The Video Of Violence

The intention of this short film is very simple: to draw our attention to the use of violence in films today.

Violence,arguably the presentation of all the tragedy in our life,is somehow being weakened and overly entertained by films today.Killing,raping,humiliation and abuse,is even becoming an inevitable element of a lot of films. Without a doubt,the proper appearance of violence in films can be vital to the expression and narration and there can be a great value to show the violence to our audience. But it should require more thoughts and intentions from the writer and director to make it valide. A person’s suicide,a murder,or even a war where people are losing lives all the time,should all be considered carefully when we are showing it in the big screen.

So here in this film, I’m trying to search for the sources of the overused violence in films. To start with, I address our audience to reflect on themselves. To achieve that, I try to express my point in a sarcastic and rhetorical way. In part three of the film, I want to manipulate my audience to want the weak victim—Antoine,to kill the unreasonable villain—Fred. And in the rest of the film, the victim drastically changes into the actress that plays the role of Fred in part three, and the villain becomes the director behind everything. The mockery of Fred in the end of part three of the film or the monologue of the actress in the end of the whole film try to make my audience realize that the manipulation in the film is making them forget the original horror of violence,and then realize the abusive use of violence in films is problematic,so is the tendency of over-entertainment of violence in films.

Films like Funny Games by Michael Haneke or Man Bites Dog by Rémy Belvaux also talks about the violence in films and uses manipulation to make audience to think about the relationship between the use of violence and themselves or the camera, but for me, it’s not enough. The difference between my short film and other films on the subject about violence is that I include the director in the discussion and try to make it the most important element.

In the film, I try to portray the director as the true ‘villain’ in the film and accuse the director as the biggest source of the overused violence: the director’s voice and orders in part three that stops the murder scene twice or the exploit from the director to his workers, or the humiliation from the director to the actress, all these elements are contributing to my expression. Directors and creators have every tool and will to choose if they want violence to appear in their work. We need to be aware of the responsibilities we have as creators and outcomes of the choices we make. And when the violence in films are not fully justified or necessary, then creators should be the first ones to get questioned.

Nevertheless, It’s important to remember that the intention of the film is not to judge anyone,and I have absolutely no right and position to judge or criticize anyone. It’s understandable that we normally don’t find the violence in films a big problem. It’s also understandable that sometimes violence can be provoking and new to our eyes. But it doesn’t mean that it’s not valuable to discuss the possible consequences of it. And in order to make my audience have more realistic feelings of all the kinds of violence in the film in order to truly reflect, I choose to shoot it in a documentary way and use the ‘play-within-a-play’ structure to fuzz up the line between film and reality. I believe this specific way of shooting and telling the story is perfect for what I want to achieve.

The intention of ‘breaking the fourth wall’ is very clear: I want to include my audience in the film. I want us to really feel for the characters,or really see ourselves as the roles in it. Only in this way can the mockery in the end stimulate more reflections and emotions. Moreover,it’s also a way for the audience to reflect on their own experiences when they were watching the violence in films.

In the end, I want to say that the overuse of violence will slowly kill the importance and affect of showing violence in films. Only when we are cautious enough can the violence in cinema keep playing a valuable role in every aspect.