Experimenting

Camera less filmmaking was most definitely an exciting project. The first aspect I enjoyed was the fact that we collaborated on the project. I felt that helped to bring out each other’s creativity. It meant we could combine our different ideas to produce the best filmstrip possible. It was interesting to listen to Emma’s suggestions and experiment with them, because really, this exercise was an experiment. We had no idea what our film would look like on the projector. I had images of what I hoped it to look like but it was hard to judge, especially as far as timing goes. The first section of our film was the bleached filmstrip which represented air and was meant to look as though the film was breathing. I feel this was one of the most successful parts of the film, and a great opening sequence. It really set the scene. We found that the magazine transfers which looked great before putting them onto the projector, hadn’t turned out as well on the big screen. They appeared grainy and it was very hard to make out the images of butterflies and fruit which was a part of the film we really liked when putting it all together. For our fire section, we combined lots of fiery colours before leading into smoke. I felt quite proud of this section and I thought the sandpaper we used to scratch the film to create the image of smoke was very effective.

An Alchemical Christmas Carol: I enjoyed the fast paced feel of this film. The soundtrack matched up nicely to the quick movement on screen. It was nice to see the scratching at the beginning, as this reminded me of Emma’s and my film. It is a very effective technique, especially against the vibrant colours which the makers combined it with. My view has changed dramatically about this type of filmmaking since the start of this class, because before I had never really heard of it! When my friends see me working on projects for class they are fascinated and are jealous – I would be too, it is so much fun to be given the freedom to experiment this way and produce such interesting results. I remember watching Passage on the first day and being completely baffled by it. I did not understand it, or particularly like it, but I feel that if I were to watch it now with all this experience under my belt, my view of it would change radically. I have learnt to enjoy and appreciate camera less filmmaking.