FILMS

Translucent Reflections

Work Flow
Recorded with an ARRIFLEX S film camera using 16 MM Kodak Film 500T 200T 50D
Processed at The Cinema Lab
Transferred to miniDV tape at CROSSPOINT
Captured with a Sony DSR-11 DV tape deck
Converted into a QuickTime file
Edited with Final Cut Pro and Soundtrack Pro
Exported as an FLV (Flash Video) file
Imported into Adobe Flash
Resized and embedded into a JPEG
Published as a swf
Linked to a web page using Adobe Dreamweaver
Uploaded to a server using the FTP client Fetch Softworks
Stored on a hard drive until requested by a click-of-the-mouse
Streamed to you in a binary numeral system
Decoded on your computer monitor
Received by your eyes with persistence of vision (the only natural process)
Decoded by your brain as a moving picture

It's like taking the time to appreciate what a tree goes through in order to provide us with shade.
What is this media providing us with and with less appreciation for the process?

Filmmaker Ideals for Translucent Reflections

The film experiments with structure and the nature of translucent and reflective materials. I am simply fascinated with how light interacts with such material.

The structure was taken from meiosis where 23 chromosomes from the mother and father come together to create a new life.

Here, the chromosomes were the images (23 translucent and 23 reflective).

Other materials such as water, sun, clouds, moon and the title are all external forces on both the film and life. Without these forces neither would exist in the same way. Also, I saw that the water was symbolic of amniotic fluid and film developing chemicals.

The three rolls of film were divided up into three lengths (3 frames, 3 seconds, 3 feet) randomly (using a stopwatch, coin toss, and dice) until the whole film was used and then randomly assembled (drawing blind segments from a pile) into three separate films and layered one on top of the other.

The reason I chose to use the number 3 rather than 2 is that three is the result of the process rather than the contribution. Three is the basis for life and occurs in many ritualistic practices. Two becomes three when the whole is considered as an entity in and of itself. This is the idea of creation on any level (e.g. seed, ground, plant).

Therefore, this film was an experiment in what comes from letting go of ego and intention and using numbers and chance to create film in the same way life is created in the process of meiosis.

Lastly, many of the reflective and translucent images either show me holding the material or reflect the mechanism (camera/human) capturing the images. This acts as a direct exploration of the material and the filmmaking process. Film as a medium is an artifact just the same as the images being filmed. Translucent Reflections refers to the act of watching film; in that, the light passes through the film and is reflected into the viewer's eyes. It seems that our desire to view films is also a translucent process by which we see through the story and connect with it personally. We, then, reflect on ourselves and how we relate to the issues or elements within the film.

At least, that's how I see it. See for yourself.

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