thoughts on project 1d

well this is a tough one, because we aren't actually fully finished yet (and will probably continue to work right up to the deadline) but so far, so good.

brandon smith is great to work with, as he is both very knowledgable and talented. but, true to form, our schedules haven't coincided much and therefore we haven't done that much work together. the initial stages were all done together, in which we essentially got together, picked out the pictures we wanted to use, establishing our theme (isolation as the major), and started laying framework. he wanted to do a lot of work in after effects, which is totally cool with me, but i'm much less capable there than in fcp. not wanting him to have to do most of the work, i decided to take it upon myself to lay the background, thinking that anything he animated could be layered on top.

working solo (and now at my house, thank god, because the lab is too far away and too stifling for me to do good work in. minus the soundscape, i think i pulled that one off pretty well in there...) i started editing the pictures together. first step - pull the pictures i wanted to use that i think portrayed our theme (we had done this together, but i had to start from scratch since i couldn't transfer the project from the lab to the house.) second step - cleared by you, dylan, and jordan, reverse the order of the soundscape. third step - what the hell is it i'm trying to do here?

what i learned when i started putting the pictures together is that this is a "story" of sorts about distortion, about being unsettled, and being haunted, by where you are, where your trying to get to, and where you can't be. the first part (set one, as i named it in my fcp sequence) is a country vs. nature fight concerned solely with physical location, although when its not right inside your head, it's not going to be right no matter where you live. the second part is much more abstract and internalized.

as opposed to making the picures "match" the sound rhythmically (which would have been nearly impossible anyways, as set two has no clear or definable rhythm) i spent alot more time focusing on texture. strange, no? the texture of the picture. and how color plays a part in the story. early on in set one, and without warning, i became compelled to turn everything blue, a color theme that will last throughout the film nearly until the end, when other colors start showing up. but it's this color, or lack of, that is one of the main themes of the film as far as feeling goes. this distance, and isolation, and coldness. i've been playing with lots of different effects, stylization. also, repeatedly been using all three shots of the same subject to create the illusion of motion and/or confusion. i can't tell which.

regardless, it's been a fun (albeit time consuming) project, and i'm excited to see what the final project will look like. after i put the final touches on set two, part two, brandon will get his hands on it all and do his thing, then we're meeting up to finish it all. highly looking forward to tomorrow, and screening all of them.

(sorry for my lapse into sentence fragments. it just felt right)