Slug & Lede

Ehrin Macksey’s video piece, Van Mon: A Forgotten Existence, recognizes the poor conditions of Van Mon, a dermatology hospital, located in the Vietnam countryside that is recognized as home to the growing number of elderly people who reside there.  The 300 to 400 people living in Van Mon are fighting the disabling disease, leprosy.

As the video began, I was instantly impacted while viewing the heartbreaking photographs of various patients residing at Van Mon.  The introduction was great; I thought it really grabbed the audience’s attention and immediately caught my interest.  The flashing photography captured the wide array of deformaties each patient experiences. Each photo was up-close and showed a clear picture of each person which really gave a deeper meaning.  

 I felt that majority of the piece included photography, but the few video clips that were shown had a good amount of impact within them.  The video scenes revealed the true picture and what each elderly person battling leprosy deals with on a regular basis.  While viewing the bathing scene, I was shocked that this is how it always is for these people and for them, taking a bath is not nearly as enjoyable as it may have once been for them.  I really think the video portion captured that point.

The black and white photography was excellent and I thought it captured the mood that Macksey wanted to capture. This piece was emotional and eye-opening on all levels, including the photos, video, and the voiceover that went on throughout the piece. The black and white photos were in sync with the words being spoken by Robert Lucius, which made it easier to follow the piece and know exactly what he was talking about.  I really enjoyed how the piece was a voiceover, but when Lucius would be shown being interviewed, I thought this took the focus off the actual Van Mon piece itself.

There was a wide range of shots, such as wide, medium, and close-ups.  I particularly enjoyed the close-up shots because some very extremely clear and showed immense detail and there were others that seemed blurry but the picture still seemed to have a great impact.  The photos of the river, the church, and the different locations each patient would go to think or reflect were beautifully captured. Each photo was taken either in a wide shot ot medium shot which added a good variety to the piece.

Overall, I thought the piece was excellent and had a very meaingful touch to it.  If I were to do something differently, I would have made the entire piece a voiceover and cut out the interviews because I think it took the focus off Van Mon. I also would have included more video to the piece because I think it would have exposed a closer look and would have allowed the audience to actually see what the patients deal with.  All in all, I enjoyed the piece and thought video was the best choice because this piece is something an audience needs to see, hear, and feel.

Ehrin Macksey’s video piece, Von Mon: A forgotten Existence brings to life the suffering that patients at Von Mon endure.  Von Mon is a dermatology hospital in Vietnam that houses between 300-400 elderly patients who are suffering from chronic illnesses they developed from having leprosy in earlier years.

The author did an excellent job of capturing the depression and emotion present at Von Mon without making it too difficult to watch.  Right away, I became emotionally drawn into the piece when the pictures of the patients were shown with the soft music playing in the background.  In my opinion, the black and white images worked very well with this piece because it added to the emotion; however, I would have done the interview with Robert Lucius in Black and white as well because the colored images of him seemed to stand out more than the actual footage.

The strongest parts of this video were the moving shots and various angles that were shown.  Macksey used a wide range of close up shots and wide shots throughout the piece that provided detail, making the video interesting to watch.  During the series of pictures where the man is gardening, the camera begins with a wide shot and gradually moves closer, eventually showing just his hands.  There are many other instances throughout the piece where just the patients crippled hands are shown, which I thought really added to the solemn mood being expressed. The moving shots during the bathing scene were also a strong point because they made it easy to imagine the distress the man in the video was feeling.

If I were to change anything about the video, I would exclude the images of Robert Lucius completely and only include his voice in the background.   In my opinion, it would have been much more interesting to see more footage of daily life at Von Mon, or hear an interview one of the patients or employees at the hospital. Especially at the end of the video, the interview with Lucius seemed too long and, in my opinion, it would have been more effective to end with emotionally capturing images.  Overall, I thought that this was a very powerful and engaging piece.

Ehrin Macksey’s Van Mon: A Forgotten Existence brings to light the poor conditions of Van Mon, a dermatology hospital, in the remote Vietnam countryside where around 300 to 400 people, mostly elderly, live disabled by leprosy.

Although the actual video used within this piece was very minimal, I felt that the use of photography was in fact very appropriate and intriguing. In using photography, Macksey presented a broader range of material than video might have allowed. In some instances, such as a patient being bathed, Macksey instead merged continuous frames taken of the bath, creating an interesting alternative to video. I also found that the introduction created almost an immediate emotional impact. The many individual portraits of the patients at Van Mon clearly reveal the physical deformities that their illnesses have inflicted upon them. Macksey’s photography is heartbreaking to say the least.

The black and white photography obviously adds to the dramatic impact intended on its audience as well as being aesthetically cohesive. Yet, what clearly stood out was when the video would return to Robert Lucius, whose interview was laid as a voice-over during the majority of the video. The video of his interview, done in color, interrupted the cohesive flow of the black and white photography. I felt it was not necessary to actually have to show Lucius, for he was not on location at Van Mon, but simply seated in front of a black backdrop. When watching the video, I was not interested in who was speaking, but rather what was being spoken, therefore the included video felt distracting more than anything.

If I could have done something differently, I would have first of all excluded the video of Lucius’ interview, for as I said above, it felt distracting and interrupted the flow of the piece as a whole. Secondly, although I appreciate Macksey’s photography and creativity in providing an alternative to video, more actual footage of the patients in action might enhance the piece. There were many shots of patients with severed limbs or fingers, but what would have been interesting would be to see footage of how they overcome these disabilities in activities that to us seem effortless.

