Experimental Video - Chapter 5

I decided to focus my experimental video idea around the frequently occurring topics in the media. I have originally thought of the war in Iraq and how the increasing amount of troops dying is beginning to make people question about whether or not the war can actually be won. However i then decided to focus my video on how teenagers are increasingly being pressured into looking like someone their not and not being able to accept themselves for who they are.

For my video I want to have a girl who's looking into a mirror. On one side there will be the girl with no make-up on and just average clothes. I’m going to use camera angles and turn these frames upside down and during the editing stages make the frames black and white to symbolise how she's not happy with herself and she's actually looking quite plain. Her reflection in the mirror is going to show herself but very glamorous. She's wearing make-up, her hairs been done nicely and her clothes make her look fashionable. I’m going to turn these frames back to the right way up and during the editing stage make her look colourful and vibrant to again back up the idea that this is how the girl wants to look.

I also thought of putting some people in the background for the perfect looking girl to represent how she feels pressurised into looking like this just to fit in with her friends. In the reflection of the normal girl I want her to just be in a room on her own to reinforce the idea that she needs to look right to be able to hang around with the people she wants to.

My experimental video has been heavily influenced by Andy Huang's Doll Face. This video was about perfection and how no matter how hard you try you can never really achieve it.

Koyaanisqatis

The film Koyaanisqatis was created in 1982 and created by writers Ron Fricke, Micheal Hoenig, Godfrey Reggio and Alton Walpole with Phillip Glass composing the music. The duration of the film is 1 hour and 26 minues long. The word Koyaanisqatis meams Life Out of Balance and suggests that the film is based on a world with no equlibrium.

Visual Observations
During the scene with the space shuttle blowing up you can sense a real feeling of loss and visually the scene becomes very violent with the fire and debris flying everywhere. Also the frame has been slowed down to make the viewer feel as if they're with the shuttle with the fire representing the chaos of the world they're living in and the spiralling of the shuttle to represent how nothing is going to stop it and its just going to get more and more out of control.

There was also a long duration of clips showing cliffs which the camera seemed to be flying over. The duration of the clips were very long and quite repetitive which could represent how we just seem to get into the same routine everyday and it doesnt really take us anywhere.

In another part of the film the it shows how everyone is working or having to go somewhere or do something. The scenes feel very claustrophobic with thousands of people rushing somewhere or all waiting for the same thing. It also shows how everything they do is almost the same and they're behaviour becomes very "robot" like. Also it shows how because technology does so much for us now we dont really need to think, the machines do it for us. This is reflected in the scenes of people working in the factories just sorting things onto different convayer belts. These frames also show how much people do actually work and there never really is anytime to take a break, which could represent how now in the present times the world never really sleeps.

At around the 1 hour 6 minute mark the scenes change from very chaotic to very slow. They give the viewer a sense of hoplessness and despair and there isnt anything we can do about it. These frames also show the very frail side to humans and how they can be hurt very easily.

Audio Observations
Most of the sound used during the film is Non-diegetic. This means that the sound is happening outside the frame. During the scene with the space shuttle the music is very calming, which is the complete opposite of what the visual side of the scene was showing.

During the scenes showing the busy cities again the sound was non-diegetic. The music was very electronic which fitted in well with what was happening with the scenes as everyone was behaving like machines. The music could also represent how we rely heavily on technology now'a'days to keep everything flowing how it should. The music also became incredibly repetitive to perhaps validate the idea of machinery and robots.

Towards the end of the film the music changes from very fast and reptitive to very slow. It shows how eventually everyone gets worn down by the pace that things go at and they have to slow down.

Conceptual Notes
I think that the idea behind this film is the destruction of earth. Whether its through violence or how technology is taking over and how we need to find the right balance for things so they function properly. The music tends to put a new spin on how you look at each scene during the film so you see two sides to the frames.

Doll Face - Andy Huang

Doll Face is an experimental video by Andy Huang. It is a computer animated video which is about how a robot who is watching television and seems to be copying everything it sees on the TV.

The concept behind this video is the idea of perfection. It shows that no matter how hard someone tries they can never achieve their idea of perfection. It also could be addressing the idea of how more and more people are now turing to plastic surgery to be able to attempt to achieve their idea of the "perfect" body. The robot which is a key part to this video also shows how by copying everything we see in the media means that eventually no-one we will have anything unique about them, we will all be the same.

Doll Face is a very heavily crafted piece of work. The animation that has gone into it has taken a great deal of skill and time to create. The whole video was made by some kind of computer technology and the actual video is all about technology, for example; the robot and the television.

HELLO!

This is my first blog thingy! :D