Showing posts with label EXPERIMENTAL. Show all posts

In the piece, you are viewing five separate screens working as a vocal circuit. Four of the Screens act as distributors of information. Starting from the left (Screen 1) something is said, moving along it reaches the middle screen, upon receiving the news the middle screen reacts, the reaction is later heard/seen by another passing on the story. The middle screen acts as a Breeder and Target for gossip it plays a victim of rumour. Shocked by the words it has come to hear, it addresses the viewer with the words “just between you and me” in hope to seal the spreading; in natural fact, nothing stays private. The circuit loops again, middle screen reacts with anger “Beat the shit out of a pillow” yet making another headline.


The main concept is not about who is in the beginning or in the end. It is all about others who are in the same chain of information. One of them can mislead and draw people to the wrong conclusions. It is really about telling the wrong idea. When you think how someone has given you the wrong information you also think of synonyms such as betray, deceive, dupe, fudge, misrepresent, temp, bait, bluff, lure, scam, hoodwink, deceive, entice, seduce, victimize, suck in, pull wool over eyes, manipulate.


Rumours have been spread all across the world every second. It is an infinitive circuit that cannot be cut. There always will be a source and a point where things are going to be said. 

Our first installation was inspired by a Chinese saying, referring to the three monkeys of their divine pantheon. See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil. In the first idea, we did it simply, A source, three monkeys in the middle and the speaker at the end. Easy to understand - The source wants to say message which goes and reaches the speaker. The information can be truth and it can be misleading because of three persons in the middle.

We developed other ideas keeping the main concept of three monkeys. To represent the more precise real-life situation, we put the main character in the middle, but this time, this character is both - the SPEAKER and the SOURCE.
Why I think it is more realistic? In the first idea source wants to give a message itself, but in another - someone just heard the source saying things and passing them further. Sooner or later the source will know that there is romour of his spoken word. Reacting differently each time, the main character in the middle will be saying what he has heard. the information he has just said gets passed around again. It is almost like an infinitive loop that will never end. Messages keep travel and changing all the time to make the perfect form and expression.
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As I mentioned in previous posts, our installation is presenting the result of evil behavior. It is about the communication nowadays... The source can be completely innocent so as the speaker, but the messenger is the one who makes the rules. Particularly in our installation, the way of changing the message is cleared in three ways.

Still playing with the spread of information we wanted to base the piece on the passing and delivery of words, how things said by others can’t be monitored nor controlled. In the piece, you are viewing five separate screens working as a vocal circuit. Four of the Screens act as distributors of information. Starting from the left (Screen 1) something is said, moving along it reaches the middle screen, upon receiving the news the middle screen reacts, the reaction is later heard/seen by another passing on the story. The middle screen acts as a Breeder and Target for gossip it plays a victim of rumor. Shocked by the words it has come to hear, it addresses the viewer with the words “just between you and me” in hope to seal the spreading; in natural fact, nothing stays private. The circuit loops again, middle screen reacts with anger “Beat the shit out of a pillow” yet making another headline.

CIRCUIT

I am working together with Ivan and at the very beginning, we both agreed what are our roles. Ivan is the author of pictures and digital drawings. He was in charge of characters. Meanwhile, my role was "HOW TO MAKE IT POSSIBLE?". To learn 3D animation in less than one month - I did not know how able I am to do it, so I did not risk it. So, Ivan found a solution, he showed me video of Micheal Jackson and I decide to look deeper into the production process

Having in mind this interesting video I look for another. Each video took my attention more and more.








After a good research, I found out what is Morph Motion - Still to Still. Soon I had a RE:Flex plugin on my Adobe After Effects.

I run few tests and realized that on trial version nothing is going to work. It put a huge cross over the image - watermarked.

Having this problem made me think of ways around it. So I came with a solution to generate huge pictures, edit them with the watermark and then just crop needed frame in Adobe Premiere.

I ended up with 11.5K footage on my computer. All videos and sequences were about this size leaving portrait area for FULL HD resolution. 1080x1920p PORTRAIT!

