For week 2 we were required to create a 60-90 second video choosing a prompt that was given. What interested me this week was analysing different videos made by different individuals and how they told their stories. It was interesting to see the technique of people and how some people took advantage of archival footage. Through watching these videos, I decided to look through my phone of what archival footage I could use. It was extremely evident to me that I engage in capturing footage of when I attend music festivals. While going through footage, I began to realise I had somewhat of a muse. My friend Amber, who I often find lost in a pool of dancing bodies, will always be the person by my side. No matter what time of night, she will be there capturing the goodness and euphoric feeling that festivals expel. With this, I used her own voice over, asking her to focus on what she loved most about music festivals and what she missed about them. These allowed me to create a story line and to convey to the audience the deep relationship both myself and Amber have towards these moments. Through picking archival footage, I used di Tella’s observation of being the “other” [di Tella, 2012], being the person who conveys the story of the person who lived through the experience. As I am behind the camera, I share the views of Amber.
Prior to creating this film I fortunately watched ‘Do You Want To Go For A Drive?’ by Kelly Gallagher. Gallagher’s use of colour and flashing sequences inspired me to create a film which revealed the electric wonderland of music festivals. I used overlaying of videos to enhance the experience and show different perspective of what my own eyes could see. I aimed to add more depth into the video to create an engaging film. I used a vintage style filter within the film. I wanted my audience to experience a memory rather than a collection of archived phone videos. Slowing down movements, sound and footage, I hoped to capture the pure happiness which was felt at the time.
As a viewer of my own video, I rewatched the footage over and over again and found myself undeniably happy with all the goodness I captured in the moment. In a time like this, where we a restricted to quite little doings, seeing what we once could made the motivation to get through this year just a bit more bearable.
Reference:
Di Tella, Andres 2012, “The curious incident of the dog in the nighttime” In The Cinema of Me: The Self and Subjectivity in First Person Documentary. Edited by Alisa Lebow. London & New York: Wallflower Press: 33-43
Gallagher, Kelly 2016, “Do You Want To Go For A Drive?”, Experimental essay film, available at: https://vimeo.com/185095848
Leave a Reply