Film enthusiasts are invited to visit the dreamlike world of “Discretion,” a thesis work by Master of Science in Visualization Sciences student Vishwanand V. Shetti, which will screen 12:15 p.m. Tuesday, April 15 in Langford C414 at the Texas A&M College of Architecture.
“It’s about a Hispanic man who recollects his life over the course of a drunken night,” said Shetti. The story is told in a non-linear way in the manner of “Pulp Fiction” and “Babel.”
On Thursday, April 17, Shetti will present his thesis defense, also in Langford C414.
“I’m going to go through the visuals and associations in ‘Discretion,’ kind of dissect it a little bit, but I don’t want to give people a user manual on how to interpret the piece,” he said.
He’ll also be showing some of his other work and how he’s evolved behind the camera, as an editor, and a director.
“Discretion” jumps back and forth through time, as the audience follows the protagonist’s encounters with shady characters and seedy motel rooms.
Shetti said it took about six weeks and $3,000 - $4,000 to shoot the film in Austin. He used the Internet to locate actors.
“I did an open call for auditions and had people send in resumés and head shots,” he said. This is one of those rare instances where all my first picks were just right. I couldn’t be more happy with the casting.”
The actors earned $100 per day for their efforts.
“Discretion” takes place in a world of surreal hues and visuals.
“Creating visuals that were dreamlike was very important to me, because the whole movie’s shot in close up, so there’s this call for viewers to create the rest of the atmosphere,” said Shetti. “Since I felt our minds are doing that automatically, the background could add a more surreal feel to it.”
In the background, highly saturated colors or images just slightly out of sync with what’s in the foreground are seen throughout the film.
He cites David Lynch, director of “Blue Velvet” and “Mulholland Drive” as a primary influence. “He’s taught me to think and communicate more abstractly,” said Shetti.
“One of the things through grad school I’ve gained is developing a niche,” he said. “I’ve done a lot of pieces where ideas might be good, all the ideas might work together, but somehow it doesn’t click with the audience, doesn’t gain their interest,” he continued. “This darker subject matter, this darker niche, is something I’ve been exploring through grad school, and some of the work has been clicking with people, people have definitely been more attentive, and so I was exploring these ideas.”
More about “Discretion” and other work by Shetti is available on his Web site, www.vishwanand.com.
