#karstgallery

Hi all! I thought I would write about my most recent film ‘Tinfoil Candy’, how it came to be, and any other interesting points.

The initial thoughts started brewing on the 1st of July 2024. I had accepted a short-term lease at the art gallery KARST in Plymouth. It was an empty studio, and I wanted to play around with chance.

Since I was in a new place, with very few pieces of equipment, or any other resources, I decided to pop into the nearby Aldi to see what I could use to make a film. As always, I wanted to focus on chance.

In the end, I decided on two items to add to my shopping basket: tinfoil, and M&M’s (I wanted Smarties, but none were being sold ;u;).

M&Ms: The original idea of these was I would pull two M&Ms randomly from a bag, and these would dictate what colours the light would be in the next scene, with one colour on either side. Also, the specific colour hues of the lights would be made to match the M&Ms as much as possible. Other than brown, this worked out pretty well with my two ULANZI VL49 RGB lights.

The scene of the colour picking would be filmed, but not used. This was mainly because originally I wanted to implement chromakey into the work, but decided against it. Secondly, the tone of the idea heavily changed both due to the song chosen and after the creation of a certain prop.

However, the colour combinations and light directions would be used (to a degree).

(Isobel helping me figure out what needed to be filmed after I chose candy at random.)

Tinfoil: Originally, my idea with this was simple. It was a relatively cheap material that I could cover the walls with. However, as I played with it, I realised that when crunched up, the different lights hit it from different directions. How the light scattered, was ultimately up to chance (I was just squeezing it with no real plan, I was not being Kubrick saying this fold here represents inner connection, or anything like that).

(Testing I did on the 1st of July, looking at how light bounced off the foil.)

The foil then, overtook my interest, and I wanted to incorporate it more into the piece. This, is likely why the chromakey element ended up falling away (which is good, as I have played with chromakey a lot, and needed to do other things).

(My notes talking about the light bouncing from the day.)

After visiting the The National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo, and seeing Miyamoto’s works of ‘tsukanoma no haikyo’ or ‘temporary ruins’, I have become very interested in seeing how decay and destruction can create chance, and how this can create art. This was further developed reading ‘Chance Aesthetics’ (2009) by Malone.

(The National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo and one of Miyamoto’s works)

This led me to destroying the M&Ms, both via eating and pliers. Both also have unsettling qualities which match other elements of the work.

In addition to this, there were plans to incorporate the classic chance technique of falling/gravity into the work (e.g. Pollock’s pieces, Duchamp’s ‘3 standard stoppages’, etc.). This worked doubly as destruction and gravity, but it simply did not look good enough to incorporate.

(Broken M&M pieces falling down onto tinfoil.)

There is also the theme of destruction with the pixel art heart that was created out of M&Ms. Reversing this footage I thought evoked a sense of coming alive. This, with the pulsating affect created by the changing lights in a later scene, made a motif of: Creation, Living, and ultimately Death with the final scene.

I really enjoy the chance opportunities afforded by music, and the silent collaboration it brings. When picking music, I often choose a key word that I want from the piece (in this instance it was ‘crinkling’ due to the tinfoil). I found the song ‘Prove that you are Alive’ by QLEQ. It did not at all have the energy I envisioned for the film prior to searching, but the juxtaposition from planning to creation often allows for creative decisions which I would not have had in mind independently. As such, it works as a prompt to push me out of my comfort zone, and make something I would not have otherwise.

In a way, the music acts as a second director, dictating pacing, as well as other thematic elements. For example, the reversal of many shots came about due to this music, which formed the ideas around ‘coming to life’ from the pixel art.

An hour before shooting the majority of the piece, I thought about what I could cover in tinfoil for props to use. After covering a pair of glasses, I thought ‘what else could I cover that was wearable?’. An earring came next, and then a hat. Finally, I came across the mask. This, completely changed the tone of the film.

While I filmed many scenes, with many different props, when it came to editing, this item took over, making the piece feel way more eerie than I was originally intending. Yes, it is goofy, but it still gives me an ick.

For the ‘death’ scene, it was quite funny. I explained everything I wanted to my wife before being covered in M&Ms and getting into a post-mortem-pose. She then, took over the camera and squatted above me for the shot. Needing to direct with my eyes and mouth shut was an interesting experience. Especially since getting the M&Ms to stay in place was so difficult. I did not want to stop the scene and essentially rebuild. All and all, it was accomplished with some grunting and hand motions.

((Left) Me, working very hard, (Right) my professional drawing of what needed to happen.)

In order to not choke and die, a piece of cardboard was put into my mouth in front of my teeth, and the M&Ms were placed on top of it, giving the illusion that my entire mouth was stuffed with candy.

It is interesting how unintentionally similar this scene is to the one I created for my film ‘Gacha’nce’. Both have themes of death. I wonder what is deep in my psyche that this is how I represent this.

On a side tangent, I discovered a weird effect when filming, where it looks like the light is bending around a close object.

People online are all saying conflicting things about what it is, so that’s pretty neat.

(Reddit going at it! Thanks r/Filmmaking ❤)