Relations. A film image by itself says a lot, but in many other ways it is quite mute. That Vine clip of a coffee cup, playing as it does with the autofocus and autoexposure of the iPhone’s camera, shows a particular cup and saucer and spoon with particular qualities. It is all description (notice the texture, hue, and light on the surface of the saucer, it’s tone, shape and the shadow). But it doesn’t ‘say’ much – it isn’t really yet narrating anything, it’s simply a coffee cup, saucer, and spoon. Add a title, and make that a part of the work (in this case “glow to orange”) and things change a bit. Now the title orientates the short clip with a little bit of direction and focus, it seems to be about simply the arrival of this particular orange, its intensity and appearing is perhaps more important than what it is, suggesting a certain sort of abstract relation to the thing, and the film. Perhaps it’s more poem than story?

Take that brief shot of a cup, saucer and spoon and if you placed it in relation to other shots, then things change dramatically. Surround it with other cups and I have a work, that at a minimum, I might take to be about cups. Or surround it with other things ‘appearing’ as brief intensities of colour, and I’m perhaps got a film that is thinking about colour (perhaps in the spirit of the Delauney’s.

Relations between therefore carry great force to change what we understand the shot to be about.

This week’s theme begins to consider what sorts of relations there might be between other things, and how these might be filmed. These tasks invite poetic interpretation and an effort to think from something else’s point of view.

• make a six to ten second clip that is about someone else, not from your immediate family – and film them in a way that describes who you think they are, without filming their face
• make a six to ten second clip that describes an object from the point of view of an animal in your home
• make a six to ten second clip that describes either air, sky, water, or earth, from the point of view of a plant
• in each clip you should only show the parts of things, not wholes

Technical

• each clip should be six to ten seconds in length (if you use Vine they will be six)
• editing can be done in camera, or after
• the video needs to be published into your blog (you can use vimeo, blip.tv, or embed them yourselves)
• there should be one video clip per blog post
• the source media needs to be available as H.264 video

Relations. Literal ones this time. Things gain meaning for us because we place them in relation with each other, via us. When we do this what the thing is in itself becomes almost secondary to the ‘force’ of the relation. For example that bench out my window is a seat which has a particular relation to my body. When I sit on it I am aware that it is timber, made from a log, but it’s ‘woodenness’ or ‘timberness’ is not really what matters to me about the bench so much as its ‘benchness’. What it is in itself (wood, grain, cellulose, once a tree trunk, something living, food for termites and other insects) is reduced because it is placed and so understood in relations by and via me (my bench, a rustic bench, furniture, garden decoration).

The tasks this week invite you to think about yourself in regards to relations. What relations form you?

• make a six to ten second clip that is about your immediate family (your immediate relations) – however, you cannot show anyone’s face
• make a six to ten second clip that shows objects or things that you have that define you
• make a six to ten second clip that shows a parts of a place or places that define you
• in each clip you should only show the parts of things, not wholes

Technical

• each clip should be six to ten seconds in length (if you use Vine they will be six)
• editing can be done in camera, or after
• the video needs to be published into your blog (you can use vimeo, blip.tv, or embed them yourselves)
• there should be one video clip per blog post
• the source media needs to be available as H.264 video

Relations, relations. They’re like family, you don’t get to choose them.

The theme of the semester is ‘relation’, as in relations and the relational. The first constrained task, which really consisted of two constrained tasks, square and round is primarily about composition and so is shape as a relation.

The second task, was light. Video and cinema is, at heart, about a relation to light (of a chemical surface that responds to light, or a CCD that is also built to respond to light).

The third task is about speed. What relations of speed are available available?

Speed

NOTE: for all of these the camera should be static.

• Make one six to ten second clip that is a single take about something slow
• Make one six to ten second clip that is is several shots about something slow
• Make one six to ten second clip that is a single take about something fast
• Make one six to ten second clip that is several shots about something fast

Technical

• each clip should be six to ten seconds in length (if you use Vine they will be six)
• editing can be done in camera, or after
• the video needs to be published into your blog (you can use vimeo, blip.tv, or embed them yourselves)
• there should be one video clip per blog post
• the source media needs to be available as H.264 video

Things to consider
A cliche is fast cutting = speed and slow cutting = slow. But can they be mixed? Why? Why not?

The theme of the semester is ‘relation’, as in relations and the relational. The first constrained task, which really consisted of two constrained tasks, square and round is primarily about composition and so is shape as a relation.

The second task, for making during the second week of semester, is light. This is about the relation of light in the image (for the image is, intrinsically and deeply, only about light), and light to itself (shadow).

Theme

• Make one six to ten second clip that is about light
• Make one six to ten second clip that is about not light
• Make one six to ten second clip that is about shadow

Technical

• each clip should be six to ten seconds in length (if you use Vine they will be six)
• editing can be done in camera, or after, or not at all
• the video needs to be published into your blog (you can use vimeo, blip.tv, or embed them yourselves)
• there should be one video clip per blog post
• the source media needs to be available as H.264 video

Things to consider
Should things be the same shot scale (size in frame)? Why? If they vary, why? Are they everyday things or things that have some significance to you? Perhaps one film is personal stuff, another the kitchen? (And yes, this is an exercise in noticing.)

This is a constrained video brief. This means you do it as described.

Theme

1. Shoot three x six second clips (so three different movies) using round things in your house.
2. Shoot three x six second clips (so three different movies) using square things in your house.

Technical

• each clip should be six to ten seconds in length (if you use Vine they will be six)
• editing can be done in camera, or after, or not at all
• the video needs to be published into your blog (you can use vimeo, blip.tv, or embed them yourselves)
• there should be one video clip per blog post
• the source media needs to be available as H.264 video

Things to consider
Should things be the same shot scale (size in frame)? Why? If they vary, why? Are they everyday things or things that have some significance to you? Perhaps one film is personal stuff, another the kitchen? (And yes, this is an exercise in noticing.)