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natalyadSummary:
The project is to make mannequins of 4 physically disabled people and use them to display clothes in the public window of a department store called Modissa in Zurich for 3rd December International Day of People with Disabilities.
The film shows the process of the disabled people meeting The Designer, having their bodies measured, photographed and scrutinised by The Designer before mannequin models of each person are created. This a mixture of intriguing and discomforting as disabled bodies are not shown in positive ways.
English language captioned video is at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8umFV69fNg the dialogue is all in Swiss German.
Context before reading the description
The shots are often very fast, sometimes not many seconds long and cut in and out of different places and people. I am not a film nerd so I am probably using all the wrong language to describe things apologies in advance.
The participants are:
Alex Oberholzer is an older slightly balding man with glasses who dresses smartly. He has one missing leg below the ankle, one hand missing at the wrist and three toes on his remaining foot. He has to swing one of his legs right round to walk which he does with the aid of two sticks.
Jasmine Rechsteiner has long shoulder length hair worn loose and is very stylishly dressed as befitting her title of Miss Handicap 2010. She has a spinal curvature which makes one of her shoulders and hips higher than the other.
Urs Kolly is a tall well muscled athlete dressed very casually in sneakers, jeans and a shirt. He has a below-knee amputation.
Erwin Aljukic has short dark hair, a goatee beard and wears quite scruffy clothes for most of this film. He is shown using a manual wheelchair and standing.
Nadja Schmid has auburn hair worn up with a fridge and is stylishly dressed. Her right arm has a blue and green tattoo. She is of short stature and uses an electric wheelchair.
Description of video which is 4 mins 29 second long:
The first 7 seconds before the music show a camera panning over a white mannequin's clavicle and upper chest moving round to a close up of the its abdominal area with the belly button in the middle.
As the music starts, the camera view shows of several mannequin legs on a concrete floor of a warehouse before zooming into the top half of a male mannequin with a six-pack chest looking a bit like a Greek statue.
13 seconds in, the warehouse loading door opens and Alex walks in slowly aided by two sticks. A trendy looking middle aged white haired designer dressed in a black suit looks up from his desk towards the door. Erwin then propells himself into the warehouse in his manual wheelchair before the shot and dialogue cuts to Nadja and Jasmine introducing themselves to the Designer who is quite tall and has to bend quite a lot to shake their hands. The shot then cuts back to the designer shaking hands with Alex who is using his left hand having rested his stick on the other arm before the shot quickly switches to a handshake between Urs and the designer.
At 25 seconds in, the designer is shown talking to Erwin about about a male mannequin behind him, which they turn to look at before discussing the measurements the designer will take of each disabled person's body that are different to the pseudo-norm. The short then switches to Nadja and Jasmine who are also having the measurements of their mannequin models explained to them.
At 42 seconds in a wide German department store window has staff moving the mannequin out before the scene switches back to the designer who is measuring Alex's arm which ends shortly after the wrist. Both the Alex and the Designer are focussed on the measurement.
Urs who has stripped down to just underwear starts to take off his below the knee prosthesis, followed by the plastic cup and sock elements (which protect the stump) all while remaining standing on his other leg. Urs has noticeable muscles in his legs and torso. The shot pans out to show him leaning against a warehouse pillar moving around while the Designer takes multiple photos of him from all angles.
At 59 seconds in, the Designer is taking photos of Jasmine from all angles while she is clothed in greem trousers and a black top and cardigan. Nadja is watching in the background. Jasmine says that she thinks it must be very difficult to make a copy of this referring to her body, stature and posture. The Designer is the shown measuring her as she stands to get an idea of how she stands in relation to the floor. The scene switches back to Urs who is being measured by the Designer, who is saying there is 35 cm missing from his leg as the shot moves downwards.
The scene then changes quickly to the Designer adding to his drawings and making notes before switching to someone using a circular saw to cut the foot off a mannequin leg before switching back to the designer measuring the circumference of the very bottom of Urs's stump and annotating his human outline diagram as he goes. Urs is then shown as a head and shoulders shot, his impairment invisible for a second. Then back to someone using a circular saw cutting some mannequin legs length wise.
