22.03.2016
“I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best.” ~ Frida Kahlo
When given the opportunity to piece together a one minute video containing every interesting thing about me, my first thought was to, yet again, try to contain extremely dense and large amounts of very short clips as I figured this to be the only way of actually capturing myself on camera given the constraints of the project brief and short time frame of the film itself.
The three sound recordings I chose were of myself picking a violin to create a simple, layered musical effect that would not only accompany the footage nicely, but symbolise my love for musical instruments. The notes however do not actually play a tune, they are chosen at random. I chose to do this to give the viewer a sense of curiosity as it would not sound familiar, but also to ensure that the sound did not distract from the footage.
The first frame is of me, my eye to be exact. I have chosen to do this to immediately create a sense of identity for myself. The extreme close-up and slow motion have been put together to create an intense and lasting image of me. The first thought that comes to mind when asked to create a self-portrait is physical appearance, however it is not the most important part and that is why I have chosen to only include my eye.
The frames that follow may seem ambiguous or misplaced, however they all do have their meaning.
The shots of the ocean water are from a rock pier at my favourite beach. This beach happens to also be the place I first started my filming endeavours as my very first short film was shot here. I have chosen to include this as filmmaking is my passion.
The next scene is a stop-motion clip including an image of a close friend of mine, who had played an important role in expanding my creative mind and served as a great source of inspiration for me during a difficult time in my life. The eyes that come across the scene and onto his face are those of another close friend, who has amazing creative vision. These two people helped me gain the traits I am most proud of today and are therefore completely necessary in my self-portrait. I used these images in stop-motion to create the sense of physically creating something, which would directly relate to why these people are so important to me. I also felt this created a level of texture to my piece.
My written text in this film is then incorporated, though very shorty, through the construction of an origami crane. The writing on the paper is of a letter to another important person in my life, who happens to practice intricate paper folding. What comes next is a combination of meaning: The Zippo lighter symbolises WWII and the 30’s-50’s. This happens to be my favourite era of history, fashion, culture and cinema. The burning of the letter and crane represent my stance on romance and the transient nature of most relationships.
The last scene is a combination of every other scene played back at a higher speed before the frame rests back on my eye. I have chosen to do this to change the tempo of, what had been so far, a very slow and simple piece, but also to recapture everything before closing the self-portrait with the same image it began with.
One other very important note: I film in black and white as an allusion to my favourite director, Alfred Hitchcock, and also as I believe colour can sometimes interfere with the meaning of a shot.
I feel the most successful part of my Self-portrait was the overall simplistic, poetic style I have chosen to work with. The downside to this and perhaps the least successful part of this project is that it makes inference of meaning very hard for the audience. If I could have done things differently I may have included a voice over to explain further the importance of each shot to create a story for the viewer, which would mean my self-portrait would become more understandable.