All aesthetic decisions must be justified.Like building up layers of paint…or adding disparate objects together to build up a whole; I have been using Adobe Premiere Pro to create a piece of moving image that should grab the attention of my audience.
By mixing the layers of film, still image and colour overlays I am relying upon blind chance to create something new…something more than the sum of its parts. Using an idea from Mark Morrisroe’s sandwiched negatives (Fig.1). The intention is to create something that intrigues & jars …not so much surreal but slightly out of kilter..something at odds to the norm.
Fig.1 Mark Morrisroe Still Life with Marble Figures 1985
I have started creating a library of shots & video clips that I am experimenting with by mixing them together so that they interfere, blur, blend and clash together to entertain the eye.
The anchor of the piece is some video interference that references the time when video was at its height and AIDS had begun to takes its deadly toll upon the gay (and straight) community. Underneath this are a collection of stills and moving ‘postcards’ that symbolise the tourist aesthetic that Cornwall is known for.
In combination there are also objects culled from the interviewees’ home environment that signify peace and safety to them. Above this are colour gels that help mute the transition between layers. The last layer will overlay the whole of the film; this consists of a single point-of-view film of waves gently lapping at the shore. Combined with the sound from this track it denotes the calming effect of the seashore upon the soul.
The overarching intent of the film is to use the memorialising capacity of photography & cine/video to juxtapose the happy family snapshot aesthetic along with the fractured disjointed inability for the mind to truly remember correctly. Making reference to the fact we were often ostracised from our family when they discover our status (either by our family themselves or from a feeling of shame on our own part).
The last addition will be the narrative & this will be the most difficult to get right. So far I only have the experiences of two interviewees to draw upon, but more should be available next week. I am acutely aware that I must avoid the film becoming whiney. One of the other shorts to be shown is a documentary from Uganda that recounts the difficulty LGBTQ people have in accessing medication in a country where homosexuality is illegal. It is a knife edge to walk as my film cannot flippantly disregard the fact we in the west have excellent access to life-saving meds. So I need to find a ‘hook’ that puts across our experiences without complaint.
The aesthetic of the whole film was inspired by Derek Jarman’s Blue. I wanted the visuals to play a lesser role to the text being spoken…they are there to signify and support but the words & voices of my participants are where the real truth lies.
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