Experimental Video

My finished video project, Life In Motion:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY4UfmxjBEE&feature=player_embedded

Experimental Video Post-Production Diary

26 Dec to 21 Jan -

Over this time period I uploaded and edited my different film clips in the movie editing software Pinnacle Studio Ultimate (this was all done at home). Once all the clips had been added to the time-line and cut into shorter sections in the order I wanted them, I had to go about using the time-lapse effect on each piece to speed it up. This was quite a time-consuming project as the software only let me speed it up x5 which took a long time rendering - in order to make the video faster which I wanted to do I had to export the file and open the project again, then again speed it up x5 which I did for each piece at least twice (x10). Rendering took about 4 hours overall!

20-21 Jan -

I added my soundtrack to the edited time-line as well as the opening and ending credits. It was then ready to be converted so I could download it to youtube. I also burnt it onto an empty DVD for my presentation.

Video Production Diary

10 December 09 -

I shot a short piece hand-held from the front window passenger seat of car driving along road in the mid-afternoon. I wanted to convey the sense of movement in the vehicle and capture the sky/trees/signs whizzing past as the car drove along.

14 December 09 -

Filming on this day took about 60 minutes. I wanted to capture a natural scene in the period of the day when the light starts to change and fade. It was perfect weather conditions as there was some moving cloud but the sun was out in-between them. I put the camera on a Tripod at Sumner's Ponds lake. I let the camera run as the clouds moved over the water and the the light began to fade. I was very pleased with the footage as it was exactly what I wanted.

30 December 09 -

I filmed a scene in the later afternoon which consisted of setting the camera on a tripod in Crawley Costa Coffee facing the window and high street. I wanted to film the busy scene of Xmas sales shoppers walking past and in/out of Primark. I left the camera running for a good 45/50 minutes. Overall I was very pleased with this session - the one thing I felt that could have been done better was the positioning of the camera as when I looked back at the footage I discovered there was quite a bit of shadowing from the inside on the glass window as I hadn't put the camera near enough to it. But I thought in some ways it added to the effectiveness of the shot.

2 January 10 -

The filming of this scene took place in the early evening. The camera was set up on a tripod just outside McDonalds facing the junction with the traffic lights. I wanted to capture the cars stopping and starting as the traffic lights changed colours. I left the camera running for nearly an hour. Although the footage I took was good enough, there were a few things that could have been improved. Firstly I felt it was a little grainy because of the lack of light and the focus could have been a little better - also at the edge of the frame I captured a few people walking into the restaurant, which would have looked better without!

Video Exhibition Plan

The location I have chosen to exhibit my Experimental Video is the college tower block. I am planning to use one of the classrooms on the top floor as this would fit in with my video's theme of modern existance and the focus on human life/structures vs. nature. To show my piece to my audience I will use a computer and projector.

In the classroom I want all the blinds pulled up to show what's outside the windows and give my audience a panoramic view.

Video Production Diary

20th Nov: I set the camera up on the tripod at sunset in the front drive of my house with it facing the side of a house on the opposite side of the road, a tree and the sky. I got nearly an hours worth of film with the sky changing colours as the sun sets and it then gets dark.

26th Nov: Setting the camera up in the college tower block, media floor, looking out at the main road with the roundabout and traffic lights. The camera will then be switched on at rush hour and film the street below.

Review of Koyaanisquatsi (Life out of balance) - by Godfrey Reggio

'Koyaanisquatsi' is a 1982 film directed by Godfrey Reggio, produced by Francis Ford Coppola with cinematography by Ron Frike and Music composed by Phillip Glass. The duration of the film is 1 hour 26 minutes. The title of the film, 'Koyaanisquatsi', originates from Hopi Indian and it's meaning is 'Crazy life, Life in turmoil, Life out of balance'. The title embodies the film's concept and what is implied through the piece: that modern day humanity is out of balance with nature and our way of life is damaging to us and the earth we live on.

