A Mind Sang Review
Watching A Mind Sang is more like viewing a piece of live artwork, than it is watching a short film. Animation, naturally, allows filmmakers numerous storytelling possibilities, and when in the hands of an extremely creative filmmaker, those possibilities are endless. Director and animator, Vier Nev, is clearly that. Nev describes the film as “A short film about perception, rebirth and transformation.” After watching this film, it’s all of those things and more. Nev is able to take animated filmmaking to its more experimental boundaries and does so beautifully.
The artwork of the film is all two-dimensional and the details of the drawings are fairly simple. The drawings aren’t meant to be fine lines where you can see sharp edges and small details, in fact, that would actually ruin the artwork of this film. The drawings in this film are all optical illusions. Keeping that in mind, Nev keeps the color scheme simple. It’s almost entirely black and white, with a few drawings that feature tints of purple or red. The point of the film is for the illusions to be the most important thing that viewers pay attention to. The film is meant to be an experience.
In creating this experience, these drawings are similar, but much clearer than Rorschach inkblots. Nev lets the viewer decide what they see. The drawings are all connected as well, which is where the illusions come from. In a single frame, there can be three different ways to look at one drawing, but because the film is animated and moving, that same drawing will shift into something new entirely. Just from an artistic point of viewing this film, it’s mindboggling to keep up with. The film is only 6-minutes, but after multiple viewings you’ll feel like you’ve watched a new film every time.
Keeping this film psychologically stimulating, there is no narration or any speaking in the film. All of the sound is from the score composed by Yanis El-Masri, and the sound effects done by Francisca Dores and Henrik Ferrara. The sound effects add a real-life element to the film. For instance, there’s a scene where one of the drawings is breathing and we hear panting, or when a baby is born, and we hear the cries of a newborn. This brings life to the drawings, an added element of realism that helps support the experience of watching this film. Along with these sound effects, the score of the film heightens the experience. The score is eerie and uncomfortable, seeping into the film. When there’s a sudden POP in a scene, the music matches with a loud crash of instruments. Masri and Nev use the score to not only keep the pace of the film, but for the viewer to know as well how to feel about a scene. The more intense scenes have deeper notes from lower toned instruments, the calm scenes have flutes and light violins that prance along with whatever the drawings are showing.
Vier Nev’s film feels like a psychological trip, to be quite honest. Multiple viewings are needed and only make the film better. A Mind Sang is a very fitting title because that’s how your mind feels after watching it. It feels like your mind is ringing and going off in different directions because Nev shows you so many different thoughts in only six minutes. Nev’s creativity and talent have been recognized, as A Mind Sang was just recently nominated at the 60th Annecy International Animated Film Festival for Best Short Film. It’s early, but many more nominations are deserved for this film’s ingenuity.