I watched tutorials how to use RE:Flex motion morph for different files - videos, still images and animations. I was very into this technique and I am glad I explored it. First tests went bad, but I got use to it. One portrait took me about 4 hours to turn sideways and open its mouth.

What motion morph does is basically takes the points defined by me and blends together with the image next. I have to go frame by frame and move shapes that are different for two frames between.

Here is a video that is taken for 4.5 hours.

In total, I made fully 6 portraits. Morphing and later on exporting through Adobe Premiere in .MOV H.264 1080x1920p 25fps.

After generating motion from still, it was time for motions. Each motion was trimmed separately like sequence. It was more like a sequence of the sequence of the sequence. Files on files.
As you can see. For each face, I had approximately 22-30 masks and each mask has to be keyframed. Well, that would be easy, but each mask, like layer for hair consisted of 200 points which need to be separately moved because masks are changing their own shape. 

In my opinion, we set roles very clever. Ivan was in charge of characters. As soon as he finished one face I began to draw shapes and move pictures in After Effects. I think his process was not easier, all layers and texture took a long time. Meanwhile, I was working with different sizes, trying to figure out pixel ratio and frame times in certain seconds. 

 We had issues, particularly my Adobe crashed for like 5 times. 

I would say that I was excited by the process learning a new technique... but closer to the end and I got very tired. Every single point needs to be checked in all frames, keyframed every single second and because of different drawings, all shapes changed their form every single frame. 

 It was challenging, even more, because of something I have never been aware of. I got new experience and a feeling of great teamwork. 
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See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil
It is a Chinese saying, referring to the three monkeys of their divine pantheon. In another way, one can say indeed that if one tries to be positive in word, deed, and thought, that one can avoid doing evil and also avoid falling into the traps of the wicked. The evil ones fall into their own trap for seeing, thinking, listening to , and doing evil. In the film: Planet of the Apes with Charlton Heston, these three famous monkey poses are actually referred to in the ape trial of the human. Mainly because these three behaviours are considered as major sources of evil in themselves. I would say that our installation is presenting to the audience the result of evil behaviour. It is about the communication nowadays... Source can be completely innocent so as the speaker, but the messenger is the one who makes the rules. Particularly in our installation the way of changing the message is cleared in three ways.
HEAR NO EVIL - you can hear it, just don't pay any attention to it
SEE NO EVIL -  you can either cover your eyes and literally not see it, or pay no attention
SPEAK NO EVIL - You often can't help when you hear evil, especially rumours about others, speak no evil is about that you shouldn't repeat anything further.

Doing evil will be represented through 5 screens. On each of them - one person. As I said above, the source is innocent, follows three “monkeys” and the speaker:

Screen 1: a victim (the source)
Screen 2: a policeman (the monkey)
Screen 3: a journalist (the monkey)
Screen 4: a news editor (the monkey)
Screen 5: a news reporter (the speaker)
TV screens not projectors? Audience is always more satisfied of physical things that they can view from different perspectives. If the artwork is explorable, it takes the person more into the message that artist wants to tell. That's our main goal - To deliver our idea and our thoughts to the viewer more efficient and much faster. We gather that physical installation is much more powerful and more interactive than just a projection on the wall.
To make some ideas of screen positions we took a look to other artists.
Valie Export, video installation at Charim Galerie, (2012)
TV screens are on many tables facing towards audience. It takes a lot attention but in same same the number of screens disturbs the viewer and making focus on many visuals.
Another installation that inspired us was made by Andy Warhol: Motion Pictures at The Museum of Modern Art, 2010.
Andy's work took us because of portraits. Our problem will be showed through portrait series on the screen. It is interesting way to deliver the message. People usually try to look into faces while getting the point of speech or emotional expression, meanwhile others actually try to avoid that, complete opposites, which could be also related to one of the monkey's behaviour “See no Evil” or “Hear no Evil” - trying to ignore the message and keep enjoying the artform.

