Continuing in the style of the first report, Choi Hee-huyn creates another rather experimental short, focusing on the fact that wild birds continue to collide onto glass walls, and humans collect, measure, and analyze to prevent it, and juxtaposing it with the concept of reality, as examined through art, film and media.
“Birdsaver Report Volume 2” is screening at Vienna Shorts
As such, the film begins with a hand turning the pages of a manual about bird collision by the Ministry of Environment and National Institute of Ecology, while combining it with the concept of “Trompe-l’œil”, an art technique that uses realistic imagery to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects exist in three dimensions, which is what we are seeing on screen essentially. A new pair of hands, gloved this time, and a phone that shows the first hands coexist on the frame next, while the topic changes to realistic painting and the story of Zeuxis and Parhasius. Soon, we are “introduced” to a man in a costume with a bird head, while the narration starts focusing on the measuring of the size and determining the color of birds. Photographs, various classical paintings and music also become part of the narrative, which eventually seems to present a sequence of how birds could view the world, potentially.
Choi Hee-hyun presents a 12-minute short, which, despite its minimalism, is filled with different elements, in a style that includes notions of documentary, fiction (the bird man in particular) and experimental filmmaking, all of which are brought together through an approach that seems somewhat ironic, but is definitely amusing. The flowing of one different scene to the other works quite nicely here, inducing the film with a sense of speed that adds to the entertainment it offers, while the presence of the bird man works on multiple levels, as a surrealistic but quite unexpected and fun to watch element.
At the same time, the concept of imagery and particularly the effort of visual arts to capture reality is presented throughout the short, essentially justifying the overall visual approach, while raising an amusing question regarding the whether they reality humans perceived it through their eyes is the “real one” or the one birds perceive with theirs.
“Birdsaver Report Volume 2” is an interesting short that demands attention through its unique approach, although the combination of a style that points both towards an installation and a film, deem it a watch for a very specific audience.
