10 Second Stories

The Five Obstructions by Danish directors Lars von Trier and Jordan Leth contains a number of inspiring techniques and treatments that lend themselves well to 10 second movies. The simple composition and tight framing also works well on the web and in other small screen formats.

In “The Five Obstructions,” Lars von Trier subjects his predecessor Jordan Leth to a series of five filmmaking trials, each based on the remaking of Leth’s 1967 short film “The Perfect Human” according to different “obstructions.”

The regulations include, among others, that every shot should be 12 frames in length, that one version had to be filmed in the most miserable place in the world, and one version had to be animated.

I saw this film when it was released a few year sago and was mesmerized. Fortunately the following excerpts are also available on YouTube.

Enjoy!

Perfect Human Intro:

Obstruction #1

Obstruction #2

Obstruction #3

Obstruction #4