As the film opens, there is a lingering shot of Hopi cave drawings - we then witness a rocket from the Apollo 12 mission taking off and the billowing smoke and debry. The sequence of shots that follow and make up the first half of the film consist solely of beautiful, untouched natural landscapes; desolate desert, vast canyons, rushing water at a waterfalls edge, waves on the sea, sky and clouds moving and changing. The clips of canyons and cliffs are shot with the camera as if you were flying over them which is a thrilling experience and which I can only guess the cinematographer must have filmed from a helicopter or small plane. Some of the natural scenes last over several minutes each with time lapse photography often used to speed up the shot, e.g the clouds forming and moving across the skies. This conveys time passing and natures pulse. The length of these scenes gives the audience time to absorb what they are seeing and appreciate the beauty of our natural planet and it's presence.

One of the things I felt influenced how I felt about what I was seeing was the musical soundtrack to the film composed by Phillip Glass. From the beginning of Koyaanisquatsi the music has a rather eerie and dramatic quality to it that is very atmospheric. When the shots focused on scenes of destruction, such as deserted tower blocks being demolished, or a nuclear missile being launched, it was quite dark and foreboding which created a sense of unease in me. It also tended to speed up or slow down depending on the pace of the subject. As there is no voice-over or characters in 'Koyaanisquatsi', the music itself is the films only source of narration other than the visual images. The music has a powerful ability to draw emotion from the audience and influence their feelings. It really drew you into the piece, and had an almost hypnotic quality to it.

Around half way through the film, the shots we are shown start to focus more on man and our activity on earth. The images shown consisted of things that man are responsible for producing and stealing from the earth, and most either destructive or harmful to the planet: powerhouses from above, chemical plants, oil production, nuclear weapons being tested. On watching these images it is not hard to get the gist of the overall negative message behind them. That human beings are creatures of greed, imposing themselves on nature and causing damage and destruction. We have little respect for our planet and with the industrial revolution and the birth of modern nuclear living, we have forgotten our roots, which were once at one with the natural world.

As the film goes into the second half and it focuses almost solely on modern human existance, things start to speed up. Time lapse shots of an unknown city with the pulse of traffic and people from high up in a sky scraper, the vast American high way, factory workers making various things from clothes to cars, sausage production, commuters on escalators and in a station, people eating in a mall. All sorts of scenes of human life and the daily monotonous grind.

The way the busy scenes of human life were sped up were very effective as it felt almost overwhelming watching so much happen at such a pace - in fact it was almost uncomfortable at times, because it made you feel acutely aware of the amount of human life on the planet and how it never stops.

The film really made me think about modern life and the relentless pace, and ultimately question the degree to which we are all out of balance with nature - and wonder about the inevitable consequence of our continued disrespect for the planet we inhabit. 'Koyaanisquatsi' is a a very powerful and original piece that was successful in conveying it's message to me and the people I watched it with. It stuck in my mind for quite sometime afterwards, which is something I think the film-makers intended.

Chapter 6 - Audience and different interpretations

Everything we watch or read is open to interpretation and most often an audience on watching a film will differ in their opinions and feelings about what they've seen. With each of the experimental videos we have viewed together in and alone outside of class, we have all come away with different reactions and interpretations of what we've watched.

When we watched MUTO, for example, some of the group were slightly confused by it and could not see a proper point to the video concept-wise. There wasn't a clear narrative to the piece which made the overall concept difficult to interpret. Some peope did not feel much enthusiasm for it as they found it rather creepy and weird; while others felt the film had a running theme of birth, re-birth and the recycling-cycle of life.

On watching the video myself I at first felt a bit puzzled by what I was watching and thought the wall art was rather weird but incredibly inventive. So much happens in MUTO within a short space of time that it took me a second viewing of the film on youtube to absorb what I had missed the first time and I had more of an idea about the film's meaning after watching it again. Because of this I think that MUTO is best watched for a second time because it actually has more to it than you may have first thought. I think with certain films or books it benefits the audience to watch/read the piece with an open mind and be prepared to look deeper in order to take away something from it. Sometimes I think the creators behind the film are intending his or hers audience to do so. This is why there is truth behind first impressions not always being correct and that it's better to reserve judgement on something until you've watched the whole piece.

I think something that the whole class agreed on was that we all were amazed by the graffiti art and impressed by the amount of dedication it took to make an entirely stop-frame piece with it. I also found myself finding appreciation for graffiti as art on watching MUTO that I had not had before. This in itself is an example of me being pre-dispositioned to not really liking graffiti but after watching MUTO changing my judgement.