The act of wearing and walking in high heels is performative, a performance in which we feel compelled to play. An illusion of stability and composure we wish to embody as we step, spin and glide, it is a shoe of events. However, unable to move slowly, fluidly or gently, I am utterly hopeless. Within this piece I had attempted to portray an experience in which lacks stability, whereby the mere change of footwear can transform a hard, flat surface into a wavering, faltering and irregular trudge. When wearing high heels we attempt to give our best performance of both figurative and literal balance. I wanted to exhibit this on-screen and planned to do so through the utilisation of steady and repetitious camera work which is quite a contrast from the intimate struggles of unsteadiness experienced while walking in high heels, where we attempt to portray the best possible illusion of our ‘balanced’ selves to onlookers.
Some notes about what I discovered about trying to evoke a physical environment and/or emotional environment using particular types of shots and the sounds recorded for my soundtrack:
- I had discovered that a successful method in evoking a physical environment is showing viewers movement and interaction within the space. Quite literally, being able to show viewers this space through camerawork (close up, mid and establishing shots etc) is the simplest method. Yet most notably, this can be done audibly, experimenting with heightening sounds within a certain space ultimately caused some sounds to be more salient than others, in doing this, different sensations experienced within the space can be better recognised.
- I also had found that attempting to evoke an emotional environment can be much more difficult as it tends to rely on allusions of the effects caused by said emotional state/ environment rather than explicit/ overt depictions.
Some notes about what worked well and what didn’t work quite so well:
- Regardless of the limitations, I feel pleased with the overall appearance of the piece. I do believe that it may be lacking conceptually as I struggled with grasping this weeks prompt. This may be considered my weakest piece, however, I gave it my best attempt.
- What perhaps didn’t work so well was the utilisation of static shots as there were in fact parameters of which limited myself creatively, however, this prompted me to try new techniques. Techniques such as the lack of camera moment (which is not a visual effect that I quite often exercise) truly tested my skills as a creator. I feel as panning/ zoom/ tracking shots conjures a lingering curiosity and enticement, however, I needed to evoke such interest yet with the lack of a clear movement/ progression. I gave it my best attempt yet I do not know how successfully I executed this.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1k6lnrZNPyM54-G10B50BIdk_OrqGkvnz
