iDiots

"A fun look at addiction to technology and other modern diseases."

Editing & Continuity

At an average shot length of 3.8 seconds the editing pace is around current filmmaking standards and uses cuts with only two fades (at the beginning and end of the film). Editing is used to provide continuity and to alternate between the particular and general behaviors, as well as to jump through the different situations. It is also used to link a robot’s action on his mobile device to how other robots react to it on their own devices.

Time is weaved in a continuous style, there are no significant jumps to the future or past. However the whole short is built in a cycle format, which underlines again the repetition factor.

Editing coupled with sound also help provide contrast when jumping from one situation to another.

Mise-en-Scène

Here we find another important element for transmitting repetition and superficiality. The animation of the robots is duplicated in many cases from one robot to the other, which when accompanied by the same sounds transmit the impression of automated behavior. This is especially clear in the case of the robots reacting to the “likes”, when they use the “Whip” App or when the two robots that are next to each other dance to the Nyan cat’s music.

Also, the behavior of the robots becomes quite simple. They act following patterns, which involve just a few actions without any elaborate interaction.

Robots are usually portrayed handling a cell phone, absorbed by their image. They interact with other robots or with the environment only through the devices, which act as intermediaries and provide (limit) their choice of possible actions. Due to them they are also driven into a loop of endless consumption. One of the few exceptions to the mediated way the robots interact with the environment is the sound of the siren, which guides their behavior.

The short film is set in an urban space, which is barely defined with cardboard elements. This lack of detail in the environment helps viewers focus on the robots, their repetitive actions and similarities.

Image & Aesthetic

The short’s aesthetic combines photorealism with stylized elements (the carboard elements of the environment). The quality of CG is nothing short of amazing. The image also shows a lot of attention to framing and composition, and usually has a shallow depth of field. The color palette uses saturated colors for the red robots and the cell phones’ displays, and more de-saturated colors for the environment, attracting the viewers’ attention to the former.

Iconography is defined by robots, urban elements, smartphones, a shop, internet content, images of cats and elements of machinery (the metallic door and its gears).

Another important device for creating repetition can be found here. Most robots have a similar color and shape, which makes it quite difficult to individualize them, except for the case of the big robot and the ones selling the iDiot devices.

We can, however, identify red robot characters to a certain degree through the way they’re using their devices (and the camera position they have been filmed with). That is, they’re being defined by their devices, following BLR’s premise.

Also, on the subject of transmitting superficiality, the images chosen to be displayed on the cell phone screens are examples of decontextualized, non-propositional content.

Sound

Sound is a key element for transmitting both repetition and superficiality. It helps define the complete cycle that makes up the short and conveys repetition by using the same sounds for all the red robots and cell phones, and through the use of a music score that has little variation.

Sound is also used to express the mood of the robots, serving as a replacement for dialogue, and for transmitting superficiality through catchy sounds and looping music from the devices. It is also used to indicate the functioning of the big robot’s antenna, as well as the malfunctioning of the iDiot devices.

Sound is also used for transmitting the idea of money and consumerism, when the seller shows up for selling a new version of the device.

Sometimes it contrasts with the materiality of the image. The cardboard door from where the big robot comes out has a metallic sound, for example, as well as its gears.

Socio-cultural factors

Why does iDiots have such a universal appeal? In this case the question can be answered easily. Mobile devices have become an ever present, disruptive factor in society. Everyone living in an urban or suburban area is acquainted with how irritating these devices can be, and how they can make people disconnect from others and the environment around them. Technology has its great pros but also its cons, and the addictive nature of these devices is all too obvious. It’s easy to understand why the short has had such a great impact.

Furthermore, besides the irritation mobile phones can cause, they reflect a serious contemporary issue. The use of the devices can have longer term consequences such as constant fragmentation of attention which may result in losing the ability to focus on a given task or subject for a long time (i.e. difficulty in reading books or keeping concentration when attending classes), impairment of social skills and more.

Since these issues affect such a large percentage of the population the effects are not to be taken lightly: the erosion of rational thought on this scale is ultimately, as some authors have argued, a degradation of the democratic system itself (see Neil Postman’s book “Amusing Ourselves to Death” for more on the subject). Of course it could also be asserted that the use of these devices along with social media are making the world become more democratic (though it’s a debatable argument, too, judging from the results up to now).

Local socio-cultural factors can perhaps be observed in the film’s sense of humor. From the name of the short to the situations portrayed, the approach is frontal and head-on. The subjects the short deals with are global, but this kind of approach would certainly not surface in some other countries.

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