PAPER WORK:
Arturs Reinholds Learning Agreement
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As a final file we exported "LOST AND FOUND". It took us a while to decide the title for our film. We had many ideas but not the same taste.
I think we find it really hard to set roles. Our team had people that knows each side of film more or less. In my opinion, next time we have to fix roles and stick to them so there would not be any misunderstandings. Everyone was planning, everyone took part in filming and sound recording. We did editing mostly together.

For next time I will make sure that our technical side is alright, I failed when I tried to repeat same settings for second shoot. I pool too much ISO, therefore I needed to fix it in post. We were not prepared for lighting our found objects so alternative was my small LED light.

Good thing was that we begin to work early, we did not rush and successfully spent a lot of time for finding items. We did it slowly without stress. Our editing was quiet fluent except few bits when we couldn't stop argue about small details.

All together I feel it was a great experience for me to work in team again. I am kind a person who is used to work alone from scratch. I found it easier to work individually. It takes time to learn how to work in a team successfully. Overall we did a good job.

WE FOUND OBJECTS - WE GAVE THEM A PURPOSE IN THE FILM
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Having a lot of postcards scanned and items filmed we imported all footage into the After Effects project. Colored all videos making film more pleasant to watch. We also had recorded sounds which were associated with the items, for example - Birds, water, knocking, leaves and zip-wire. On the last day recording sound we had success, we met a guy who was walking out dogs and they played around barking and running around. I did a lot of sound recording, but as our roles weren't fixed we all took part in sound recording later on. In the project we used Zoom H2n recorder. Trying to avoid too much ambient noise and having clean sound effect we tried to operate mic gain.

For audio edit we used Audition, applied effects like panning and reverb. We made zip-wire soundtrack sound like tape. Post-production was interesting but in same time a bit stressful because we had a lot of arguments. Everyone had ideas and we had to deal with our characters.

During editing I worked on snail trail animation. Tarald helped me a lot with fire and snail trail animation. For titles in the end we tried to make similar effect to VHS footage so it match the text in the end.. There is a text 'Batt' that is original alert for low battery.

Synchronizing sound was not easy part, it took time and patients. We had only few technical issues, but they were not big at all.
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Each of us had opportunity to choose one of the pitches. I joined Natalie's team because her pitch was based on finding objects and exploring places around Farnham. Finding items in charity shops, bins, park and on the streets. Basically, looking for items that people might left behind. Her idea came from experimental film published on Vimeo by director, Chel White named 'Photocopy Cha Cha'. Before shooting we created a schedule to stick to make the film possible.

We were quiet motivated in the beginning of our project. Later on we misunderstood each other and it was even hard to fix our roles. When we were on track we faced another problems, we found out that it is illegal to take things out of a recycling centre in Surrey but we moved on. I fully took part in our item hunt, it seemed unsuccessful until we find a lot of items in charity shops. We were ready to go and explore, we had bin bags and gloves to pick any items.

We found items like postcards, flowers, a watering can, dog tags and balls, shoes, gloves and glasses. During the project we saw that our schedule is actually not working, we were looking for items while we were editing too.

 We did not rush, only worrying thing at the beginning was our technique, how we will capture our items. Original idea was scanning each item and moving it in post-production. We did scanning for postcards. It took us hours to manage scan all of them and sort out in certain order.

For other items we used a piece of glass that we found in one of the bins behind the charity shop. A3 size glass was fix between two tables so it was easier to put camera under items in a distance.

Apart of items we found we used VHS archive footage. It was a bit weird for me because it was something really personal for someone else. It was someones work, piece of art. I have to admit that during our edit I had different ideas for that footage, a bit misunderstood my team's vision. It was one of the most interesting project parts looking for archive footage.
We tried to replicate a scanner look using white background from top. During filming we had problems with lighting because objects we putted on the glass looked like silhouettes. Therefore we used my LCD light.
It was hard to operate the camera. It was on the floor and I needed to push record button each time which means that I was lifting DSLR and re-frame it again and again. Each time covered LCD screen so there is no reflections in the glass. Similarly I tried to be careful with LCD light panel.
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That is how it looked in the Adobe Audition. I recorded and mixed everything in 32-bit 96000 Hz and later on down sampled to 24-bit 48000 Hz.
I did a lot of reverb, panning and volume key-framing.

