Film Commentary

 All of the shots include at least one child rolling a film reel all over this village.  Most shots are taken where the child(ren) pushes the canister to the right of the camera’s edge, creating most of the film’s pan shots.  

One constant in this film is that the canister that the children are playing with continuously rolls across different parts of this area of Afghanistan spewing out film across the ground.  Some film strips are seen to be walked over and “dirtied” on the ground almost like they are being discarded. 

The sounds in the background, (people talking, hooves, footsteps, etc.), make this a more intimate setting where it appears that a group of children are just entertaining themselves with a mundane object.  The metal noises of the film reel catch the attention of the viewers; the jarring feel echoes across the cobblestone and cement streets causing a loud constant throughout the film.  The two strongest sounds being the rolling of the film across the ground and the fire burning in the later half of the video makes the film’s message seem more coherent in the storytelling. 

The neutral grey and sandy yellows of the streets and nearby mountains in the background make the bright red film reel rolling around in the beginning much more eye-catching.  The dark grey and blacks of the film strips both contrast with the neutral grounds and stairs, but also seem to blend in with the shadows in some shots.