The scene then switches back to Alex who is now sitting in a wheelchair as he and the designer discuss his legs and feet, he explains he just has three toes on his one foot.
A quick switch to the bottom half of a mannequin shot with one leg cut off just below the bottom being carried away before a different pair of mannequin legs is slotted upright onto a base.
At one minute 39 there is a switch back to Erwin having his chest circumference measured. He has noticeably shortened stature and very bony joints as he holds himself upright in a standing position using the back of a chair covered in clothes. His facial expression is hard to read, possibly a mixture of discomfort at being photographed and measured so closely while smiling a little at the chance to be part of this project and have real disabled people's bodies being used to design mannequin. Moving to a shot of Erwin's jeans around his ankles as the circumference of his legs is measured and the shot zooms out to show the whole of him.
The scene switches back to the mannequin leg which was sawn up lengthwise as two people's arms are visible compressing the leg to Erwin's leg measurements securing it with parcel tape and using a tape measure to confirm they've got measurements right before a different person is seen wrapping Erwin's mannequin legs with fibreglass before a third person using a hand held sander smooths down the dried fiberglass to a smooth finish. An upper torso of one of the mannequins is shown being hand sanded as the craftsperson blows off the dust and the shot switches to the shelf storage of the completed mannequin parts of the project so far. A woman is shown polishing a mannequin upper torso with a shiny substance. A craftsman slots parts of Jasmine's mannequin together in a small open space showing the spinal curvature and posture she has amongst an array of regular mannequins behind and in front of it.
At 2 minutes 15 the scene now switches to Erwin waiting to see his final mannequin He is smiling and rubbing his hands with anticipation as the shot switches to his mannequin covered in a white sheet.
Alex is dressed in outdoor clothes looking serious as he anticipates the revealing of his mannequin.
As Urs rocks from one foot to another the dialogue is of the Designer saying "I am keen to know whether people will see the disability" before panning to Nadja and Jasmine.
Alex walks round his covered mannequin. Urs walks right up to his mannequin before Nadja and Jasmine are shown next to Nadja's covered mannequin, as Nadja nervously grins in anticipation.
Finally at 2 minutes 34 Erwin is seen pulling the sheet off his mannequin, where its revealing makes him take a sudden breath before his face makes an O shape.
Alex pulls the sheet from his mannequin from behind before Urs pulls the sheet of his from the side. Jasmine pulls the sheet from her mannequin slowly from behind before Erwin is shown driving his wheelchair round and round his mannequin examining it from all angles - occasionally reaching out to touch it.
Alex examins his mannequin closely his face not giving much away about how he feels. The mannequin heads are all blank ones so the camera shot shows first Alex's shortened arm and his thin legs, one missing leg just above the ankle and his foot with just three toes resting on the base.
At 2 mins 50 the scene suddenly switches back to the department store window where mannequins are still being removed. The dialogue says seeing it for real has been a real shock as there are some very quick shots of Erwin touching the leg of his mannequin before a longer set of shots where Urs knocks on his mannequin's fibreglass materials, and examines the leg before he sits on the floor to remove his prosthesis to put it onto the mannequin. He is then shown standing a few steps back watching before hopping back over as if to retrieve his prosthesis.
At 3 mins 4 seconds a different department store window is being cleared of mannequins as the dialogue starts to say "The people passing by" before cutting to Erwin standing behind his mannequin with his hands on its hand and shoulder and smiling before continuing "will be really irritated" as the shot cuts back to Erwin's mannequin dressed only in a pair of trousers is carried into the display window.
The shot cuts to Jasmine caressing her mannequin along the curvature of its spine while Nadja looks on. Jasmine says "It's so special to see yourself like this" as she has a huge smile on her face and hugs the mannequin close from behind and says "When you usually can't look at yourself in the mirror" while the focus switches to Nadja moving around to look at her mannequin from all angles as she too reaches out and touches it as Jasmine stands looking side on.