All I wanted to achieve I did. I wanted surrounding sound, sound that makes you feel that you are in the same place with the objects. I did a story that builds up slowly and ends quickly after screams. I learned about level controls reading two books Sound for Digital Video by Tomlinson Holman and Arthur Baum & Theory and Practice Film Sound by Elisabeth Weis and John Belton. both books describe that I should keep my levels down and make very pleasant sound, in that way I can make my audience focus on the actual subject.

My final edit (-10 dB):

 
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Seeing picture of a person sitting on a chair and with widely open mouth lets me think only about the screams. I was looking for story. Therefore, I decided to leave the screams at the end. I wanted to build up the sound, showing how the person gets where he is painted. I love audiovisual parallelism, it helps me feel the image, even if it is still, I can picture different patterns, feel the material, feel the room or space.

For tips and tricks I chose to look up in few books. For actual form and rhythm I took notes from 'Cinesonica: Sounding film and video' by Andy Birtwistle. Read how important is actual space where the sound is recorded, for example, in a room it will be more high and low pitch noise, where outside it will be more of low and mid frequency sound.

MAKING A STORY

In my mind was going only one idea. How the person got there? Because of facial expression that shows screaming I made another person in the room.
I star my story with a person walking outside while it is raining so it would be clear that it is completely different environment. The person grabs keys and opens the doors. While it washes his hands, there is another person pulling his fingers on the glass. Trying to make noise and receive response from another side. He is more like a hostage who tries to escape, but the person who just came in wants him to sit down. He has the power!

I would like to use something that sounds like electric chair. Connecting wires and make the Pope screaming. Last minutes of his life.

RECORDING

OUTSIDE - screams, doors, keys, rain.
INSIDE - scratches, voice, glass, doors, electric impulses, chair, breathing, running water.

EQUIPMENT - ZOOM H2n and ZOOM H1 recorders.

Using headphones, I made an effect, that it feels very realistic. I recorded with Zoom H2n to make 3D sound. Whispering and screams are made stereo into real environment. for water, breathing and door opening I used pan effect.

Sorting out files:
 Named them:
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My sound project is based on the portrait of Pope Innocent X, is an oil on canvas portrait by the Spanish painter Diego Velázquez. Pope Innocent X was born at Rome, 6 May, 1574; died there, 7 January, 1655. His parents were Camillo Pamfili and Flaminia de Bubalis. The Pamfili resided originally at Gubbio, in Umbria, but came to Rome during the pontificate of Innocent VIII. [1]

I chose Francis Bacon's most famous paintings inspired by Velasquez's Pope Innocent X portrait. [2]
The work shows a distorted version of the Portrait of Innocent X painted by Spanish artist Diego Velázquez in 1650. The work is one of a series of over 45 variants of the Velázquez painting which Bacon executed throughout the 1950s and early 1960s. The picture was described by Gilles Deleuze as an example of creative re-interpretation of the classical. [3]

Diego Velazquez's painting on the left and Francis Bacon's on the right.

The insertion subverts the encapsulation of power and self-assurance projected by Velázquez. The screaming mouth, isolated from other facial features and divorced from any narrative context, suggests existential agony. The pathos of human vulnerability and loss of faith or conviction are accentuated by the precisely rendered space frames in many Bacon images of popes, which make the figures register as ‘enclosed in the wretched glass capsule of the human individual’, to cite the evocative phrase used by the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche in The Birth of Tragedy (1872), one of Bacon’s favourite books.[2]

I was more into the Popes biography, but it seemed really secret. Therefore I choose to find out why Francis Bacon wanted to show him screaming, what was the reason and is this is somehow interacting with his sexuality?

Bacon’s obsessive reworking of the papal theme suggests that it may have possessed further significance and perhaps psychological charge for the artist in relation to his sexuality. It has been remarked that the Pope in official garb is in a sense the ultimate drag queen, or less literally that depictions of the Holy Father, known in Italy as ‘il Papa’, may encapsulate Bacon’s traumatic feelings about his own father. The latter was a conventional, inflexible military man to whom the teenage Bacon had felt sexually attracted, as he recalled many years later, but who brutally admonished and rejected him when he discovered his son’s homosexual inclinations. Such speculations about the possible ‘subconscious’ content of the pope pictures involve perhaps a rather crude application of the methods of Freudian psychoanalysis. Once again it is neither altogether possible nor helpful to pin Bacon down.

