Alex Boya’s short film Focus is a one-minute representation of the experience of attention deficit disorder (ADD) through the arts, specifically, through short film. From the aesthetic choice of animation and the way the audio and visual elements work together to make meaning, a lot of nuance can be understood about the experience of ADD by looking at these aesthetic elements in isolation.
Watching Without Audio: What ADD Looks Like
Initially the viewer’s focus is drawn to the simple mouth flap animations, but is then interrupted by various non-sequitur animations aggressively transitioning and morphing into the next abstract image. The only moments of clarity in animation style an progression is when the character interacts with what can be assumed to be a medicine bottle the person within the video. These stand-out moments of clarity are important to the experience of any illness but also are indicative of how the medicine helps to clear things up for both the viewer and the character. Other visual elements such as colours are used to highlight important things the watcher can focus on, such as the orange colour of the bottle in contrast to the simple black and white colours of the line art. With just the visuals, one can argue that this a striking interpretation of what ADD looks (or might look) like.
Listening to the Audio Without the Visuals: What ADD Sounds Like
As mentioned in class, the short film fittingly lacks focus – as evident in most obviously in the visuals. Without the visuals, this lack of focus is more evident in the way the feminine voice – which should be the focus without the visuals – continuously gets interrupted and displaced from being at the forefront of the sound experience, often getting drowned out by other miscellaneous noises.
“Toronto’s Stories of Health+illness.” University of Toronto ScarboroughUniversity of Toronto Scarborough, 22 Feb. 2018, https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/projects/torontostorieshealth/2018/02/22/limitations-of-the-chaos-narrative-alex-boyas-focus/.
Storyline Synopsis Summary: A cart ride through the mental shopping mall of attention deficit disorder. Plot Keywords: shopping, photograph, brain, shopping cart, baby. Genres: Animation, Short. Country: Canada, Mexico. Language: English. Release Date: 2014 (Canada). Production Company Credits: National Film Board of Canada (NFB), Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía (IMCINE). Technical Specs: Runtime: 2 min, Color : Black and White, Aspect Ratio: 1.78 : 1. Directed by Alex Boya. Writing Credits: Alex Boya Produced by: Vanessa Quintanilla Cobo, associate producer. Michael Fukushima, executive producer. Maral Mohammadian, producer. Jon Montes, associate producer. Film Editing by Carrie Haber. Sound Department: Ramachandra Borcar, sound designer. Geoffrey Mitchell, re-recording/sound recordist. Ceit Zweil, foley artist (as Karla Baumgardner). Visual Effects by Randall Finnerty, digital imaging. Animation Department: Alex Boya, animator. Editorial Department: Denis Pilon, on-line editor. Mélanie Bouchard, titles. Éloi Champagne, technical director. Rosalina Di Sario, administration. Dominique Forget, administration. Steve Hallé, technical coordinator. Stephanie Lalonde, administration. Chris Landreth, mentor.
