Based on a true story and shot over the period of two days, HANDHELD was directed by Pisie Hoccheim and Tony Oswald. The story was written by Oswald’s sister Crystal who experienced a similar situation in the past, and it was due to premiere at the Champs-Élysées Film Festival in June of 2020. Her son Emery Oswald who is a part of what Crystal went through, has a major role in the film playing the young son that shares an emotional journey with his mother as the story unravels.
The short begins on a tense note, with the use of various camera distances and locations to help the audience establish the type of scenario that the short is taking place in. As the story advances, Hayden discovers old VHS tapes taken by his mother, played by Jordan Goswell, which disrupts their regular evening meal time. The pair watch the footage together, and the mother revisits an almost forgotten previous difficult chapter in her life which is one of the significant factors the audience can establish as the story progresses, but it also contrasts with a few moments of amusement throughout that represent the mother and son relationship. The way that this was depicted was when the mother tries to avoid and conceal a sensitive part of her life when Hayden asks about his father, who is no longer involved in their lives.
The use of real footage that is also shown on the video camera itself enhances the naturalness of this and balances the fictious side of this with the documentary part, and the added VHS effect that plays with time is another interesting factor of how the story has been portrayed in this way. The majority of the sound throughout the movie is diegetic, with some static non-diegetic sound. Filmed in a 4:3 ratio of Emery Oswald’s own home with a limited crew, the lighting in the environment that they shot in is also very soft but not too dark and creates a more natural and homely feeling. The lighting is reminiscent of a typical family home environment and mirrors the tone/emotions of the dialogue, as they are settling down for the evening. In relation to the dialogue, it runs smoothly and doesn’t seem forced at all, and the camerawork is particularly interesting; there are some scenes where the camera is handheld which works very well, and with other scenes that have more dialogue the viewer can see that the camera is more stabilised.
In conclusion, the main message and central concept of this film is that life is full of difficult times and hard decisions that we have to overcome and will either have a positive or negative outcome. This is illustrated by Hayden almost going against a warning from his mother but continues to obey his mother which results in him mirroring something his mother did earlier on.
This was done as part of a summer project for university.
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