At 3mins 24 Jasmine's mannequin is placed naked in the large shop window display as staff begin to arrange a black sequinny dress which comes down to just above her knees. Erwin's mannequin acquires a shirt and bow tie and is shown holding the back of a chair. Staff are shown pinning the clothes to hang correctly and look nice for each one.
A distance shot of the department store display from the street shows Jasmine's mannequin in her dress at what initially just looks like an unusual standing posture. People walk past, one lady takes a smartphone photograph. People's faces as they walk by are captured, some walk away, others stop looking perplexed but clearly thinking or discussing the mannequin with their companions. Two teenage girls are shown trying to copy the pose and posture of Jasmine's mannequin.
Suddenly at 3 mins 55 second you realise one of the people watching Jasmine's mannequin is Jasmine herself, looking in, from the outside grinning as she matches its posture perfectly with people watching both of them as they pass.
At 4 mins 5 second Urs fully-clothed stands in the warehouse next to his mannequin which is naked and without prosthesis. Erwin fully clothed in a check shirt and cammo patterned combat trousers stands in front of his wheelchair holding onto a chair side by side with his mannequin with a huge grin on his face. Alex stands next to his mannequin using his sticks for balance, smiling broadly for the first time since the very start of the film. Nadia is shown quickly sitting next to her mannequin looking relaxed showing the designers have captured her posture and hand position in the mannequin accurately which is a mirror image of her for some reason unlike the others. Jasmine stands next to her mannequin whose curve matches hers.
The film ends with Alex, Erwin, Jasmine, Nadja and Urs's mannequins stood in a row with other mannequins scattered around behind. The project mannequins and one of the background mannequins are pale caucasian flesh coloured whereas all the rest are white. There is a caption in English saying "Because who is perfect?" followed by "Get closer" before finally showing the project logo Pro Infirmis in the bottom right hand corner.
As the music fades out a caption says it is Lost at Sea by Dave Thomas Junior.
The project is to make mannequins of 4 physically disabled people and use them to display clothes in the public window of a department store called Modissa in Zurich for 3rd December International Day of People with Disabilities.
The film shows the process of the disabled people meeting The Designer, having their bodies measured, photographed and scrutinised by The Designer before mannequin models of each person are created. This a mixture of intriguing and discomforting as disabled bodies are not shown in positive ways.
English language captioned video is at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8umFV69fNg the dialogue is all in Swiss German.
Context before reading the description
The shots are often very fast, sometimes not many seconds long and cut in and out of different places and people. I am not a film nerd so I am probably using all the wrong language to describe things apologies in advance.
The participants are:
Alex Oberholzer is an older slightly balding man with glasses who dresses smartly. He has one missing leg below the ankle, one hand missing at the wrist and three toes on his remaining foot. He has to swing one of his legs right round to walk which he does with the aid of two sticks.
Jasmine Rechsteiner has long shoulder length hair worn loose and is very stylishly dressed as befitting her title of Miss Handicap 2010. She has a spinal curvature which makes one of her shoulders and hips higher than the other.
Urs Kolly is a tall well muscled athlete dressed very casually in sneakers, jeans and a shirt. He has a below-knee amputation.
Erwin Aljukic has short dark hair, a goatee beard and wears quite scruffy clothes for most of this film. He is shown using a manual wheelchair and standing.
Nadja Schmid has auburn hair worn up with a fridge and is stylishly dressed. Her right arm has a blue and green tattoo. She is of short stature and uses an electric wheelchair.
Description of video which is 4 mins 29 second long:
The first 7 seconds before the music show a camera panning over a white mannequin's clavicle and upper chest moving round to a close up of the its abdominal area with the belly button in the middle.
As the music starts, the camera view shows of several mannequin legs on a concrete floor of a warehouse before zooming into the top half of a male mannequin with a six-pack chest looking a bit like a Greek statue.
