Time in Video
My next module in video started out easy enough, with a survey of different video artists. I really gravitated to works that told a story, especially a personal one (such as The Green Ray by Tacita Dean), and works that use layering, collage, and animation (The Green River by John Strutton, and Where is Eva Hipsey? by Orla McHardy). And then, bam, we had to make videos ourselves.
I’ve only had two experiences with video before. My first experience was a collaboration with Danny Brennan, where we took footage in the local canal with a GoPro in a custom made raft, and then processed it afterwards with Open Frameworks. Danny edited the video; I messed with it with Open Frameworks. You can get a taste of the source footage:
Second time, two years ago as part of the drawing course, I made an animation of ever louder lines:
Which is just to say, this is still new and exciting territory for me.
First assignment was a one minute video. Not ready to record voice, to make music, or star in my own video, I stuck with what I found most comfortable, which is animation. So while animation might sound tedious, it is meditative, and only as fast as you want to move. The element of time is constructed in the final piece; it doesn’t need to be interacted with live other than how it impacts the number of requisite frames to get.
Even so, doing this video did take some effort. I made two attempts before realizing I needed to move everything twice as slow. The sound is a mix of free and open sounds and things I recorded myself. The hardest to get right was the timing of the sandy scratching sound of walking, created by squeezing two juggling balls. Foley sound artists, you have my respect.
Second assignment, make a two minute video - with a voiceover. I had recently noticed how mesmerizing it was to watch the parallax of the branches in the currently bare trees. So I used this as the visual. And with my voiceover, I went with what I know best, my own experience. My voice is deepened, because I like the universality of androgeny, but also, er, I couldn’t stand the sound of my own voice while editing.
After these, there was one more video to go in our module, that could be up to three minutes long. I’ll tell that tale in the next installment.