“Once considered the cinematic heir to Luis Buñuel and Federico Fellini, Chilean-born director Alejandro Jodorowsky shocked and amazed audiences with his films El Topo and The Holy Mountain, which tell mythic, mind-blowing tales of spiritual transformation. “When I saw them,” says Mario Sorrenti, “I was inspired not only to reference them in a fashion story, but they also made me want to make films one day. The imagery is amazing, and his commentary on society, religion, politics, and art is something that is still relevant today.”

I don’t like making-of films of shootings which aim to hide the fact that they’re just that: making-ofs. And this one’s a good example why. I hate to step on the director’s toes, but since his/her name is indecipherable (due to überfancy font design), it kind of makes it easier to tell it like it is: this is failure.

But let’s start with what DOES work: the music. It evokes a nice mood and backs up the religious imagery. And… that’s it. The rest of it is just bad craft.
The editing seems at random, scence-to-scene-wise as well as regarding the whole composition. What’s happening here? Is there a climax? If it’s a conceptional work, what’s the structural underlying?
What’s with the unmotivated changes to black&white? Add to this some overused fashion film cliches (mirror effects) and some dilettantish zooms, not to mention the photo-flashes in the background, and everything mysterious and evocative about the staging of this editorial is lost.

Really, it’s simple: you can’t have both at the same time, film AND photography. Because they’re (ehem) different mediums. One is time-based and allows movement, the other is not. You have a different kind of framing, timing, lighting. In an editorial you can do different settings, which, in the end, can be less than the sum of it’s parts. Every picture is first and foremost a story on it’s own. It’s not like a comic book, where a story unfolds from one panel to another. It’s not sequencial. Or at least, it doesn’t have to be. Film will always be about continuity and sequencial storytelling. Even if you reject it, it’s still there and as a director/editor you have to somehow deal with it.

You see, Jodorowsky, whose work is cited heavily in this editorial, was a far cry from a conventional storyteller. It was trippy, surreal, anti-climatic and all over the top… but still coherent, rhythmic, SEQUENTIAL. And very funny, too. You should check it out.

Ok, so if you do a making of: just show it. Show the people. How they work, show their tools. It’s what Showstudio does and it’s very interesting and teasing at the same time.

And this rant is not aiming at this film in particular. You can see this kind of ill-bred hybrids everywhere nowadays. Because film has arrived in the fashion world. Because some people think, (fashion) film is a nice extension of a photo shooting. Well, let me tell you: it’s not. If you don’t do it right, it can diminish the overall concept and even kill it’s aura.

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