13 seconds in, the warehouse loading door opens and Alex walks in slowly aided by two sticks. A trendy looking middle aged white haired designer dressed in a black suit looks up from his desk towards the door. Erwin then propells himself into the warehouse in his manual wheelchair before the shot and dialogue cuts to Nadja and Jasmine introducing themselves to the Designer who is quite tall and has to bend quite a lot to shake their hands. The shot then cuts back to the designer shaking hands with Alex who is using his left hand having rested his stick on the other arm before the shot quickly switches to a handshake between Urs and the designer.
At 25 seconds in, the designer is shown talking to Erwin about about a male mannequin behind him, which they turn to look at before discussing the measurements the designer will take of each disabled person's body that are different to the pseudo-norm. The short then switches to Nadja and Jasmine who are also having the measurements of their mannequin models explained to them.
At 42 seconds in a wide German department store window has staff moving the mannequin out before the scene switches back to the designer who is measuring Alex's arm which ends shortly after the wrist. Both the Alex and the Designer are focussed on the measurement.
Urs who has stripped down to just underwear starts to take off his below the knee prosthesis, followed by the plastic cup and sock elements (which protect the stump) all while remaining standing on his other leg. Urs has noticeable muscles in his legs and torso. The shot pans out to show him leaning against a warehouse pillar moving around while the Designer takes multiple photos of him from all angles.
At 59 seconds in, the Designer is taking photos of Jasmine from all angles while she is clothed in greem trousers and a black top and cardigan. Nadja is watching in the background. Jasmine says that she thinks it must be very difficult to make a copy of this referring to her body, stature and posture. The Designer is the shown measuring her as she stands to get an idea of how she stands in relation to the floor. The scene switches back to Urs who is being measured by the Designer, who is saying there is 35 cm missing from his leg as the shot moves downwards.
The scene then changes quickly to the Designer adding to his drawings and making notes before switching to someone using a circular saw to cut the foot off a mannequin leg before switching back to the designer measuring the circumference of the very bottom of Urs's stump and annotating his human outline diagram as he goes. Urs is then shown as a head and shoulders shot, his impairment invisible for a second. Then back to someone using a circular saw cutting some mannequin legs length wise.
The scene then switches back to Alex who is now sitting in a wheelchair as he and the designer discuss his legs and feet, he explains he just has three toes on his one foot.
A quick switch to the bottom half of a mannequin shot with one leg cut off just below the bottom being carried away before a different pair of mannequin legs is slotted upright onto a base.
At one minute 39 there is a switch back to Erwin having his chest circumference measured. He has noticeably shortened stature and very bony joints as he holds himself upright in a standing position using the back of a chair covered in clothes. His facial expression is hard to read, possibly a mixture of discomfort at being photographed and measured so closely while smiling a little at the chance to be part of this project and have real disabled people's bodies being used to design mannequin. Moving to a shot of Erwin's jeans around his ankles as the circumference of his legs is measured and the shot zooms out to show the whole of him.
The scene switches back to the mannequin leg which was sawn up lengthwise as two people's arms are visible compressing the leg to Erwin's leg measurements securing it with parcel tape and using a tape measure to confirm they've got measurements right before a different person is seen wrapping Erwin's mannequin legs with fibreglass before a third person using a hand held sander smooths down the dried fiberglass to a smooth finish. An upper torso of one of the mannequins is shown being hand sanded as the craftsperson blows off the dust and the shot switches to the shelf storage of the completed mannequin parts of the project so far. A woman is shown polishing a mannequin upper torso with a shiny substance. A craftsman slots parts of Jasmine's mannequin together in a small open space showing the spinal curvature and posture she has amongst an array of regular mannequins behind and in front of it.
At 2 minutes 15 the scene now switches to Erwin waiting to see his final mannequin He is smiling and rubbing his hands with anticipation as the shot switches to his mannequin covered in a white sheet.
Alex is dressed in outdoor clothes looking serious as he anticipates the revealing of his mannequin.
As Urs rocks from one foot to another the dialogue is of the Designer saying "I am keen to know whether people will see the disability" before panning to Nadja and Jasmine.
