In my short video I wanted to
explore three aspects of the medium of film. These aspects include, motion,
light, and manipulation. These aspects celebrate the magic of film. Photographs
for a long time captured exact moments of time. Then film captured the
progression of time. Both are wonderful mediums. Neither is better than the
other just different.
Film captures time through motion.
The beginning of my film shows basic motion. At first it is difficult to
interpret what is happening on screen but eventually the object is revealed. It
is a fan. A fan has circular motion that is constant. Circular signifies the
eternal. Film can penetrate through time and influence people decade after
decade. Film captures a story within an eternal world. We see a beginning and an End of a never-ending story. Motion is the absolute foundation
of the uniqueness of the film medium. It is the quick juxtaposition of images
to convey meaning.
The next segment of my film
celebrates light. Without light film would not be. The screen would be black.
Light is what shows the story. It portrays the world. It moves between the
characters. It is free yet framed by the cinematographer. Light communicates
ideas and reveals the inner workings of characters. My piece shows some
abstract close-ups of light. I filmed very literal things like lamps and ceiling
lights. But I chose to keep the image out of focus so that the object didn’t
distract from the light. The blue montage of light is a scene from the film, “The Avengers.” It’s close to impossible
to guess that based on the images I captured. Again, with it out of focus, only
the pure light of the scene is visible. All the props, characters, and scenery
disappear. We can see with different eyes this way. The light segment includes
short shots of a welder creating light with a tool. I chose to include this
because people create movies and thus create light, or at least manipulate it.
Light is within our grasp in the film world just as the welding torch is within
the welder’s grasp. The last shot is of the sunshine stretching its light over
canyon rock. This is the natural light, the light that gives life to all.
The last segment celebrates how
film uses manipulation. The shots are not abstract like the rest of the film.
Instead they are completely literal and bland yet they portray manipulation. I
decided to show extreme close-ups of objects in a room. These objects appear
very random and many don’t seem to have any connection with each other. As the
shot sequence progresses subtle hints reveal possible locations for these
series of objects. Then at last a full wide shot of the whole room reveals how
everything exists in relationship to each other. It shows the space, the bigger
picture that we are all itching to see. All the close-ups are manipulative
because we are forced to see only what is in the frame. So the camera can
control our perspective of a given world. Motion, light, and manipulation are
only three of many wonderful characteristics that film embraces.
In class we watched the video of
Moths. The artist just glued moth’s wings to actual film and ran the film past
a lens. This celebrated the film medium as well because it showed the beauty of
a moving image. There is also something to be said about the actual piece being
done directly on film. Film, the material itself is something to celebrate. We
also watched a dance video that celebrates the medium of dance as it progresses
through the ages. No dance was better in any given time period, it was all just
different. It was a cultural experience for everyone to associate dances with
certain decades. There are many mediums of media. All are great and deserve
recognition and thought.
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