In My Name is Oona, the juxtaposition of the sound and image was truly brilliant- From the start, the way that the two were fighting, mingling, giving and taking- it was incredibly complex and very moving.
The following are the notes I took while viewing the film for the second time:
Begins with a shot of Oona's face
Goes into her name being rhythmically repeated over highly overexposed, thick foliage
White greatly overpowers black
Double exposure of her face over trees- At this same time, the music begins to be overlayed
Black starts to overpower white in the image
A honking sound is added to the soundtrack and the scene flashes to Oona running
She is getting faster, spinning around
The soundtrack grows increasingly chaotic
The scene turns to Oona spinning around with another young child- It looks young and innocent at the same time as looking animal, mature
The soundtrack switches back to just a repeated "Oona" as her child voice comes in saying the days of the week...
Tuesday... Wednesday... Thursday... Friday
Scene flashes to Oona walking her white horse away
The days continue to be spoken
A man's deep, serious, and informative voice comes in in the background, but his words are unclear
Still, "Oona" is repeated as the childlike voice says the days of the week
Oona is brushing her horse
The child voice says "Tuesday" -pause- giggle- pause "Tuesday
A faraway voice begins to say My name is Oona... MMMMMY name is Oona... repeated again and again and again
The days of the week are said again and Oona is riding her horse
The lighting looks like a breaking dawn
Oona looks dreamlike and carefree- she is wearing a cape as she rides her horse and it is shimmering as it flies in the breeze
As the audio becomes increasingly chaotic, Oona rides her white hrose in her white cape into the bright sunlight- this is the part that really got me. The image was so beautiful, so serene with so much optimistic life, and the soundtrack is getting darker and darker and darker. The image looks to be at a stopping point- when I first saw the film, I nearly expected it to end there- around 6:32.
Instead of ending, the image comes on again, getting darker now in the lighting to accompany the darkening soundtrack- it is extremely uncomfortable and eerie, the word becoming not words but noise.
To counter this auditory climax, Oona is now riding her horse calmly- it is no longer galloping away- it is walking calmly through the woods.
The densely layered soundtrack which has built until this point cuts to a soft woman's voice singing- Oona is again running around, on a black background this time, on her legs instead of on her horse, her white cape shimmering.
What really makes this film work for me is CONTRAST- within both image and sound, and of the two together. The pacing of this contrast feels natural, yet succeeds in this without being predicable.
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