Response to Five Obstructions (2004) by Jorgen Leth & Lars von Trier.
- The first construction required Jorgen Leth to reshoot “Perfect Human” in Cuba without sets and using no more than 12 frames.
- The second obstruction requires Jorgen Leth to remake “The Perfect Human” in a “miserable place”, with the added constraint that each shot must be no longer than 50 frames.
- The third obstruction requires Jorgen Leth to create a film that is a tribute to his work, but without repeating himself. This obstruction challenges him to invent new methods to narrow the story.
- The fourth obstruction requires Jorgen Leth to make a cartoon version of “The Perfect Human” using a narrator.
- The fifth obstruction requires Jorgen Leth to remake “The Perfect Human” in the style of von Trier’s filmmaking.
As for how Jorgen’s coping with the obstructions, I think he sometimes may think it will be hard to solve those constructions, but he still enjoys it and has a passion to do all those things. He just tries new things and be innovative, and sometimes just let random thing happen, to add more uncertainty to his projects. And I think he respects von Trier a lot, thus it makes him seem more passionate.
And for the effect on the movies he produces? I think he uses a lot of experimental ways, he pushed the boundaries of the current way of filming. And all of his movies in that program are all different from each other and different from the film published before.
And the movie is very thought-provoking, and shows me a lot of new ways of making art and film, thus deepening my understanding of art. And i also want to try those methods in my creation in the future.