Can moving image be a physical or active form of research? Does film act as a tool to test, map out and trace our shared architecture and social environment? A short project to explore and make a series of short films. One film was to be a joint project with a fellow student and the other two were to be solo independent films.
The first piece was made in conjunction with Noelle and was a playful attempt to show the life of a piece of blue tissue paper from a brand new roll. The narrative was simple, a single piece of tissue would be used multiple times for increasingly disgusting things. The tissue was relocated each time to its home with the mother roll. Instead of tearing off a new piece of roll for each subsequent use the little piece was used over and over. Was this tissue abuse? or was it a serious comment on sustainability and the importance of protecting our resources? Noelle was the actor whilst I operated the camera.
The second film was an independent one, It follows the tragic and brutal attack by a hammer with a nail on a defenceless piece of wood in a dark alley way. The hammer stalked, trapped and mutilated the wood and left it for dead, bloodied and impaled.
The exercise was to practice macro images and to try and build tension without sound. The narrative probably shows a lack of imagination but the final piece was acceptable.
The third film also an individual piece explored editing using premier pro. There was not a specific narrative but an exploration of subtle movements and quiet sounds which can be edited. This 5×5 film ( 5 shots for 5 seconds) repeated sequences and overlaid images to ‘drift’ between shots. As an editing practice piece this was very simple but I did learn a few of the most basic skills. The workshop was only a couple of hours long after all.
These film projects were difficult and I did struggle with the technical side but as an exercise they were important.
Michael Palmer 