GlimpSe

Annick and I were left in charge of the title sequence for our exhibition on Thursday. We met up last week and had a bit of a chat about the best way go about it. It made sense to divvy up the task even further into visuals and audio, elements that we have both been experimenting with this semester.

Our immediate challenge was figuring out how to fit everyones names in a title sequence of about 25 seconds. Annick did a fantastic job of coming up with an approach to tackle the issue. In a simple and effective manner, dividing the screen into four sections allowed four names to be displayed at any one time, which I believe invites the viewer to dart around the screen to digest the names. Rather than being bombarded with quick cuts (like we did last semester and probably nearly caused some epileptic fits). \

I was responsible for the music. I went through my back catalogue and used a snippet from an old song of mine that never really went anywhere. But here, I think it works. The cuts match to the beat and it’s not heavily abrasive and painful to listen to, which helps.

Over the last year and a bit Annick and I have often worked on projects together. It’s easy for us to discuss ideas and tease out concepts in order to finalise something. This was no different. We came up with the idea with relative ease and executed it in no time (Annick definitely put in more work than I…)

This is my final edit for Sedgwick’s Sheen. I am happy to call it a finished piece. It’s a little bit sketchy in parts (camera wobble), but it kind of works with how glitchy the rest of it is. I got what I wanted from the project – an opportunity for me to experiment with the stacks of footage I have accumulated. I was very thankful to be able to work with a close friend too. It meant that for the entirety of the creative process we could discuss and exchange ideas regarding the piece at ease. Although the music was strictly written by sam and the visuals strictly by me, conversations regarding the aesthetics were common.

When it comes to creativity, Sam’s attitude heavily revolves around prolific production. That’s not to say that his work lacks quality however – there’s just been a consistent amount of growth over time. I believe this stems back to his approach – pushing himself with each new project and not getting too caught up in the outcomes. I continue to learn from him and will continue to work with him on both visual and music projects. But for now, this is what we came up with.

Sam Sedgwick – Sheen from Gabriel Strachan on Vimeo.

What I like most about the video is when the pulsating grid layered over the colourful morphing background snaps and warps itself into a gooey mess. It sits well with the music after gradually building up over time. It is as much of a visual representation of the sound as I could think of. One small letdown is probably the colours of the middle portion where the mosaic effect is layered over the top of the plants. I didn’t get deep at all in to colour correction but might have to future projects. It just stands out a little bit as somewhat jarring. But overall, i’d say it’s pretty cool.

– Gabe

This Braille, vision, perception, whatever you want to call it piece has been alive for the majority of the semester. The concept has continually brewed over time and a few different avenues have passed me by. The problem with this is that it has been difficult to gauge when to call it complete. What I presented earlier in the semester as a prototype (The alphabet presented in Braille code with interchanged images) could arguably be just as finished as what I have posted below, it is just slightly different.

Each new addition or adjustment to the video tended to be a variation of an outcome rather than a step towards an idealised project though. I had these great aspirations of attributing each letter of the alphabet to a distinct relatable image, which I was somewhat conscious of, but it just wasn’t to be. The tendency to edit towards something that looked and sounded more rhythmic took control and what is now left is in my opinion, a nice, easy to digest package of potentially informative pleasantness. I think it is my mathematically inclined nature that lets me enjoy precise editing like this that sits exactly on the grid. And it has become obvious throughout the semester that my work is taking this route.

Braille Alphabet Refined from Gabriel Strachan on Vimeo.

Maybe after this semester I will keep making adjustments in hope that I get a better result than I have now, but that seems like far too much effort and pain. Why should I bother getting stuck so deep in to something that already looks completed when I have the ability to just step away from it and start something else?

EDIT: I showed the video to a few friends, and within a few letters, it became a guessing game of how each snippet related to each letter. It seems that there was a nice balance of obvious relations and ambiguity which made for an “I spy with my little eye” game. The hint is first planted at letter B where Belford Street is visible on a street sign. This being the only text in the piece stood out as it was something to latch on to.

Just watching the reactions of my friends trying to figure out how to respond to the video was interesting. It is pleasing to know that what I have created and continue to create is engaging.

– Gabe

It’s been a while since I’ve had a good phone with a decent camera, but a couple of weeks ago I finally upgraded to the iPhone SE. The camera and functions that come with it are extremely impressive. It has been what I have been yearning for for quite a while – a quick and easy to use portable camera with the capabilities to video and capture quality audio.

One of the new apps that has become a staple for experimentation on the iPhone is boomerang. It is a video service that captures split seconds of motion and replays them back and forth. I have tried to recreate the effect in the past, but this app makes it a much easier task.

Although this little project diverges a bit from the other exercises I have been doing this semester (and is probably a bit creepy thanks to the bottom right image), it is a concept that I will continue to expand on. With the four separate videos being introduced over a short period of time and revealing different aspects of the same story, it has a developing narrative (or has potential to be used better to develop a narrative and tell a story).

