COMPLETE

I have now completed my film, and it is currently rendering. I will then burn it to DVD with no menu and loop it, so as it plays automatically when inserted. I will be in Japan on Saturday the 30th of May, so I will be unable to set up my work, but will hand it over to Nancy with my artist statement.

SPEECH BUBBLES

I found this interesting piece of footage on youtube, and feel that it relates to my film.

.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwQymdXiZ44

.

William Kentridge also uses stop motion, although in a different way to what I am creating. His 'Automatic Writing' features lines drawn and then rubbed out.

.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmvK7A84dlk

JAMES JEAN

James Jean's "Crayon Eater"

WOLF AND PIG

Aaron showed me a really rad video that uses stop motion. A narrative was photographed, and then the 1,300 photographs were printed out and photographed again.

See it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmkLlVzUBn4

THE RED ROOM

I'm pretty sure David Lynch's red room from Twin Peaks (1990) is the best thing I have ever seen in my life. The actors learned their lines phonetically backwards and then the footage was played in reverse. I don't want to ruin anybody's life here, so please only watch this if you've seen the entire series. I would probably have been dead for three years if someone showed this to me before I'd seen it all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9HN4zSriDs

ESREVER

Today I completed the sequencing of my scenes, and made sure they linked together adequately. I am really happy with the way the constructed flash worked out, it's kind of ghetto but I think that adds to the charm and also links well with the beginning and ending. Now all that is left to do is add the audio, and then alter the length of the visuals so that they fit together well. Seeing as the final product will be a loop, and given that the song I am using has reversed parts in it, I am thinking that it would be interesting to then reverse the song to create a larger looped piece. Therefore, the song would play once, as would the film, and then once the visuals beginning looping, the song would play backwards until the film again comes to an end. I could then copy and paste this, resulting in the song forwards, then backwards, then forwards, then backwards, etc, each with the same visuals.

Seeing as I still have a few weeks to complete this, I might then experiment with distorting the visuals the more the song repeats. For example, changing the order of scenes or repeating certain parts. This alludes to some form of echo, and also relates to attitudes, and as a microcosm words and quotations being changed over time.

PROGRESS

In order to construct a coherent narrative within my stop-motion film, I have been splitting and grouping series of photos to make scenes. Using Preview to gauge changes, I then create folders and subfolders, placing the appropriate images in each. Oftentimes it is neccessary for me to rename each of the files so as they are shown in the reverse order, and consequently, are played in reverse in Quicktime. Once I have selected "open image sequence" in Quicktime and exported it as a short movie, I drag each scene into Premier Pro, adjust the speed and duration and link it to the scene prior. The majority of the film is 75% of the original speed, but the constructed camera flashes made from images of sparklers are shown at 100%, and images of me holding different cameras are shown at 50% of the original speed. It wasn't until about half-way through the making of my video that I learned how to reverse clips in Premier Pro, which saved me a great deal of time in manually renaming them pre-rendering.

.

I have included a short clip or scene, which features me holding a cardboard heart which is on fire. This scene is made from over 50 photographs, and will be played at 75% of this speed in the film.