Top Ten: Kids in Film

My first foray into adapting Top Ten lists into the video format came in a bit overlong, but I feel it was worth it to list some Honorable Mentions and to savor the moments and gestures that define the range of my choices. While the bulk of the films listed are told from the young protagonist’s point of view, they’re surprisingly still considered adult movies, whether because they’re silent or from a non-English-speaking country or “old,” but I see them all as perfectly suitable for viewers within the protagonist’s particular age range. The demographics broke down to six boys (seven if you count the duo as two) and four girls, with an even wider gender disparity if one counts the Honorable Mentions. Personalities run the gamut from moody introspection to energetic exuberance, but each kid exhibits a healthy range of these traits in response to his or her dramatic circumstances (which I tried to highlight with my choice of clips).

The actual audio-visual editing, matching music and sound to image, came mostly intuitively, even if final tuning ended up taking a while. Except for three choices (one of which is from a semi-remake of the film, and two of which are explicitly featured in the films), the accompanying music was written expressly for the movie, making the aesthetic mesh easier to pull off. I arranged clips to my liking first then overlaid the music, and certain edits and congruences seemed to pop up like magic. The final product exhibits less overall design than mere serendipity.

Enjoy the cinematic unfolding of my Top Ten Kids in Film just as you would my usual words, and let me know the good, the bad, and the ugly of this new experiment.

Top Ten: Kids in Film from Adam Kuntavanish on Vimeo.