[1] http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08020b.htm
[2] http://uk.phaidon.com/agenda/art/articles/2013/february/08/the-truth-behind-francis-bacons-screaming-popes/
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Study_after_Vel%C3%A1zquez%27s_Portrait_of_Pope_Innocent_X
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Finally I am done my Twin Screen and I can summarize all I did.

My Idea
My vision of human and devices. I want to show how much time people are spending using their devices everyday. How big influenced they have on us. Focusing on these things I am going to show how people are looking without them in same position. Representing how much they actually are wasting their own time.

Visuals
I included few animations made from many layers. Real life footage and textual information.

Equipment and Place to film it
All footage is filmed with Nikon D5100 on campus flat. I also used a tripod for most shots. For sound recording I took Zoom H2n.

Explained Visuals:
At the beginning I am sleeping and waking up slowly, nothing unusual. On the other screen there is remaining time till I am going to wake up. A moment later simple animation changes to my body info. Sliding text on one side is actually Sterner-Elser empirical molecular formula for an average human body.
H375,000,000O132,000,000C85,700,000N6,430,000Ca1,500,000P1,020,000S206,000Na183,000K177,000 
Cl127,000Mg40,000Si38,600Fe2,680Zn2,110Cu76I14Mn13F13Cr7Se4Mo3Co1

Animation includes heart rate monitor.

Then my video starts explaining my idea. I am doing same thing with and without my PC. There were many attempts to do it in same time as I did it once. Synchronizing motion was really hard during this project. 

Seconds later I am watching a video. It is an animation I made from scratch. The animation I am watching symbolizes that it does not matter how educational is the things we are looking online, we just spend hours to look at any forms of information, even if it's not important or fun. 

Animation was inspired by Of Monsters and Man






Having this on one side, on another it is my eye. I used motion tracking and different transition options for lines and textual information that comes up watching the screen. 

After animations transition in laptop's screen I am doing handheld camera movement for many time to get as similar shot as possible. And again, one screen side shows devices, another without devices. It is hilarious how would we look doing that with no devices... 

So I did my checklist. PC with animation video, laptop with animation video, mobile phone using social network and mobile phone used for music.

At the end everything rewinds. My explanation for that - I wanted to throw back everything, so the viewer could think how he would spend his day, is it going to be time using devices or having healthy breakfast and chatting with people in real life.


*** Effects between the shots - static or white noise is made because of fact that no technologies are stable to use yet. Anything could happen and our data is not so safe.


Explained Sound:
I have to mention that all sound is recorded after editing visuals. Piano sound is Royalty Free music by Darren Curtis. Everything else is recorded afterwards with Zoom H2n voice recorder. I made a lot of sounds by my voice. I did wind sound just manipulating my voice. I did all mouse clicks, chair sounds after. Recorded static noise and for the end. It is a sound from water tap. Recorded running water is put reverse, so it sounds scary.


Sounds like water, mouse clicks, voice effects, steps, tapping on walls, scratching carpet were edited on Adobe Audition.
One of my favorite sounds were manipulated watch at the beginning counting seconds. For many sounds I changed time, pitch and balance. I took noise for some and bring the frequency very high.


Reason for mood is because of first research of how serious is our future. If it continuous like this it may go insane. Technology is taking over human quickly which is quite scary already. Our communication with others starts to become artificial. It feels fake through modern technology. 
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I am starting with our workshop. We have to build our skills in Adobe After Effects. Although before university I have only used After Effects for video stabilization and text motion tracking, I get on the software very fast. To make twin screen video 1 or more minutes long I need to know what I can do using After Effects. Learning software from Philip Osborne is fun, short and certain explanations. All I want to know he can show easily. I begun with shape manipulation. Transforming line in time was really interesting, how many effects can make such simple object moving. I enjoyed camera motion tracking, where we used 3D points. I was more interested in 3D motion, I made several videos rotoscoping man from video. As much as I can, made simple layers in Adobe Photoshop and brought them into After Effects. Created a 3D space where I moved layers forwards and backwards. It was a great experience. I need to mention that I watched hours long tutorials on Lynda.com and they were actually really good. Having tutorial step by step helps a lot to improve my work.