Alex walks round his covered mannequin. Urs walks right up to his mannequin before Nadja and Jasmine are shown next to Nadja's covered mannequin, as Nadja nervously grins in anticipation.
Finally at 2 minutes 34 Erwin is seen pulling the sheet off his mannequin, where its revealing makes him take a sudden breath before his face makes an O shape.
Alex pulls the sheet from his mannequin from behind before Urs pulls the sheet of his from the side. Jasmine pulls the sheet from her mannequin slowly from behind before Erwin is shown driving his wheelchair round and round his mannequin examining it from all angles - occasionally reaching out to touch it.
Alex examins his mannequin closely his face not giving much away about how he feels. The mannequin heads are all blank ones so the camera shot shows first Alex's shortened arm and his thin legs, one missing leg just above the ankle and his foot with just three toes resting on the base.
At 2 mins 50 the scene suddenly switches back to the department store window where mannequins are still being removed. The dialogue says seeing it for real has been a real shock as there are some very quick shots of Erwin touching the leg of his mannequin before a longer set of shots where Urs knocks on his mannequin's fibreglass materials, and examines the leg before he sits on the floor to remove his prosthesis to put it onto the mannequin. He is then shown standing a few steps back watching before hopping back over as if to retrieve his prosthesis.
At 3 mins 4 seconds a different department store window is being cleared of mannequins as the dialogue starts to say "The people passing by" before cutting to Erwin standing behind his mannequin with his hands on its hand and shoulder and smiling before continuing "will be really irritated" as the shot cuts back to Erwin's mannequin dressed only in a pair of trousers is carried into the display window.
The shot cuts to Jasmine caressing her mannequin along the curvature of its spine while Nadja looks on. Jasmine says "It's so special to see yourself like this" as she has a huge smile on her face and hugs the mannequin close from behind and says "When you usually can't look at yourself in the mirror" while the focus switches to Nadja moving around to look at her mannequin from all angles as she too reaches out and touches it as Jasmine stands looking side on.
At 3mins 24 Jasmine's mannequin is placed naked in the large shop window display as staff begin to arrange a black sequinny dress which comes down to just above her knees. Erwin's mannequin acquires a shirt and bow tie and is shown holding the back of a chair. Staff are shown pinning the clothes to hang correctly and look nice for each one.
A distance shot of the department store display from the street shows Jasmine's mannequin in her dress at what initially just looks like an unusual standing posture. People walk past, one lady takes a smartphone photograph. People's faces as they walk by are captured, some walk away, others stop looking perplexed but clearly thinking or discussing the mannequin with their companions. Two teenage girls are shown trying to copy the pose and posture of Jasmine's mannequin.
Suddenly at 3 mins 55 second you realise one of the people watching Jasmine's mannequin is Jasmine herself, looking in, from the outside grinning as she matches its posture perfectly with people watching both of them as they pass.
At 4 mins 5 second Urs fully-clothed stands in the warehouse next to his mannequin which is naked and without prosthesis. Erwin fully clothed in a check shirt and cammo patterned combat trousers stands in front of his wheelchair holding onto a chair side by side with his mannequin with a huge grin on his face. Alex stands next to his mannequin using his sticks for balance, smiling broadly for the first time since the very start of the film. Nadia is shown quickly sitting next to her mannequin looking relaxed showing the designers have captured her posture and hand position in the mannequin accurately which is a mirror image of her for some reason unlike the others. Jasmine stands next to her mannequin whose curve matches hers.
The film ends with Alex, Erwin, Jasmine, Nadja and Urs's mannequins stood in a row with other mannequins scattered around behind. The project mannequins and one of the background mannequins are pale caucasian flesh coloured whereas all the rest are white. There is a caption in English saying "Because who is perfect?" followed by "Get closer" before finally showing the project logo Pro Infirmis in the bottom right hand corner.
As the music fades out a caption says it is Lost at Sea by Dave Thomas Junior.
