土耳其瞭望塔

The “Watchtower of Turkey” is an award winning montage released in 2014, directed and edited by Leaonardo Dalessandri, music by Ludovico Einaudi, voice off by Meryem Aboulouafa. The editor uses various revolutionary techniques to create a smooth and catching visual effect, making it an unforgettable experience.There's so many amazing shots in this film, they either have extremely smooth transitions or have an unique angle to portrait the image. If I have to pick three scenes among all the shots, it’ll be the three below.

The first scene I picked is this transition where the shot transits from a close up of the castle, then pulling away from it through the mirror hanging on the wall. This technique of transition makes the viewer immerse in the film, it feels like you’re the person who’s observing the castle from the mirror, you were sunk deep down in the world inside the mirror. As the camera was pulled out from the shot, the viewer also got dragged out of the mirror, giving it a sudden realization, and at the same time emphasized the layering of the film.

This shot looks nothing special at first glance, and there’s nothing special if you only look at the single frame. What is special about this shot is how it plays around with the combination of camera movement and the image. As the man starts plucking the string, the camera syncs with the string and moves accordingly. As the string goes left the camera tilts left, as the string goes right the camera tilts right. This kind of camera motion makes the shots even more lively, creating the visual effect in which you feel like you’re being pushed around as the man move his string.

The first shot got the transition, the second shot got the motion, and this shot got its perfect composition. When you give it a brief observation, you can see a boy looking through the circle between his fingers. However, if you observe it while considering the composition, you’ll find out the design of looking through a circle can be the potential transition point o f the following shots. The producer obviously thought about this, and that’s why he took this already beautifully structured shot using the little boy’s gesture as a shot transition point, then smoothly followed it up with the other shots that share the same point with the idea of a “circle point”.

After watching this only three minutes short film, besides the beauty of Turkey I’ve seen, the more it inspired me are the shooting technique, editing style, shot composition, transition point and more used in the film. The creative and distinctive style of this film really stunned me, I have lots of respect for the producer and I believe that one day I’ll be able to shape my own style with the knowledge I consume from this film.