While watching Encounters at the End of the World, I couldn’t help but to be overwhelmed with a feeling of wonder and a sense of not belonging in that world. Someone watching these two clips could forget that these were shot on Earth and not on some distant world that is less evolved. Therefore Herzog uses non-diegetic sound and otherworldly shots to create a sense of mystery in order to transport the viewer to another world. By using music that doesn’t necessarily mesh with the scenery Herzog is creating a sense of alienation. The viewer should feel that they don’t belong and that maybe they are the “Aliens” in the world he is documenting. The theme for this week was Nationless and by showing these environments Herzog has created a documentary that isn’t tied to any Nation. We discussed last week that even though this is a documentary the film also has characteristics of western and syfy films. In these two clips Herzog has used elements of both. The bizarre music has a syfy feel to it. I would almost venture to say that the sound is edited to create this effect. The environments he films are also not inviting just like the early west. By using the music and environments Herzog has effectively created a strange world that removes the viewer from their own. Essentially making them “Nationless”.
Tag Archives: #syfy
The Fear Of The Unknown
I choose these two clips because I love how it really ties into the theme of science fiction and with science fiction films, it is to explore the unknown. And that is exactly what Werner Herzog did with his documentary. The first clip shows the creatures that the scientist find deep in the sea and the music with it is some what eerie, as if all the creatures from a science fiction came to life. Then the next clip shows the scientists watching an actual science fiction film. And as someone who really loves film, especially Quentin Tarantino, then you would know that any film he puts inside his films have meaning to it and makes that specific scene important. I really like how a documentary like this makes us question about things in life and ourselves when typically they are to inform and tell us what is right and wrong. But not with Herzog, he brings us into the unknown and heightens our fears and fantasies of what the possibilities could be or mean to the audience. He really brings fiction and non-fiction together and it is up to us whether to believe what we see. Just like these two scenes. Is the first clip we saw from a science fiction film…maybe the one the scientists were watching? Or, is what we really see true?