The primary theme Eva Weber's short documentary Steel Homes is that of memories and the need to keep in touch with the past through possessions. It presents an very objective view of a variety of people that use storage lockers, it does this by not invading their lives and showing everything about them. The people are not shown in close up, so it's not intimidating, rather they're shown from a distance as if for the viewer to just observe them rather than judge them. There is a feeling of getting comfort from being in touch with the past too, this is something talked about my the interviewees but it can also be seen in the title of the short referring to the units as 'homes' which gives off connotations of safety and comfort.
There is an almost spiritual feeling to the film since it is dealing with subject matter of past experiences and keeping certain memories alive through objects. Weber also gets this feeling across visually in the film as there is a few shots of lone people strolling through the otherwise empty space before disappearing through a door way, all you get is a fleeting glimpse of the person. These relatively abstract shots mirror the almost spiritual nature of what the owners of the units feel when visiting their lockers. Moreover the music that plays throughout too supports this almost spiritual feeling.
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| The stillness and emptiness of the facility gives off a spiritual feel. |
One of the main things the film does contrary to a standard documentary is that it doesn't cut to talking head interviews of the people it focuses on, rather they put forward their thoughts through narration. By not cutting away constantly to show the people it keeps the film very focussed visually on what it is about, the storage lockers, and keeps you engaged with the visual style of the short. This furthermore supports the distanced and objective feel of the film, it doesn't thrust you up close to analyse one individual, rather the camera keeps its stays further back and gives the subject space.
Visually the short has a very clinical feel to it, the colours are quite bland and monotone silvers, that fill the majority of the frame most of the time. With a long depth of field there is a variety of shots that show how far back the facility goes and the amount of lockers; by showing the viewer all these and having people inform the audience as to why they use them it forces the audience to consider all the different individual stories behind each storage unit. There are also multiple balanced shots surrounding the person in the lockers either side of them, to help the viewer relate to them as individuals against the plethora of other storage lockers around them. The visuals focus much more on the objects and the building that it is set in, not focussing so much on the locker owners themselves, the people are focussed on through their narration over the top of the images. Both work together to give a good sense of place and a good sense of the reasoning behind the people and why storage units are so important to them; in my opinion the main aim of what the documentary is trying to achieve.
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| Example of a very balanced shot showing the woman from a distance but still surrounded by the storage units. |