So my process using Adobe After Effects can be watched by next few short videos.







Now we have tutorials by James Wright. I love it because I have never used Adobe Audition before. I think this software will be my first choice from now on for audio manipulation.

During those workshops I have been inspired by five-member musician group Of Monster and Man. I love their music and there is something special about their videos. Simple animations that makes you to think of your inside world.



At the moment my plan is to make similar animation and put my own meaning into it. I want to record separate sounds and make this video very sensitive to watch. My idea is to make sounds that represents each step, eye movement and wind. It may not be cheerful, but it will be enjoyable.

So now I know what I want to achieve, need to focus on my actual idea. I want to find something that is not used before and can easily show our relationships with technology.
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Our memories are the only paradise from which we can never be expelled. / Jean Paul Richter/

During the week after our first meeting, I chose to take only the line from my previous post - What people leave behind themselves? I draw sketches in my notebook. I look for abandoned places around Farnham. Develop idea - creating abandoned place look like someone just have sit on the chair or slept on the mattress. It took me whole day to think different scenarios like sketches of desk and letter on it with recently cleaned surface. 

 Something was missing. My developing process was not real. It was all about creating memories without true story under it. I took few days off.

 My last sketch represented shoes. Discussed the idea with Leah and we find the way how to improve my photographs. Shoes themselves represents a lot about the owner. Are they are clean, maybe torn or with special style. To develop the text on each photograph took me time. For inspiration went together with my course mates to Blackpool.

 Ivan with Preston and Rufaro invited me to go with them to Blackpool, which was like 4 hour drive in one direction. 

 It was a real opportunity to get inspired by other place apart from Farnham. Took some pictures and during the process I find how I want show these photographs to my audience. Powerful text from each owner not only show the style, but memories which bring us to highlights of their personalities.
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As I told in previous post I had an idea and I wrote it down immediately in Latvian. Inspiration and research took me whole week, but the actual idea came to me at the last day. I wrote it down in 2 minutes, having trouble with technical point, but I took time to sort it out. I know that we meant use references on a film or some kind of art, but this time it came during the inspiration research. I watched those films, listed on the first Reflection PITCH post. It took me time to think about the things that is already filmed. I though differently to make my own idea. 
So here it is...

 The Synopsis
A 5 minute experimental, scripted short film. It is based to show different behaviours, personalities and traits through extreme situation. The real location is university. It is about the guy who always tries to help others. It is a simple discussion between 4 people after the class where one of his course mates says that he have done nothing for others. Main character gets angry and punch him the face. He gets stressed out. He goes to the toilet, looks at the mirror and wash his face in the sink. He is in his own world. He is scared, looking around. He is in the woods. It is mud instead of water where he washed his hands and face. Stands up, goes over a small bridge and sees his reflection in the water. He remembers the punch, he trembles and thinks one more time again. He remembers he have done to people. He also remembers how he agree to help that guy who he punched to do research work for his essay . He ends washing his hands in the sink. Goes back to that guy and passes a folder, saying:’Here is your research work for your last project’.

