similar to ‘Overcoming the Monster’ where her blindness is representative of the monster, an antagonist force that is threatening the protagonist’s life. However, whilst in movies such as ‘Shrek’ and other films following this genre, the ‘monster’ cannot be overcome, this adds to the tragic nature of the film and instead of showing the protagonist overcoming her blindness, we find her adapting to her condition with the (unknowing) help of her husband.

BLIND DEVOTION – VIDEO ANALYSIS