IT ALL BEGAN WITH…
At the beginning of semester I was really looking into symbolism and using transitioning movement from the camera to change between shots. The series of shots was going to have a narrative through showing abstract symbols – it would tell a story. However, every time I began to work on it, I was immediately bored and very unmotivated to progress with a better story. I didn’t want to completely write off the idea, but I just wasn’t in the mood and headspace to script a narrative…which despite my efforts, didn’t happen in the end anyway!

Throughout the semester I went up and down with deciding if I should stick to something I had originally set out to do OR start with something much more experimental and unique. I think the final result is a clear mixture of both, as it fulfils my original research question of ‘how to create a piece that flows in terms of transitioning shots and rhythm? ‘ and also my new research question ‘ does a certain piece of filming equipment enhance a new level of unique creativity?’

THE RESEARCH
So, I began my research —  I wanted to use a similar technique to installation video artist, Daniel Crooks. So I spent a lot, and I mean an immense amount of time picking a part his work to figure out how he connected all these alleyways and corridors to make it look like an endless walkway. Most of my physical attempted test research occurred in weeks 8 – 10; prior to these weeks I had written down notable observations that I didn’t know a whole lot about and knew I needed to research into how to create the effect using both Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects. In week 10 I had three main questions I needed to watch tutorials for:
How to create a ‘freeze frame’ on a video and have it paused within the frame until I wanted it to be played.
How to use After Effects in order to ‘pen tool’ the centre of a video and overlap and replace what had been cut out with a different video.
How to make the footage appear as it is moving with the audience, instead of moving towards the still audience.
With every viewing of Crooks video, I noticed something different that I was doing incorrectly. Each clip had to be situated closer together and be played much slower, plus the size of each alley way had to be virtually the same width and be filmed at the same height and distance in order for the illusion to work.

THE PROCESS: BEFORE FILMING
This semester I found myself becoming progressively less strict with what I captured and when. It began a more spontaneous activity that would just happen when I had either an epiphany moment or I wanted to test something out for later. And the testing part was probably the only time where I thought about the future edit and allowed myself to think about what I was capturing. I had previously gone to a few locations to check it out and get an idea of what I might expect when actually shooting. But I really left it until shooting day to plan the exact shots and execute it – which definitely made my creative decisions feel more relaxed.

I organised my equipment that I wanted to use and asked a friend to be the main subject of my shoot. I definitely think the equipment I’m using makes the shoot – without the smoothing powers of the handheld gimbal I don’t think this shoot would be much without it. Therefore my research question changed slightly again to – ‘Is our creativity based on what equipment we use?’

TESTING
Collaboration – Lance test:
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/0B4vScszRiY27Ty1oazBYaW0wMHc
(file too big to insert)

In this clip, I collaborated with Lance; asking for his opinion and help to test out my ideas.
I find that in previous years when I got an opinion or suggestion from others in my group it really inspired me and encouraged me to keep at the idea. So far having been allowed to work alone has potentially had a negative effect on my usual production and working format.
This was the first test I did with a person in the shot; the way I had intended, in order to visualise the final edit.

Moving train inspiration:
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/0B4vScszRiY27Ty1oazBYaW0wMHc

I’m an avid train catcher; and on this evening I caught a later train home which was departing from Platform 8S at Souther Cross, which is further down the platform at the station than the regular platforms.  While waiting to board the train, I noticed the weird structure of Southern Cross as from where I was standing I could see a cut out square in the concrete wall which revealed a moving Metro train departing Platform 10.
This reminded me of a combination of my ideas and the way I was using squared footage to reveal something extra and unusual. It gave me the idea to have a clip of Milda standing still looking into the lens while a ‘portal clip’ opening up over her, possibly indicating what she was thinking or more abstractly; what she was feeling.

Milda’s still test:
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/0B4vScszRiY27Ty1oazBYaW0wMHc

It was during this test that it clicked to me that my research question had changed from “how can I tell a story by filming symbolism’ to ‘what can I film and think of it in one way and then edit it to be something completely unrelated and unexpected?”

From the test above I had decided I would include footage to be overlapping, as well as creating a never ending stream of clips to appear as ‘portals’ but now I began thinking “how can I edit this beyond the cutting and overlapping technique I keep reverting to? what can make this more interesting?”

The music: Everything by EvenS (edited version)
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/0B4vScszRiY27Ty1oazBYaW0wMHc

Music has always influenced my creative work. I heard another song by this artist which I originally thought I would use, however after asking the artist for permission on SoundCloud, I found I liked this song a lot more and felt it influenced the direction of my shots. Never has a song been the drive of a film for me, so much that it takes control over the structure of the clips. It made me feel more experimental with the arrangement of the shots, and acted as a guide to what will be visually displayed.
I cut the song down to 2:25 because the original song included lyrics that didn’t work with the images and lowered the quality of the project.

THE PROCESS: FILMING
I want to say I undertook a bit of a ‘gorilla’ filming method; meaning I worked with minimal equipment, minimal people and kept my detailed planning to a minimum. I am a naturally a very ridiculously organised person who would normally have running schedules made weeks in advance. This year, I decided not to. I decided to just turn my camera on, and see what I captured. Of course, I had some idea of what I wanted my finish work to look like, but I didn’t know exactly how it was going to turn out; which is definitely out of the ordinary for me.

OUTCOME
I definitely cut down on the video to just over a minute. I did this because knew I was bordering a risky line; having the music be too strong and overpowering compared to what the visuals were. Therefore I chose to cut my replication of Daniel Crooks work and work more on my inspiration and my take of his pieces. I think it works better with the footage I got.

How might your filmmaking practice be truthful to:
form, the way you work and;
content, whom or what you work with?

My research question evolved throughout the semester and I think it finally landed with:
‘Can a certain combination of elements  enhance a new level of unique creativity?’
When I say ‘elements’ in this instance I mean filming equipment and music; can the choice of what you choose to work with be as influential to the project just as a piece of music and evoke a style?
By using this method I found I edited the footage without expectation and a step-by-step guide of what shot will go where. I let it flow and the organise itself in an order naturally.