What I have tried to convey in this short example is the joys of having a cuppa and snack.

Julia loves cuppas from Gabriel Strachan on Vimeo.

– Gabe

For the last couple of weeks I have been putting most of my time into editing my growing library of footage in Premiere Pro. I have known of its editing capabilities but it has really shocked me at how powerful a program it actually is. I have been slowly making my way through most of the effects but the ones that have been featuring most prominently of late are: mirror, distort, turbulent displace, mosaic, generate, ultra key and emboss. Some of these effects have been used in the example below. It is a visual representation of the automation of effect parameters in the program. (An earlier example of this work with audio can be found in an earlier post, this one is slightly updated).

Automation Example from Gabriel Strachan on Vimeo.

– Gabe

For the duration of the semester I have been less worried about marks and having an end goal in mind and more concerned with this methodology of continual practice and expansion of skills. Just by keeping up a routine of filming and editing almost daily, I have noticed my workflow quicken as I familiarise myself with all the tools I have access to (my camera and editing equipment). While majority of what I’m doing is pushing the capabilities of the editing studios beyond their normal reach, I truly am gaining a better understanding of filmmaking – even if I am focusing primarily on abstractions and imagery. Another huge benefit of this semester has been creating a library of footage that continues to grow on my hard drive. Some of this footage has been used across different projects/experiments and will probably be used for many more. I have found that reworking and repurposing material and concepts has a place in my work. Take this little snippet for example:

Yes yes it is from Gabriel Strachan on Vimeo.

The mosaic effect has been layered on top of a piece of footage used in my Braille investigations. I have repurposed the footage by adding this effect and manipulating some of the blurred parameters. It looks very different to the original piece of footage and creates a lot more movement which to me is quite engaging. This snippet has been taken from a project I am working on with Sam of Potatoheadz. It is one of his songs that he has given me free reign with to basically do what I want. I continue to show him bits and pieces along the way and he revealed that the glitchy direction in which I am heading is something he is excited about. Although he is solely responsible for the audio and I am solely responsible for the visuals, it is definitely a collaborative effort. I am working with the auditory elements Sam has provided to help direct my work.

– Gabe

Like I think many other students in the class I am creeping closer and closer to an established definitive investigation. My work is branching out heavily from the concept of vision and how impaired vision can be captured in film. It sounds silly, but breaking down my footage to make it less visible is where I find myself. I have taken a liking to the mosaic effects found within Premiere Pro and have been attempting to put this to use in my work. The pixellated effect complements my investigation into visibility.

I tagged along with my girlfriend to the lighting space at RMIT a few days ago and found myself having access to a blue screen. I struggled with the lighting because shadows were being cast on to the screen creating inconsistencies in the background colour. The footage that was captured was not perfect, but I made it work by maxing out the parameters in post and layering this previously mentioned mosaic effect over the top. This is what I came up with:

Dancin’ Man from Gabriel Strachan on Vimeo.

As mentioned in a previous post I am trying to step away from the idea of perfection in order to motivate myself to keep constructing and making videos whatever they may be. This little experiment used footage that would not be acceptable for a feature film, but for my purposes of grasping the editing capabilities of Premiere Pro, it holds value.

In prose, throughout the semester I have been investigating rhythmic editing capabilities and the interaction this has with a musical source, using my expanding library of footage as a foundation for experimentation.

– Gabe

Helena recently showed me the music video to Tennyson’s Like What. It features Nikita, a blind child listening to the song and then describing what she imagines the visuals to be. The director for the video has then either filmed or used found footage to match as close as possible to Nikitas descriptions – it is by all intents and purposes a visual representation of audio. It fits well with my theme of the impairments of vision. And is something that might be worth replicating, expanding on or experimenting with. What I really like is how beautifully natural the footage is. There is a definite emphasis on nature and it just looks reeeally nice.

As the video states, Nikita has been blind since birth. It is amazing to see how excited she is to be a part of something like this. It seems as though she has accepted the way her imagination works and helps her make sense of the word.

Tennyson – Like What (Official Video) from FANTAVIOUS FRITZ on Vimeo.

– Gabe

Really enjoying this new clip from Polyenso at the moment. The combination of found footage and trippy visuals along with the on screen text make for an aesthetically pleasing experience.

– Gabe

After talking a bit about green screens in class, I had a very quick crack at setting one up at home. The only problem is I don’t have a traditional green screen, so I loaded up a purely green image on my home computer. I didn’t have aspirations to cut something out using the green as the background, instead I wanted to superimpose another video file on top of it. So I set up two cameras, one behind and one to the side and jammed along to a song I have been working on. This was the result:

Clip269 Copy 01 from Gabriel Strachan on Vimeo.

Although I could have probably cropped the secondary video and layered it over the top of the screen, the dimensions didn’t exactly match, so cropping out the green and inserting it as a layer underneath was the go.

– Gabe