Final Post
I set out in my creative statement to construct an immersive experience using light as my tool. Without necessarily creating a piece with a typical narrative structure. I aimed to create a purely aesthetic experience through an experimental moving image piece. Using moving image, colour, tone, and sound to create a visual experience that could ultimately manufacture a sense of detachment through image.
In the beginning I wasn’t completely sure how I would do this. I considered building an installation piece to establish a physical connection between the virtual space and the real space. This would have transformed a typical room space into a space defined by light and sound. Nonotak Studios work was a huge inspiration for this direction. This way of thinking was largely motivated by this statement below.
“Lights generate abstract spaces while sounds define the echoes of virtual spaces.” – Nonotak Studios
After much deliberation and a great deal of thought (My main restriction was time) I decided to abandon this in favour of a short film based piece. I kept gravitating toward psychedelic sequences that provoke an almost physical reaction or sensory overload. However I felt that this direction was a little too indulgent and ultimately unrewarding. Instead I ended up going for a sort of dreamscape environment where time and space lacked a clear definition.
After watching a film by Ingmar Bergman I became interested in the perspective of the audience themselves. The film also asks questions about self perception and the gaze of others. I experimented with acknowledging the 4th wall in the image piece to establish a certain mystery and loose narrative. This I included in the final edit in the beginning where the central character looks directly at the audience whilst exploring a space of apparent confinement.
Another influence I derived from this film was the amazing use of light from cinematographer Sven Nykvist. I loved his use of gaussian fabrics to diffuse hard light and create dynamic layers of movement. This motivated me to prioritise lighting a scene to communicate a specific mood or outcome. From here I developed a strategy to use controlled studio lighting. I chose to use hard lighting in the confinement scenes and a softer more expressive lighting in the rest of the piece. Which ultimately became a problem later whilst grading the image.
A specific tone of blue was chosen to invoke a calmness mood in line with colour theory. This I hoped would allow the audience to be more receptive to the experimental nature of the short film and further assist an audience to slip into an abstract dreamscape.
An extension of the visual rhythm was the echoing soundscape of deep bass rhythms from an ambient soundtrack that adds another layer of sensory experience with the intention to encourage contemplation.
The visual piece I ended up with was largely shaped around the motion of Jellyfish (filmed at the Sydney Aquarium). Repetitive, motion, and colour promote an environment that hopefully lulls the audience to consume itself with melancholy. After showing an audience my work I feel that perhaps a less highly contrasted/saturated colour scheme could have been more aesthetically pleasing. The basic lighting and mise en scene that promotes a sense of stillness proved the more visually rewarding for the viewer.
