Nominee Film Selection (Best Creative Direction)
Australian International Fashion Film Festival 2015.
aifff.com.au
A short film by British fashion designer, Jonathan Saunders. JUMPER, directed by Justin Anderson, tells the story of a bourgeois European family whose lives are invaded by an enigmatic visitor. Set within a 20th century modern villa, his presence creates an unnerving effect.
Inspired by David Hockney’s ‘swimming pool series’ and the 1968 Pier Paolo Pasolini’s film ‘Teorema’, Saunders’ signature use of colour runs as a theme throughout from the deep blue of the water to the piercing green of the grass through to the actual clothes themselves. Everyday objects are used as accessories, and the actors are clothed in key Jonathan Saunders pieces. Film is something Jonathan is fiercely passionate about and often uses as a starting point for a collection and in this instance the collection was the starting point for the film.
The intensity with which it is shot nods towards Saunders use of texture, print and colour, in fact colour itself narrates the story. The film focuses on a middle class family of four each member having their own colour palette and regular place at the dining table, they are sat eating in silence giving the impression of something visceral, whilst a visitor watches them from outside. The visitor represents something different for each member of the family
We see a quick succession of close up vignettes of figures in the bedroom. The cutting is fast and one character is exchanged for another depicting the visitor and each member of the family. It is the same scene, same framing and same action with interchangeable characters and is edited in such a way as being deliberately confusing as to who is who. Mother, father son and daughter are all lost in a melee of ambiguity. The visitor is very much the elephant in the room.