The Treatment

 Mainly idea is taken from the horror movie Oculus. There is mirror that shows different reality. This time it is water. In my opinion the story should begin with walking through the hallway, stressed out guy, who is embarrassed about what just happened seconds ago. He goes to the toilet, looks at the mirror. Puts his both hands on the sink and wash the face. As he puts his hands towards the face the scene changes to the forest. His hands are in the mud. He is scared and wants to forgot the past. He stands up. Around him standing 3 guys. Every single one is he himself. Whispering that it was his own fault, he is living for others and is not going to achieve anything. Quickly goes over a small bridge. He looks down and sees a reflection in the water. He remembers the scene where punch a guy, just minutes ago. He regrets that. It was his course mate who told him that he has done nothing for others. He got him angry, because the main character is living his life to help others all the time. There is a flashback to the forest again. He keeps walking and remembers a discussion with the same guy. Recently the guy asked to help with research work for his project. His course mate was desperate and he agreed to help. It is the same guy who told that he has done nothing. Again flashback. He is back in the toilet washing his hands. In the end he decided to go back. All he does is passing him a folder and saying:'Here is your finished research work for your last project'. I want to make it really touching. Mostly using first person shoot.

 Where?
University and Farnham Park
Audience 
Teenagers who are going to school or university
Equipment for filming
Camera, tripod, slider, reflector, extra lights
SOUND
Walking from the scene he regrets what happened - heavy breathing
Washing hands and face - Water splash
In the park - Voices, static noise, phrases in loop
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Reflections can be memories, it can be life situations viewed from different angles or real reflection in the water or mirror. After watching films I known what I don't want to include in my short film. I don't want to show death or mainstream morning, which is usually seen in short films, waking up straight from the bed and starting a new day.

Today I have left 3 days till the deadline and I don't have one real idea for the pitch. I am watching funny videos on Youtube.com where different authors are showing how to do pranks on people using only mirrors. It is interesting how our minds can be affected using only fake reflections. We really trust our eyes and if I am not wrong, we take about 90% of information through our vision.

So I still have a blank page for my ideas...

It is already 2:00 AM and I am forcing myself to think about actual techniques to show an actual topic. Then I decided to focus on really simple ideas. I made a brainstorm, what I can use for the film.
I can use....
... University
... Students
... Mirrors
... Water
... Park
... Old town
... Time (watch/clock)
... Kitchen and my living space
... Field

 It is interesting how easy my idea was born. It is Sunday's morning and I wrote down whole idea in my notebook in Latvian. It is simple and works great with the topic. I thought few times how it will be technically possible and is it not going to take a lot of effort and time to film.

 WATER is going to be my key for the film. It will be an element for transitions.
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It is Wednesday and I sill haven't got an idea for the pitch. I have always been struggling with ideas for projects that needs to be presented before it becomes finished. It is all about the judgement I feel from others.

 To make it easier I choose to watch some short films and movies. I watched Room (2015) by Lenny Abrahamson. I really suggest to watch it - it is based on reality and it is really touching. Next movie I added to my watch list was Project Almanac, many flashbacks, very well played time travels. Related to mirrors I watched Oculus. It was making me think a lot because of imagination that main characters had. It was a challenge to understand what is just a reflection and what is real. 

I have list of short films via youtube.com.
The Desk by Albert Gonzalez
Post It by Michael Evans
The Most Beautiful Thing by Cameron Covell
Alone by Brock Torunski

I have noticed that many of these films uses only slow and sad music, it is like trend for short films.
I have few ideas for my film look. The thing I really don't want to show is death. And common morning waking up straight from the bed is really mainstream in most of the short films.
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Because I was interested to do something different in new 2016 I turned my research upside-down. Before I started to look for its definition, I wrote what 'experimental film' associates to me... 
'EXPERIMENTAL FILM ART' BEFORE AN ACTUAL REASEARCH in my opinion is a visual material that focuses solely on causing emotions. I think that it is often used in the commercial sector as an art installations. I have seen movies where the scene goes on museum or some kind of art gallery and the audience is looking exhibition on screens. If that is wrong, I have one more example to describe an experimental film art. As I told before experimental film creators probably focus on people emotions. The best way to do it is making video that is unpredictable or video which evokes old and pleasant memories. Using colours, shapes, music, voices and special effects we can create a mood. And why it is called "FILM"? It's probably because there is a deep meaning under all those shapes, graphics and sound effects. So then to summarise my idea I think that experimental film art goal is to play with audience and make different emotions just using visual and audial effects.
I took time to look trough the artists and find out Leonard Charles Huia's work pretty interesting. 
Leonard Charles Huia or Len Lye artist known primarily for his experimental films and kinetic sculpture. Born in New Zealand in 1901 and after 50 years moved to New York. In 1980 he died in USA. He made his works when around the world was hard times because of Second World War. One of his works just before that war.

After watching his film I cannot mention that it reminds me light leak filters that many DSLR film makers are using for there own short films on actual footage. It makes nice mood bringing back memories from vocations. Each individual will understand this different because of life experience. Next one is one of Len Lye's greatest films that reminds me polygraphic art that was used in almost all posters 50 years ago.


Although I have publish two of his 'HAPPY MOOD' films he has made really sad films. I think it is because of war when art was heavily influenced by propaganda in the media. It could make weird feeling to someone who don't like abstract visual effects.
I found it really disturbing!


'EXPERIMENTAL FILM ART'
It is really hard to definite 'Experimental Film'. I know it's last thing you want to use, but WIKIPEDIA gave me the most accurate definition. 

Experimental film, experimental cinema or Avant-Garde Cinema is not so much a genre of film as mode of filmmaking that rigorously re-evaluates cinematic conventions and explores non-narrative forms, as well as alternatives to traditional narratives or methods of working. Many experimental films—particularly early ones—relate to arts in other disciplines: painting, dance, literature and poetry or arise from research and development of new technical resources. [1]
It's a unique and powerful art form that provides countless benefits beyond the fact that it allows us to be artists in the truest sense of the word. [2]
Experimental films are nonconformist and set out to challenge the orthodox ideas about what films can show and how they show them. There are no set rules and therefore various styles of experimental film exist: they cax express more personal experiences or feature more eccentric topics. [4]

It is probably easy to define, but what I experienced it is quite difficult to understand. Since most people have no preconception of what they are. Imagine a movie that is neither narrative nor documentary. What remains? Chaos, disorder, incoherence … An amalgam of ideas forced together by the filmmaker without any regards for characters,structure, or theme. [3] Anyways, watching these films I had feeling that I am listening to the artist. Maybe it is weird but Experimental Film in my opinion tries to express an artist emotions. It is just like monologue. It is a great way to show any topic and opinion that an artist wants to express.

What I find out in terms of difference between documentary and experimental film - It doesn't have to tell a story. There don't have to be characters. There doesn't even necessarily need to be a message of any kind. It can be visceral or mundane, engaging or a complete bore. It can be highly personal or overtly political. It can be literally anything. [2]

Techniques - out-of-focus, painting or scratching on film, rapid editing—the use of asynchronous (non-diegetic) sound or even the absence of any sound track. [1] After watching 4 short experimental films that comes first on Youtube.com  I can agree to the sentence before. In my opinion it's made to let people think differently but not all of them get it right. That is why these films are not so popular.

Not everyone feels the same about one certain topic... That is why I mention different emotions in the beginning of the post. Basically my point is that individuals are feeling differently and mostly experimental films are made for each subculture. It is a subculture that largely takes place outside of the regular cinemas. These films are more likely to be screened in museums, galleries, cinema clubs, and special festivals, and it has its own distribution channels. [5] This also proves my guess about commercial goal. Also films I watched proves that experimental films are used in many museums and galleries.

...IT IS A NEW FORM OF CREATIVE FREEDOM...

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sources:
1. Wikipedia. Experimental Film. At: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experimental_film (Accessed on 04.01.16)
2. Robert Hardy. (2013). Experimental Filmmaking for Dummies (Part 1): Why You Should Be Making Experimental Films. At: http://nofilmschool.com/2013/11/experimental-filmmaking-for-dummies-part-1 (Accessed on 09.01.16)
3. Gabriel Moura. (2014). Experimental Film. At: http://www.elementsofcinema.com/film_form/experimental-film.html (Accessed on 10.01.16)
4. (2013). Experimental Film. At http://www.slideshare.net/jwright61/experimental-film-20499060 (Accessed on 09.01.16)
5.  Eye Film Institute. (2015). What is experimental film? At: https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/collection/film-history/article/what-is-experimental-film (Accessed on 10.01.16)
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