The ongoing pandemic situation has provided a new lease of life to some occassionaly-used practices, making them the ‘new normal’ in the mainstream. Video conferencing and online meetings that were earlier resorted to when the participants were spread across oceans, are now the preferred modes of communication even for friends living across the street. Trying to stay quarantined at home, protecting one another from contagion and breaking the chain make the non-contact system the need of the hour. But, this new normal is not everyone’s cup of tea. While some are frustrated staying couped up at home, others flourish in this new condition and are at their productive best. When two friends get on a face time meeting to discuss the future of their film project, things do not pan out as they would have expected. Conversations get heated, and the situation takes a sharp turn. The innocent face time meeting between friends across the street, developing into something more sinister.
‘Face Time’ is a lockdown film by director Trey Murphy. This short film employs the primary method available to filmmakers during the lockdown, Screen capture, to tell stories. To create something that the audience does not quite expect out of a format like this, an interesting twist is added at the end. Acknowledging the fact that this technique will soon be overexploited by filmmakers and will lose its charm, even before it has been fully explored, Trey goes ahead with confidence and creates a mark with his treatment.
‘Face Time’ takes a critical look at the effect of the lockdowns on the mental health of the population. Situations like this one, where frivolous issues grow out of control with the least of provocations are quite common in the ‘new normal’ with tempers running high everywhere. ‘Face Time’ is a wake up call to bring the focus to the mental health issues brought about because of this uncertainty.
