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Capture '14

last night we all screened our films at the showroom. It was a good night and everybody's films looked great on the big screen. I am pleased with the outcome of my own work at the event as last week was plagued by exporting issues and problems getting my film to fill the screen without chopping anything off. To be honest, this made me incredibly nervous and typically I was stuck with this feeling for most of the night as my film was one of the last to be screened. I'm also glad all my closest friends were there to see it, even though I was initially apprehensive about showing them my work. Overall, I think the event was a success, it was very busy and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, I am not sure what else to write about it really, other than that I wish all the level 6 film & media people the best of luck for the future, it is a shame that more people are not doing the MArt.

A recent shot from Park Hill.

Scrapbook & Dan Eldon

Throughout this module, I have been creating a scrapbook of collages which will accompany my film. It exists as a pictorial representation of my work process for this project, and is linked to the concept of fragmented parts of life combining to impose the idea of memory and reconciliation of the past. I approached this scrapbook idea after falling in love with the work of Dan Eldon, who was a photo-journalist working mostly in Africa in the early nineties.
Unfortunately, he was killed at a riot in Mogadishu, Somalia in 1993, and his work was brought to an
abrupt end. However, what he left behind is a glorious journal of his life and experiences, meshed
together in a way that shows his journey from start to finish. One of the most enjoyable parts of
making this film was creating this physical piece of work and although I feel it is weak in places, I am
really happy with its overall look. I have scanned some of Dan's journal and put it below.

Change of Direction

I have decided to shift the focus of my movie from being a narrative-experimental film about death and the cycle of life to a much more abstract film which explores the concept of a fragmented memory. My main reason for this shift is that I have become very interested in the work of Stan Brakhage and other experimental film-makers  and also that I feel I need to put more emphasis on the experimental side of my film. To this end, I aim to manipulate clear 16mm film leader and experiment with colour, composition, light and focus in order to create an array of imagery which looks at the way in which we are able to remember events of the past. I want my film to express as sense of loss, as if the memories are fleeting, or just out of reach in the minds eye.

I have an idea to cut up some of my old film negatives and photographs in order to stick pieces of them onto 16mm film which will hopefully evoke a sense of broken, half seen glimpses of a life. my concept behind this is that the film reel starts and ends and is linear, just like life, and the cut up pieces of photographs, mixed with sellotape and glue make up the life which is lived, however, looking back at it, we are unable to fully place each event and so our memories are fragmented, just like the images.

Music created for the film

Aaron and I have created some music for my film, I've uploaded each track to soundcloud. We began this process by creating drones using reverb and delays. Most of this work was done on Ableton Live and we tried to break down each part of the film in order to create a unique piece of music for each section.

https://soundcloud.com/blanklabel/sets/figments-of-a-fractured-soul-music

Fractals

I have created some fractals on Photoshop by manipulating some of my photographs. It is a fun process and I aim to use one of these in my film.

Publicity Package

I have put together a small publicity package which includes a poster, some selected stills and my synopsis.