Media Bodies Wk 6 – Stillness and Touch
A synopsis on ‘Being Home’
- The video work ‘Being Home’ is a second part to the video work ‘Coming Home’. ‘Being Home’ captures a moment between Emma (main character), her mum and her childhood teddy.
- When Emma holds her teddy for the first time, she transitions into a peaceful state which is shown through her gentle touches and connection with her teddy.
- Whilst Emma has her intimate moment with the teddy, the footage is recorded on a dated video camera. This is done to highlight the age of the connection between Emma and her teddy, influencing the importance of nostalgic feelings.
A few notes about what you felt worked well and not so well about this piece
- What I liked about this week’s work was that I was able to easily make a second part to my first video piece in week 4. I struggled in assignment one to make a connection between my three works, but now for assignment two I have more confidence and have more pride in my work.
- Something that could be improved with this work however are some of the camera angles. Although I purpose all of my shots, in post production I have noticed that a couple of shots look like they have accidentally cut the top off heads. Next time, if I don’t want the focus on faces, then I should totally cut them out, rather than half doing it.
Re-watch/listen to one of the media examples from class – Do we get a sense of what it’s like to be in the body that’s depicted?
Jan Švankmajer (1983) ‘Descendo Até o Porão (Down to the Cellar)’ [Short film: 15min] Place of distribution:
- In Jan Švankmajer’s short film ‘Down to the Cellar’, a sense of embodiment is felt through the character of the little girl.
- Usually when I watch creepy films, my heart will beat faster and I will feel uneasy. As I watched ‘Down to the Cellar’, I found that I wasn’t so scared, and could watch without squinting.
- The reason for this is because the little girl was not showing signs of being extremely afraid. Her movement was steady, but somewhat confident. Švankmajer heightened the sense of being in the body of the little girl but using close up shots and spot sounds.
- Some close up shots were of her foot movement, and the spot sounds of her contact with the ground influenced the confidence feeling that I mentioned earlier. Her steps were not scattered, they were steady and regular.
Shot list:
Key :
VC = taken on video camera
- outside, close up of Emma’s face, mum blurred in bg
- *Emma turns head
- mid close up on mum with teddy
- close up on Emma’s lips, she smiles
- mid shot of mum and Emma sitting down
- closeup of the passover
- VD (if i can) follow shot of Emma lifting teddy from lap to nose, she smells teddy
- VD Close up of teddy feet on Emmas lap
- Mid shot (left) *Emma is hugging teddy*
- LAST SHOT Mid shot (right) *focus on Emma’s face*
What’s one idea from the reading that you found useful or interesting? How did it influence the work you made this week?
- An idea that stood out to me after reading Elizabeth R. Straughan’s article was how touch and space can bring calmness, even when you are not consciously touch something.
- Although in my work for this week I did not have my character emerge in water which then caused her to be calm, I did still use touch to influence that feeling.
- When she feels the fur of her teddy and the weight of her bean filled feet, she enters a calm and peaceful state.