This week I am going to talk about an abstract film, “Collision.” The analyzation will be based on its categorization, form and functions, process, and elements.
About the Film
Collision is an abstract short film made by Max Hatler in 2005. It is a 35mm film. The formats are available in Digi Beta, DVD and Blue Ray. It harnesses the communicative powers of both graphic and sound design. Collision draws on Islamic patterns and American quilts as well as the colours and shapes of flags from both cultures to give the abstract commentary on the events of Iraq war.
Categorization
Collision is an abstract film that runs on the theme of war. It is a visual spectacle in which the artist constructs and deconstructs, morphs, and reproduces abstract patterns of American and Islamic connotations. (Dr Nadia Mounajjed, 2012, LSE Middle East Centre Blog).
It comments on politics through abstraction, by exploring graphic art as a metaphor. Discarding traditional storytelling, it presents a marriage of image and sound to produce a kaleidoscopic take on our geopolitical situation. Subtle and bold at the same time, the film aims to mesmerize the viewer with symbols that are detached from their established context and applied in the service of an alternative reality.
Form and Function
The two-minute Busby Berkeley-like dance of nationalist symbols, directly imparting its political insights to a contemporary audience. Through the continual build-up of forms and frenetic motion it unmistakably evokes references to wars, conflict, and a general clash of the cultures. These animated graphics are underpinned by an audio track that also references the machinery and explosions of warfare.
This abstract animation offers a space outside of realism and enables different perceptions from the ones we experience daily. It is an abstract satire based on the geometry of flags” Time Out London, 2006
Process
The film Collision is a 35 mm audiovisual film. It was made in Adobe After Effects: We must note that Collision was made in 2005, which is many year before the ubiquitous use of kaleideoscoping in digital motion graphics software nowadays. Thus, collision is a true innovation in our current era of digital motion design.
Formal Elements
The basics of Collision are constituted by the colours, geometric patterns, and shapes of flags. The green of Islam is contrasted with the American (and British) red and blue. However, red is also the colour of Arab nationalism while white features in the flags of all parties involved. All this is mixed again with the graphic patterns that are central to the heritage and identity of these cultures, American quilts on the one side and Islamic patterns on the other. Animators crackle and explode; pattern and rhythm enkindle war paradoxes between the U.S. Government, the special interests of the U.S. Government, and their Islamic adversaries. The sound design is significant and remarkable. The crackle-crisp sound adds extra depth, while punctuating the graphic.
Rather than focusing on differences, the film points out similarities across these cultures, symbolized by their cultural iconography. While the film follows a clear narrative structure, it is at the same time open to interpretation. The film ends with a sequence in which all the colors collide and create intricate morphing kaleidoscopic patterns to the sound of gunshots and fireworks.
Reference List
Rosinki, A. (2010), ‘Brief Thoughts on Collision by Max Hattler’, DINCA, 14 March. Available at https://dinca.org/collision-max-hattler-watch-video/ (Accessed: 9 November 2022).
Torre, D. (2015) ‘Persistent Abstraction: The Animated Works of Max Hattler‘, Sense of Cinema, 15 September. Available at: https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2015/feature-articles/max-hattler-animations/ (Accessed: 9 November 2022).
Flusser, V. (2011). Into the Universe of Technical Images. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.