"Koyaanisqatsi"

The film "Koyaanisqati" by Godfrey Reggio (1983) is in my eyes, a rather confusing film. I think the premise of the movie is to show the audience how the pace of life varies from place to place. The range of clips show a very fast paced (fast-forwarded) lifestyle in contrast to other clips which show a very quiet, relaxed life. On the other hand, this film could simply be showing the audience pieces of history as it includes various events from the past and present.

The types of visual images used in this film are as follows: To begin with, fire and smoke can be seen which to me creates the idea that something bad has just happened. After this, bits of material can be seen falling to the ground. The pace at this point is fairly slow. The film then shows landscape views of fairly deserted land, this shows how at this point in time, this place is very quiet and there is not much going on. Suddenly, the clips speed up and change much more frequently which suggests a much faster pace of living. These clips include crowds of people which shows how busier this life now is. Also, one clip shows women working in a factory which shows mass production and the fast pace makes the women look like robots as they do their job at such a speed. The film begins and ends with images of cave drawings.

The audio in this film is fairly limited. Firstly, there is no dialogue in this film apart from the word "Koyaanisqatsi" being chanted and repeated over and over again at the beginning and end of the film. There is music being played throughout the film and it changes to assist the pace of the film. However, there are no actual words in the music, it is just a tune.

After viewing parts of this film, I felt confused as to me, the film made very little sense.