Just a quick investigation that explores the idea of capturing reality in quite a different way to the rest of my footage. I was at Boney (bar/venue on Little Collins St) and thought that the red lighting would make for an interesting mood in a shot. As I took my phone out to begin shooting, I noticed that a girl through the window was taking a photo of the inside of Boney on her iPhone. I thought it would be funny to include her in the shot so I started filming, making sure she was vaguely visible in the lower left of the frame.

Once we got home, my girlfriend jumped onto Instagram and began looking through Boney hashtags. Fairly quickly she found the photo that the girl had taken, with me clearly filming in the background. What interests me about this footage is that it doesn’t only capture a single fragment of reality, it captures a different perspective of the same moment and becomes a multi-faceted piece of documentation.

Here’s the link to the photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/BGJtvcQsJj8/

Boney from Timothy Palstra on Vimeo.

Having done a substantial amount of these long takes, I think I’m properly adjusting to filming in portrait and beginning to really see its potential. In line with my investigation, I think this shot represents the strange relationship between spaces and their inner activity pretty clearly.

When I watch this footage, I notice three main planes of activity: what happens through the front windscreen, the back windscreen via the rearview mirror and the reflection directly above this. Each of these areas show different points in time and space, however unlike most of the areas focused on in my previous footage, they are linked. They are only linked because of the duration of the long take – it allows enough time for the activity in these areas to connect with each other. For instance, the family that can be seen through the back windscreen at the beginning of the footage eventually reappear in the front windscreen.

I was lucky enough to capture a diverse range of subjects in this shot: there are children, adults, vehicles, advertising, all appearing at different points in the shot. In this sense, I think I captured the essence and reality of the location pretty well. It is also interesting to note that the space that I am in, i.e: my car, is static whereas everything of interest in the shot is in motion, giving the activity a muted and tranquil sort of feel. I am a removed observer, whereas most of the subjects in the shot are actively interacting with other subjects – eg: the children interacting with the mannequins, or people looking out for traffic as they cross the road. I am also particularly drawn to the two planes of activity in the rear-view mirror as they are slightly out of sync, disconnecting them from each other.

I think that this footage exemplifies the potential of the portrait shot in its composition. The focal points are vertically layered and influence the others, creating one fluid structure of activity that passes up and down the frame. If I were to do it again I would emphasise this aspect of the shot and possibly concentrate more on composing the frame in such a way that a very clear, distinct motion occurs across the frame.

Rearview Mirror from Timothy Palstra on Vimeo.

This one isn’t quite as long as the other takes I’ve uploaded so far, although it does make connections with some discoveries and points of interest from previous pieces of footage.

After filming the water ripple footage I was inspired to capture more abstract footage with no clear human activity in it. As I stepped onto an escalator in Melbourne Central, a similar inspiration struck me which I decided to roll with. Filming the space between two escalators, I was able to capture some interesting reflections, distortions and movement.

Fragments of the surroundings appear in these reflections – brief glimpses of people, advertising, lights, etc. Each of them come and go so quickly that they’re almost immediately forgotten, fleeting past as they do in the environment itself. The only real constants apart from the escalator are the lights that stretch across the frame, twisting and bending to span across the separate spaces. These stand out as they stretch in an opposite diagonal line to every other line in the frame, which urge towards the top right corner of the frame. These lights are possibly the most interesting ‘mistakes’ of this shot in the way that they contort and glisten in what it otherwise a frame with quite rigid movement and a dull palette.

I think this is one of the most well-composed pieces of footage I have gathered so far in my collection of portrait shots. The height of the frame is considered to accommodate the multiple layers of space, building diagonals from the bottom to the top of the frame. There is also a distinct push/pull effect happening as the focal point of the frame – which I see to be the reflection of the descending stairs which I am standing on in the centre of the frame – pushes towards the top right corner whereas almost everything else pulls in the opposite direction.

Conceptually I think that this footage ties in with the Train Platform shot as both spaces represented are typically treated as in-between spaces. In both instances, any persons featured in the footage only appear briefly, eager to continue on to their destinations. They are both spaces of movement, transport, distraction and disjointed activity (i.e: everyone is either daydreaming or on their phone, not engaging with anyone or anything else in the same space).

My only issue with this footage is that it is quite short due to the spontaneity of my recording. I am interested in this effect and aesthetic and may attempt it again on a larger escalator so as to allow as much unanticipated magic to seep into the footage as possible. If I continue to work with this footage, I may experiment with the speed of the footage to see if that enhances it in any way.

Escalator from Timothy Palstra on Vimeo.

A tranquil stroll in the Royal Botanical Gardens turned into further investigation. Sitting at a bench, I was inspired by the ripples in Ornamental Lake and their woozy, meditative nature. After focusing long enough on the movement of the ripples and the way that they distorted the reflections of the trees, I found myself in a sort of trance, completely removed from whatever else was happening around me.

