Who is Hilary Harris? He is an experimental and documentary filmmaker. I started doing some research on Hilary Harris and his films. I would describe his films as an art piece. While watching his films in class I was reminded being in an art museum. I could imagine myself in an empty room watching his films as an installation. There are artiste who turn their films into an art installation. I had come across such films in a way they are shown in empty rooms and a projector or overlapping an art piece with a film. Sometimes when you watch the films, they make no sense and yet you try so hard trying to make sense of each scenes. This artiste usually tries to either evoke a series of emotion or just the visuals. Sometimes it is because of their “experimental” camera techniques.
Hilary Harris films may look easy however, piecing it together and adding music is tough. He uses everyday scenes in films like “Highway” and “Organism”. The scenes are simple but knowing what kind of pace, music and shots to use could be difficult. There are a lot thought that goes into during the editing process. Editing with the right music, shots and pace will help to create the direction of the film. In his other film “Nine Variations on a Dance Theme” was shoot differently. The scenes were more complex such that there were certain camera techniques that he uses for each dance variation in that film. It started with him circling around the dancer, following the movement and after that the shots becomes more intimate.
I was particularly interested in his film “Highway”. The cuts, music and pacing felt complete. The shots of the different highway repetitively piece together and the groove of the music gave us a sense of a never ending journey on the highway. Also, it started from day to night and then back to day which emphasize the never ending journey on the highway. I felt that the film meant there is no end to life and how life is a routine, doing the same things over again. Another thing, which I was interested in was the way he titled his titles for each film. Simple yet it explains what the film is all about. I hope that I am able to input the key things like pace, shots and music for the upcoming abstract video assignment.
