In studying the ‘poetic mode’ of filmmaking in week 3, I made this sketch with a primarily categorical approach, and both a rhythmic and tonal montage. The greenery of the park and colour green throughout the playground was my intended category, exploring how the playground interacts with the plants through colour and shape.
The choice to begin with the spinning green object and ending with the same shot was intended to create circularity through graphic relations. During the feedback session, I learnt that my previous sketch was generally ‘well-paced’, and so I intended to achieve the same effect in this piece with a rhythmic montage. A particular shot where I overlay two shots panning in the opposite direction was more rhythmic, and this continues throughout most of the piece where there is some form of movement through either panning, zooming or simply a tree or bush blowing in the wind, overlaying a still shot. This links back to playground structures in conjunction with greenery. Fading in and out of shots in the beginning and end of the piece was also done with an intended rhythmic effect. As for the greenery in relationship with the music, this was a more tonal montage, intending to evoke an appreciation for the public place and sense of ambience.
Through class discussion of the reading ‘Spaces of engagement’ by Bettina Frankham (2022), we found that there are multiple truths based on perspective and the viewer will derive meaning from the work regardless – which I liked in making an experimental piece, because the structure of my sketch could create meaning for the viewer with an idea I hadn’t necessarily intended. While I did take a primarily categorical approach to this piece, I also took an associational approach, where ‘relationships are less logical and more conceptual, emotional, visual and gestural’ (Frankham B, 2022). This is reflected through the ambience of the piece, and gesture to how manmade structures interact with nature in the absence of people.
References
Frankham B, 2022, ‘Spaces of engagement – critical aesthetic practice, audience experience and the documentary-like work’, Routledge