Topic > Film Analysis: Slacker 1991 - 1200

“Slacker” (1991) is an independent film by director “Richard Linklater”. It is a character-driven drama, structured with many individual scenes that form a feature film with no apparent narrative. The film portrays snippets of the daily lives of several eccentric people in Austin, Texas. The film is constructed in such a way that each scene features new characters, and after the scene is over you will never see the same characters again. The camera floats from scene to scene following different characters from one location to another. Like normal films structured in three acts, “Slacker” does not have a protagonist who drives the plot. There is therefore no plot to connect the scenes to each other, creating many individual scenes with their own mini-narrative. The scenes are linked together in a feature film, not by a plot, but by physically traveling with the camera around the city. Compared to normal three-act films, I think there are many similarities and differences with "Slacker". Most of the scenes in "Slacker", as in films with normal structure, establish flaws and internal conflicts in the characters, but do not offer solutions or solutions to their problems, but rather drift to another place with other characters. Many scenes are constructed with very few cuts, or even single takes. I think this is a way to enhance the slow, everyday feeling that I think the film is trying to describe. I often get the feeling that the cuts are not used to show new emotions, but often more to lead the film in other physical directions. In character-driven films, close-ups are used to engage the audience in what's going on inside the protagonist's head. I don't remember seeing any close-ups in “......middle of the paper...single character movies. It allows the viewer a brief glimpse into the lives of individuals before the camera moves to a new character, then travels on an unknown path that leaves no room for character development. comparing the narrative structure of Slacker and my film, titled Lone Wolf, it is obvious that the director of Lone Wolf approached this project with the process of writing the three-act structure. My experimental film revolves around various character problems followed by different solutions for each of the three main characters, thereafter the film ends with the benefits of the eventual solution. While Slacker has no clear narrative structure because the characters in the film never reconnect. Thus making it impossible to create a twist in the story, which would have increased the dangers in the plot.