#I think I’m good at edited clips together but adding affects and transitions is really hard

[logansbluetie]

Another self-indulgent sparkly edit of Arkham riddler

[laurenwalkeyr2]

Fitting together a short video that depicts the work of multiple techniques and practices, and making it look nostalgic. Researching into videos made under the theme of my research to help me grasp a concept of what I am hoping my work will look like. Picking up on what other people have done and using it as inspiration to show a piece that not only am I happy with, but can be looked at with many different perceptions.

I wanted to tie in some of the work looked at in group, such as Le Jetee. The idea of a film made almost entirely of images, and a soft narration to portray an emotional theme. When reading a book the mind has complete imagination as to what can happen. Everyone’s recollection could be different. Providing a still image generates, in my opinion, a beginning image to bound an idea around. What I mean by this is that, for example, if you had a close up of a man’s face, he looks in anguish but we cannot see what he is looking at. Does that make the scenario a negative? Without the narration to tell the other half of the story, it is up to the imagination of the audience. This is what I appreciate about Le Jetee and purely imagery made films.

Another thing that I wanted my work to tie into was The Aura. For this, we watched a video called ‘The Green Ray’ by Tacita Dean. The idea ties into a sense of timelessness. The same theme as La Jetee with the soft narration. The art of the video is to really look. The narration of The Green Ray consists of Tacita Dean talking about how long it has taken stood filming the horizon, for weeks not being able to find the green ray and thinking it wasn’t there. On the final take she claims to have seen it, though others are sceptical. Once looking back digitally there is nothing there. Only after processing the original film was there finally proof of the green ray. So faint that it wouldn’t show up on digital, it had to be looked at in an analog format to be seen. This film works as a metaphor in the argument of film vs. digital. The modern technology is incapable of capturing all natural beauty, whereas the film camera managed it. It plays into the argument between by showing that however modern technology gets, film is still very much not outdated.

There was a short film that we watched that was actually set in New York, that for not only this project, but our 16mm project I felt gave a really good sense of time and ‘the loss of originality’. I wanted to look at this for my work, the loss of an original within New York.

During our group research we looked into colour and it’s link to emotion and communicative properties. Colour can be used to sway the audience emotionally, and affect the overall outcome of the work. For example, if I were to use a red tint over a skyline image, it would send the emotion that what I am looking at is negative to me and that it is not enjoyable. Adding a blue or a lighter tint to it means that I am looking at it from a positive view, and that I find it both interesting and aesthetically relaxing. Colour can be essential to how editing happens, especially on work that is mainly image based. We see an image of New York and already because there is no emotional expression being portrayed, the colour can then determine this. Within my imagery I have both lightly coloured skies and some on a cloudy day. Purely by coincidence of the weather, both come out with extremely opposite reactions. From the to of a skyscraper the air is completely clear, and with the tint of the sun gazing across the horizon it seems relaxing, edited with a soft transition between the cloudy and the clear it seems like a break from what could be seen as negative, to a shot that makes you feel relaxed, and although at height looking down, can be seen as soft still. Camera angle makes it’s way into this argument as the typical shots of above looking down tend to give a negative feeling, with characters it gives the sense of control and dominance, whereas looking up can be seen as weakness. The specific view towards the end of the video takes the colour into consideration rather than the camera angles. Because I have chosen to use soft music and clips that slowly fade into one another the colour works perfectly to further achieve my vision of a relaxed piece.

I wanted my idea to reflect the qualities of La Jetee, but have a sense of The Aura as well. This is because they both have a relaxed, and yet emotional quality to them. They don’t particularly do much physically, but because of the use of narration, soft colours and, for La Jatee’s soft cuts between images, it is a powerful piece of work. I decided to use images from my holiday to New York, as I felt that the idea would work well. I had two clips in which to intertwine into it to break up the solidarity of images meandering into each other. I began the editing process by looking at what I had, and what would mix well together to portray the image of timelessness and disorientation. I added busy shots cross fading into more emptier shots to create what I felt like was a city version of an escape from the busy lifestyle. During the editing process I wanted to obtain a soundtrack that I felt would work. Due to my research I concluded that a soft sounding track would work best as it carries the properties of soft narration. I chose not to voice over in the end, and put words up softly fading out of each scene. This was because I either couldn’t think of the right thing to say or that it didn’t quite fit once added to the edit. It works well having a soft moving text depicting what I was trying to portray, yet not being so in your face it takes away from the images. I wanted people to be able to watch this and be swept up by the imagery, rather then focusing on my opinion and what I had to say about it. I felt that this worked because it gives the piece exactly what a depicted out of La Jetee, the freedom to think about your own idea, and why the piece is made the way it is, rather than being explained that. I feel like this is hugely effective and adds the character to my video to have a purpose, but simultaneously be pointless in it’s own positive way.

The choice to have images as well as parts of video was a choice I made, as it have a sense of how still the scenery is from so high up. When you go to New York and you are in the streets it feels like the world is moving so fast and so aggressively around you. I wanted to show the contrast between the two, and how freeing it is to be at the top of the city. The clips of times square I have slowed down, not to try and remove the quality of how busy it is, but to not differentiate the message between manic and serene. Gliding the clips of the Statue of Liberty into the middle of New York, I am trying to portray the message of freedom to the opposite, of feeling very crowded. How New York felt for me, looking back on these images once I have edited them, I remember how it felt to look over the horizon, a similar feeling to if you stand on the top of dartmoor. The freedom you have when looking over everything and seeing all of the wide open space you have. Although hugely populated and massively built upon, New York carries similar properties to the countryside. 

If I would considered my film to be any different, I would have focused more onto the loss of originality in New York, and looked at the copy of imagery that is on the streets of New York. How street artists will sell their work, that on another street there is someone selling either the same work or something extremely similar. This would have worked well, but I believe what I have focused on within my final film is still extremely effective and works on a different level.

In conclusion, I have thoroughly enjoyed this project, as it has taught me not only how colour, film and editing can be crucial into the emotional reaction of the work you are doing, but how effective still imagery can be versus moving image. It has taught me the use of showing time, and really making a piece that needs ‘looking’ at. Editing together the means to say ‘this is what I’m saying when I make this work’, but also being able to say ‘how do you interpret the work?’ 

Videos looked at for this project:

La Jetee segment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6anMLFwHFqs Chris Marker 21.1.17

The Green Ray - Tacita Dean

BBC Documentary on colour - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IqXyu14kpY 21.1.17