This week I attempted to investigate camera as movement.
“In the first volume of Cinema Deleuze reclassifies classical narrative filmmaking as a cinema of movement-images – naturally structured stories in which we do not usually feel the attitude of the camera (for example, the film will normally simply follow and react to character’s movements), and where edit shifts are there to deliver an indirect (realistic) image of time, time in its empirical form.” – Daniel Frampton, Filmosophy
A few ideas came to mind…
- camera being pushed around by natural causes, moved by unintentional physical influences.
- perhaps the camera doesn’t capture the moving object visually or photographically, but through the physical influences of its movement on the camera. This led to the next idea.
- A dancer/performer with a camera strapped on in front or attached to them as they move and react to music. The dancer is never seen on camera.
- a character sets up a camera ready to film, walks away, different characters come in, without predetermination, interferes/moves the camera around and displaces it or alters its visual settings.
…but nothing practical or solid that I could really shoot a scene on.
What I realised this week is that the research I have set for myself was inspired by an aimless experiment which led to a discovery of subconscious methodologies upon reflection. And what through me down the rabbit hole was the attempt to design the experiment by determining its outcome before conducting it. Therefore, the investigation from now on can not be “designed”. Perhaps the experiments are focused, not on such discoveries, but on technical/narrative/conceptual investigations. Another thought is to assist and participate in other classmates’ shoots to study their methodologies, whilst working out my own without having too much concern with narrative or the end product.
Nevertheless, and feeling rather desperate, I shot, with my phone, whatever movement I could capture.