PROJECT BRIEF TWO

Bliss: My Mind bids to establish my thought process of defining who I am and the confusion that occurred in attempting such a task. When we were first given the project brief of creating a self-portrait, both within the low-fi and high-fi editing constraints, I found my self almost chaotic with ideas. So many different aspects determine who you are, so how can I best reflect that in sixty seconds? (Cue identity crisis). I obviously was limited by time and the specific requirements of the project but sought to show how my mind works strangely and blurring or distorting the physical aspect of my being.

In my self-portrait I attempt to communicate various aspects of my character. I see myself as a reflection of those around me; I am a direct resonance of the people in my life. I shot my projector streaming old footage of my maternal family onto my bedroom wall, with clips of the light and the images generated distorted as all early memories as. This is obviously my tie to family, which is further established by the conversations I recorded with my paternal family: my uncle and my grandma. My uncle is recalling the first time he saw me and my grandma is giving her response to ‘can you remember when you first saw me’ by telling a completely different story. Though her words speak still of family and provide an intimate look into the importance of personal relationships that I find so important and I sought to achieve in jump cutting between both clips. The quick flash of photographs, working with the final shot, gives merely a small perception of my physical being. I included this in order to juxtapose the personal aspect I am revealing in thought and mind over my impersonal representation of body and image.

I feel that sound enabled me to explore connections and companionship well, and I think that the editing of this too establishes my erratic thought. I think that the visual material in terms of footage could perhaps have been more purposeful, as they seek to replicate a similar message to that of the audio. Though they show my love of filmmaking, I could perhaps have included more of my environment that I too find paramount in the construction of my character.