I thought that this would be worthwhile capturing, and in keeping with the portrait approach that I’m choosing to explore with these investigations, I quickly pondered what the best way to frame this effect might be. I thought that it would be effective to only feature the lake in the shot so as to direct all attention to the activity in the lake, in turn isolating the examination of the aesthetic space created by the surface of this lake. The resulting footage is quite brief and spontaneous but follows these guidelines, producing what can only intuitively be assumed to be the surface of a lake due to our familiarity with the way that ripples appear in water and the implications of the audio in establishing a lakeside setting – otherwise it is quite an abstract, morphing perspective of the trees and sky.

After uploading the footage onto my laptop, I decided to flip it 180 degrees so that the reflection of the tree is upright in the footage. I feel that this emphasises the abstract effect and extends the idea of conveying a strange, wobbling alternate reality. Following this change, the ripples indicate a clear upwards movement in the shot, a movement which is apt for the trees they distort in the way that they seem to sprout. The way in which the reflections are animated by the ripples causes them to split, jump and tremble which redresses them as glitches in the screen of the lake. From the footage, one could consider what is “natural” in a number of ways – in no way has this perspective been intentionally treated, although it is surreal, in the same way that a computer glitch naturally occurs in the context of the codes that give it life.

The comparison of unspoken elusiveness and glitches is something that I may emphasise and explore in future footage. I do not mean to reference glitches with their reputations as failure within a system in mind; but rather for their mysterious, unanticipated and above all curious existence.

Water Ripple from Timothy Palstra on Vimeo.

Inspiration struck once again as I sat awaiting a train at South Yarra station. I happened to be staring directly at a gap between the carriages of an immobile train on the opposite platform. I noticed that there was quite an interesting depth and definition of spaces to this perspective, so I started filming.

To begin with, people walking past on the opposite platform could be seen clearly in this gap and only quite vaguely through the windows of the train. This to me represents the station as an in-between environment quite well – these people are on their way to spaces where they shall be more settled, so their presence here is quite fleeting and absent, especially to other people. There are also people walking in the foreground on my platform and mainly in the other direction, creating a mirror-like contrast between the two spaces. This contrast also initiates a kind of push-pull effect between the platforms: the activity in the background platform is urging towards the right, representing arrival as a train has arrived and is stationary, whereas the activity in the foreground platform urges towards the left, foreshadowing departure and the arrival of another train that we are anticipating.

There are some things I’d like to note in the first half of this take. Firstly, there is an interesting eclecticism to the people that appear in this footage which could be broadly taken as a cross-section of the myriad people you come across at train stations. I also noticed an interesting rhythmic segregation with the people walking past – people naturally keep their distance from each other at stations, and this is apparent to the extent that it almost appears disturbingly calculated in moments of the footage. There are clear verticals and horizontals present all over the frame, which are accommodated quite well by the framing. People, and especially those in the foreground, are aligned with the portrait orientation along with the focal carriage gap. Almost everything else but particularly the train(s), platforms, tracks and dotted lines create a horizontal orientation, pulling the viewer in both directions. Lastly, as with the tram footage, there are distinct spaces that stretch into the frame and beyond what is presented in the frame. Most clearly, each platform is its own distinct space with its own distinct activity, as is the space which holds the train tracks, along with the space slightly featured at the top of the frame just beyond the train station. Another space that is conveyed stretches out in the opposite direction, and that is the space implied in the reflection of the windows of the train and building that can be seen. I think this is worth noting, for reasons that will soon become clear.

This is where the unanticipated magic came into play and brought the take into accordance with my concept. A train did arrive at the foreground platform, which contrasts with what was otherwise quite a subtle and static shot. It brought with it an even stronger dichotomy between the platforms, pushing fiercely to the left before slowly coming to a stop to allow for the background train to begin modestly leaving to the right (a moment of timing which I was pretty amazed by). Within these trains, there are more distinct spaces, which when considered with the aforementioned dichotomy of direction and movement is made even more interesting as we now also have not only distinct spaces existing somewhat independently of each other, but also distinct realms/interpretations of time operating separately. What most clearly sparked my interest, however, was the fact that as the second train enters the frame, a strange, simultaneously additive and subtractive transferral of space takes place: what we could slightly see of the space beyond the station represented in the top twelfth of the frame before is now replaced by the reflection on the windows of the new train, which exposes a more extensive depiction of the space that stretches out behind the camera.

I’ve probably talked a little too much here, but this is definitely my favourite footage so far. This is essentially the turning point for me, I’m fairly certain I’ll continue to pursue and investigate spaces in a similar way to how I have here.

Trains (Multiple Platforms) from Timothy Palstra on Vimeo.

After filming the tram footage and reflecting upon it, I thought that at least for now I’d continue gathering draft footage on an iPhone to expand my concept. I think that iPhone footage in this instance is actually quite effective as it is possibly more suited to the spontaneity that my concept requires than a full-blown camera and lighting setup might be. I have taken to filming this draft footage in portrait to make the use of an iPhone instantly recognisable. Beyond the spontaneity of this method, I think the iPhone represents the modern perspective due to its ubiquity and the modern obsession with experiencing the world vicariously through it, so to base abstract and alternate perspectives in the use of an iPhone I think is quite relevant.

