The 5 Obstructions

I really enjoyed this video. The main part about it that I liked was seeing how many different works could be created based off one previous video. The original video seemed to me to have a very specific style and tone. The Perfect Human seemed like a very unbiased, general representation. The human shown within seemed relatively universal, a decision that was most likely a conscious decision. As the obstructions were placed on the subsequent videos, the representations that were made seemed to have much more distinct representations of these humans, but yet created a similar message. I felt that the video as a whole became another representation of The Perfect Human.

What I found to be one of the more interesting parts of the documentary was the influence of other artists or the effects of a collaborative work. I was surprised at just how much the obstructions pushed and changed Leth's films. It just made me think about collaborative work and the ways that individuals can shape work as a group. These two filmmakers were not even doing a traditional collaboration and yet the limits von Trier set had an impact on Leth's thinking, process, and outcome.