Overall, I think that the piece was effective in emotionally impacting its audience with its insight into the poor conditions of Van Mon. The photography was both eye-opening to a subject I had no prior knowledge of, and heartbreaking at its brutal reality. I agree with the format chosen with this piece. Photography and video is definitely both appropriate and needed for the emotional aspect. Any other way would be less effective.

In a remote countryside of Vietnam, photographer Ehrin Macksey and Robert Lucius, executive director, take viewers on an unforgettable journey through the meek and dull halls of Van Mon, where a small population of elders suffer from Leprosy disabilities.

Our journey through Van Mon begins instantaneously. Just as the violin begins its fast melody, viewers are quickly flashed black and white photographs of Van Mon refuges. Their sad and lonely faces become richly etched into my mind. Macksey has immediately captured my attention. At first I felt that the pictures went by too fast, leaving me no time to closely examine them. However, I felt that slowing down the music and slowly flashing the photographs across the screen gave viewers a better sense of the sadness these people feel on a day to day bases.

An additional key aspect to the video was the black and white photographs that were consistently used throughout the piece. Black and white photography seems to carry an element that colored photos lack. They show peace, nature, beauty, sadness, and loneliness in many different contexts. This color scheme works beautifully with the Van Mon audio because it illuminates the dark, isolated, and depressing world that these disabled individuals live in.

Macksey’s use of slow moving video was also a immense addition to the piece. As Lucius explains the horrible conditions that these elderly people must live in, a nurse is pouring a bucket of water on a naked man bound to his wheelchair. That is their bathing environment and the slow moving picture allows viewers to really picture the grotesque and horrendous conditions.

Although I thought this piece was moving and powerful, I do wish they would have explained what Leprosy is at the beginning of the video. Throughout the video we learn and see the effects that the disease has on the human body, yet unless you have prior knowledge, the full extent of the disease is left unspoken. I also felt that the video piece was a bit long and that some of the edits were a bit obvious. For instance, at .57-.50 seconds it is apparent the editors cut a section out a put these two segments together. This is evident but Lucius’s words slightly overlap themselves.

Van Mon: A Forgotten Existence is a powerful and meaningful video. It is a rare topic covered, yet the passion that these directors and photographers have towards the topic is passionate. Their pictures, audio, and slow moving videos transforms these forgotten souls into remembered ones.

I selected a piece profiling the lives of Vietnamese leprosy sufferers by Ehrin Macksey Photography. This was a photography/video project accompanied by audio narration from the featured character, Gop. All visual images were black and white, and shadow and light were important parts of the visual media used here. The focus is about 40% video, 60% still photography, and while it is a natural temptation to ask for more moving images, I believe that the still photographs serve to add a stark, bleak realism to the project. The images and audio speak for themselves, requiring no outside narrator to more fully explain the lives of these men and women in a remote corner of a battered nation.

The audio in this clip is of near perfect quality, with few unintentional intrusions from background noise. When such noise is intended, it is used well because it implies the activity of other people, giving the viewer the impression of many individuals within the community. It gives the idea that while Gop is deserted by his family, he is surrounded by many others that share his condition. The one section of the film in which background noise significantly interferes is during an interview with Gop around the 2:20 mark of the clip.

Overall, the media utilized in this film work well together, adding to the weight of the situation which these individuals are in.

http://www.ehrinmacksey.com/vanmon.html

Ehrin Macksey’s video package titled Van Mon:The Forgotten Existence captures the lives of elderly patients who are recovering from their diseases at Van Mon, a dermatology hospital.

The video did a great job using a variety of still shots, photographs, and slow motion shots. In the very beginning of the video, black and white photographs of the patients were displayed. I thought that this beginning was very effective because the audience was given a chance to be introduced to the subjects that were going to be discussed.

Macksey’s use of text slates was nicely incorporated into the video. Throughout the entire video the interviewee, Robert Lucius, Executive Director of Send Me NGO, narrates and explains the patients experiences living in Van Mon. With his voice in the background, black and white pictures were displayed explaining what Lucius was saying.

The majority of the shots in the video were still shots of black and white photographs of the patients. Thsi effect was useful in bringing emotion and making everything seem more meaningful and precious. The use of medium shots, wide shots, close ups of patients were nicely incorporated making the audience visualize what these patients were going through. Within these shots there were the use of “bird’s eye” view, “worm’s eye” view, and normal point of view shots. This variety also made it more informative, and brought the environment and mood of Van Mon alive.

Throughout the entire video, everything was black and white except the interview with Robert Lucius. The rule of thirds was nicely used in this interview, and there was extra space for breathing.

However, if I were to re-edit this package, I would introduce some color into some scenes. There were shots that were not still shots, and when we were brought directly into the scene where the patients were chanting prayers at a Buddhist temple, I felt that color should have been used. The use of color would have brought the audience directly into the scene. The video was also a little long at just over 5 minutes, but I personally felt that the time was used effectively.

Overall, this video was very effective in telling the story of the patients at Van Mon. It was also more effective because the interviewee was speaking throughout the whole video which made it seem more personal because this person was interacting with patients. He knew what they were going through to some extent, and this made it more interesting. This video also used a variety of still shots, black and white photographs, slow motion shots and interviews which made it very interesting.