Anyway, here’s another bit of footage that I felt compelled to capture after stumbling upon the perspective. It portrays a dog in a yard through a wire screen, and as the video continues, I pulled backwards slowly with the camera to draw the focus away from the wire screen and towards the dog and the yard. I was quite steady in filming this, which I think communicated the idea well. What it resembles for me is a perspective in which the world can be seen in pixels – where the start of the video displays quite a low resolution world which by the end has slightly improved in quality.

I think that this deconstructs the world in the same way that the tram footage did. Since this perspective reimagines the world as a lower resolution than that which we perceive, it offers the viewer the chance to imagine a world that is even more crisp and “real” than our own.

Wire Screen (Pixels) from Timothy Palstra on Vimeo.

After doing a whole lot of talk, I thought it was time to try and make sense of my concept by producing some draft footage. This thought initially struck me as I was sitting at the end of a tram, looking into the driverless operator’s cab. Staring through the window of the tram, I thought about what I was seeing as a unique perspective, a fragment of reality that only existed in that very moment. This led me to think about what could be seen through the tram’s window, what could be seen in the operator’s cab, what could be seen in the reflections of the screen that separated the cab from me, and how each of these views combined to become what I could see.

In order words, I became more aware of the different layers before me, and how they each contained a space with distinct activity happening within them. It is sensible and intuitive to link these spaces, although they could just as easily be perceived as disconnected events if we chose to perceive them as such. Although our perception guides us to link them to make sense of the bigger picture, the activities within them are unrelated (for instance, someone reading a book in a tram is disregarding the cars driving out on the street). 

I decided to film roughly what I was seeing in a long take. Through this investigation, I found personally that as the take continues, my attention as a viewer clearly favours individual layers and the activity happening within them. They gradually become more and more disconnected – eg: as the tram comes to a stop, so too does the space displayed through the driver’s window, but the activity within this space continues. I felt that I became more aware of the interior of the tram as a distinct space with its own interpretation of other outside spaces. The process of making this, out of pure spontaneity, prompted me to think about how I might approach the framing and composition of the long takes I produce in the future.

Anyway, here’s the footage. Disregard my blatant “uhh maybe I’ll use this for Ways of Making” and notice the activity in each of the different layers, ie: the traffic through the window, the various people and signs exposed in the reflection, etc. and the ways in which these activities interact or do not interact with each other.

Tram from Timothy Palstra on Vimeo.

Here’s the gist of the presentation I put together for today’s class.

PRESENTATION

Musing on Tarkovsky’s wisdom and thinking about my ambition to grow as a director, or ‘artistic director’ as I suggested in my last post, I have developed more thoroughly a plan for my research in the coming weeks. I intend to produce and examine a collection of long takes, treating them as their own entities removed from their usual position within a film.

In order for my experiment to progress my research I will need to establish consistency, which will prompt me to write a number of scenes or sequences to film, each with a different degree of choreography. That is, some scenes will demand strict movement and participation of the actors, whereas others will be quite loose in their activity. I will then shoot these sequences multiple times and treat each take as a different incarnation of the concept. Comparing the takes, I will note the nuances and the unintended elements they introduce to these takes. In this sense, I shall invite any unintended activity and possibly even follow its lead should it arise and tempt me accordingly.

As a result of conducting this experiment, I hope to increase my ability to notice the elusiveness of the world and, as I mentioned earlier, my proficiency as an artist within the cinematic world.

Finally, I would like to draw attention to another piece that inspired me and prodded me in this direction. The film is Michael Snow’s Wavelength (1967), which if anything is an experimentation and investigation of long takes as an aspect of cinema. The film is simultaneously a realistic and absurd piece; it merges space, time, sound and reality in such a way that not many films are capable of. The title of the film proposes a central concept to its being as a ‘structural film’ (concerned with form), as the sound and image interplay to extend and somewhat reimagine the notion of a wavelength.

To elaborate, the film’s soundtrack primarily consists of a pitch that gradually inclines as the film goes on – in other words, the wavelength is extended. At the same time, the zoom, angle and focus constantly change, interpreting the static space we are exposed to in different ways. It could be said that the changing frequency is an auditory representation of these fluctuating readings of the space.

I feel that this piece relates to my own research as it treats the long take as something removed from the traditional structure of film. It is, in this instance, a fragment of existence, a thought, a concept, a question, among many other things. Perhaps above all, it celebrates the oneness of everything. At least to me anyway.

See below a link to the entire film.

Just extending on from my last post, I thought I’d share this great long take from the likes of Tarkovsky. It is quite existential and elusive, a shot that inherently opposes the formula of the montage. It echoes the perspective of a dream in its surreal sequence of images and sound design. I am also amazed by the multiple brilliantly composed frames within this long take (in particular the final frame, which is essentially a moving painting).

So without further ado, here it is: