Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Micromovie No. 1: Wall Light

I am entirely entralled by Dania's Movie a Day.
For me, her (usually) wordless, almost motionless brief films offer liberation from the tyranny of meaning.
(How revealing. Now you know. My brain will not stop assigning meaning to every damn thing. But it slows down when faced with abstractions. I find them restful.)

I couldn't wait to start my own movie sketchbook, so here's my first:
the sunlight moving across my bed and wall this afternoon.
It's 13 seconds long.



NOTE: This is a movie, not a slideshow. Each scene is filmed in real time, it's not a series of frozen photographs. I suppose it would look the same if it was, but the experience dissolves differently in the mind when you know you are watching a series of filmed moments.

14 comments:

bink said...

It spooky how the shadow seems to come in and sit.

Fresca said...

Isn't that wild? That's me!

Dania said...

Fresca,

I'm so glad you started filming. I love the background color of the wall and how it changes with the light.

I do have to admit some of my films are still images from a digital camera. I found the FLIP camera doesn't do well with closeups and sometimes I like a tight micro shot. I feel the important thing is the ultimate movie, not what tools are used, but that's just me.

I use Blip to host my video clips (www.blip.tv), which is a free service, although you can also pay for a pro account for just $8 a month. The pro account makes a lot of difference for longer pieces. Then you can just take the embed code and external link and paste on your site.

I'm looking for forward to more of your movies.

Regards,

Dania

ArtSparker said...

For some reason, the business about finding abstractions restful made me guffaw.

Krista said...

Nice! I'm looking forward to more of these. And maybe Vimeo as a hosting service, if you haven't already checked it out?

Marz said...

"The tyranny of meaning," indeed. That, in a nutshell, is the human experience. I like this phrase.

deanna said...

It's fun to connect with your enchantment, your joy in this project, which sounds and looks right for you. And cool to watch. I'll be watching for more and anticipating your insights.

(Did I tell you I liked the herring movie a lot? Been rather spacey these past weeks.)

Fresca said...

DANIA: Oh, interesting! I'd wondered if the cupcake wrapper image was a still because it was so very, very still. (But would it look different if it was in real time, anyway, if the camera and the air didn't move at all?)

Your comment got me thinking about what I want my micromovie project to be about. Unlike in my story-telling movies, I'm not so interested in the final product, it's the idea and the process of filming in real time that attracts me so much.

Thanks for the idea of blip tv.
For now I'm trying out Vimeo, because I'd used them before.

KRISTA! Nice to see you! Thanks, I'm going to try out Vimeo.

ARTS & MARGARET: I'm glad my phrases amuse! : )

DEANNA: You did e-mail me about the herring movie, but I can always hear more praise! Thanks.

I hope these micromovies may be somewhat interesting, sometimes.; but I expect they might be boring for most folks. You know how it is when you're in love, though--you don't care what other people think.

Dania said...

Fresca,

Actually the cupcake was a FLIP video, so it was a motion picture, just with no motion.

Keep filming!

Dania

Fresca said...

DANIA: Ha! That's delightful--how can one tell? Now I will be wondering always... which is part of the fun, eh?
Thanks for your inspiration and encouragement.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo said...

Yes! Forget narrative for a while, play with images and moods, its hypnotising....its like ambient music, which I love - the good stuff changes your state of mind. Could be longer though!

Fresca said...

That's it, Manfred.
And you're right---this should be a bit longer, or a lot. (Maybe I'll remake it one of these days.)
And it should have some ambient music.

If you were in town, we could collaborate!

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo said...

Collaborate! That is so flattering, given that you have actually heard our stuff...! Alas, I'm unlikely to be in town....what you should try is a music composition programme, somthing like Malodie, which runs in a Mac browser -

http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/programs/MalodieMac/

and experiment with some sounds to go with those wonderful images.

I'm really sorry to hear about your job coming to an end...I'm working all hours at the moment as I think the upcoming change of government here will end or reduce my work too...and other member sof TTJ have lost their jobs recently. I hope you move seamlessly into something else you enjoy....

Fresca said...

Thanks for the link, Manfred!
I shall look it up. I need to figure out Garage Band, too.

In my goegraphy books I write about the "worldwide economic downturn", and sure enough, we're all in it... Good luck to us all, eh?