Quick Thoughts on 'Seven Signs that mean Silence'

Seven Signs That Mean Silence by Sara Magenheimer is an intriguing short work that addresses the complexities of the human perception that the robotic voices are also trying to perceive or just understand. Throughout the entire film, I felt a rush of thoughts and imagery in my mind. The sentences or questions and answers between the two voices were satisfying incomplete for the viewer to try and fill in the blanks. The video portion of the film pertained to symbols, blank or coloured frames and sometimes objects that didn’t define the conversation per se but forced the viewer to try and draw connections anyway. There were great bouts of silence and gaps between responses from the two voices (especially in the beginning) allowing the viewer to register what was going on. When the film first began, I was utterly confused as to what was going on, questions like, what are they talking about? why is there no video? Who must have recorded robotic voices? and why is there a human voice singing right in between the narration? popped in my mind. By the end of the film, I was overwhelmed and amazed at how the concept of disassociations was presented in such a simple way and was accompanied by underlying humour. Magenheimer portrayed names like the ABC’s using fruits as symbols for a particular name. I liked the film very much; it demonstrated our grasping and responding vs that of the computers incorporating the universal language of silence as a broader message.