It's not confusing. It's kinda like watching security camera screens 4 frames at the same time -- and in TIME CODE, there is actually going's on in each of the 4 frames simultanously.
If you appreciate film experimentation and graphic/visual satisfaction, and able to swallow Hollywood drama (menage a trois) easy, try TIME CODE. Mike Figgis' very much digitally generated 4-frame movie, delivered with the concerted effort of 4-camera individually manned yet simultaneously coordinated, is truly a technological fete. They must have had fun, including the spontaneous improvised acting by the team of actors. The storyline evolves around a day's event of a Hollywood production company. The cameras captured (top right frame) Saffron Burrows' activities; (top left frame) Jeanne Tripplehorn and Salma Hayak inside a limousine; (lower left frame) the street scenes and happenings outside of the production company office, shooting from the office reception area; (lower right frame) inside the office space's conference meeting room -- the lower left and right frames cycle through/forth and back to capture the going's on within the office space.
Once you've established the sense of the settings and picked up the relationships of the multiple characters (include Stellan Skarsgard, Holly Hunter, Julian Sands, Leslie Mann, Steve Weber, Kyle MacLachlan), which are all somehow related in this Web of Hollywood saga, you'd be drawn into the drama of it all by the audio as much as the visual. You will feel at ease -- the activities within each frame will naturally be absorbed and the mind will get used to the 4-frame setup and be able to follow the event of things. The fact that the audio is monitored concurrently with the conversation/sound volume of each frame being choreographed to be louder or softer helps the audience's aural/visual reception of this techno-innovative "filmic" effort. Bravo to another Mike Figgis bold attempt!
If you appreciate film experimentation and graphic/visual satisfaction, and able to swallow Hollywood drama (menage a trois) easy, try TIME CODE. Mike Figgis' very much digitally generated 4-frame movie, delivered with the concerted effort of 4-camera individually manned yet simultaneously coordinated, is truly a technological fete. They must have had fun, including the spontaneous improvised acting by the team of actors. The storyline evolves around a day's event of a Hollywood production company. The cameras captured (top right frame) Saffron Burrows' activities; (top left frame) Jeanne Tripplehorn and Salma Hayak inside a limousine; (lower left frame) the street scenes and happenings outside of the production company office, shooting from the office reception area; (lower right frame) inside the office space's conference meeting room -- the lower left and right frames cycle through/forth and back to capture the going's on within the office space.
Once you've established the sense of the settings and picked up the relationships of the multiple characters (include Stellan Skarsgard, Holly Hunter, Julian Sands, Leslie Mann, Steve Weber, Kyle MacLachlan), which are all somehow related in this Web of Hollywood saga, you'd be drawn into the drama of it all by the audio as much as the visual. You will feel at ease -- the activities within each frame will naturally be absorbed and the mind will get used to the 4-frame setup and be able to follow the event of things. The fact that the audio is monitored concurrently with the conversation/sound volume of each frame being choreographed to be louder or softer helps the audience's aural/visual reception of this techno-innovative "filmic" effort. Bravo to another Mike Figgis bold attempt!