Olivia
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009This video stems (however obliquely) from my “slow-moving-time” exercise, Breathe. I maintained my use of cross over and additive transitions and also my use of slowing down the clips to evoke a lazy, calm feeling. Here however, the character has changed (well, for starters, there IS a character) and is of a more personal nature: my relationship with my twin sister.
The short film was influenced by Brian Eno’s “Thursday Afternoon” – a part of his 14 Video Paintings (1981 & 1984) @ http://ubu.com/film/eno_14.html – in which he films a female friend (also blonde) of his in extremely slow time. The piece is reflective and calm, drawing on the abstraction of the human body and the observation of female beauty. His music is a piano track – very simple yet beautiful. It is, as the Ubuweb review writes, “a nostalgic diary, a musing on the life of a person now departed”.
Naturally in my piece the intention is a bit different, though much aesthetic value remains true to Eno’s intention. One might also argue that Olivia too is “now departed” (ie. no longer by my side, sharing a room, etc.) and that the video records her like a ‘diary entry’ (ie. an afternoon together in NY).
In blurring Olivia towards the end of the piece I hope to also allude to some of German artist Gerhard Richter’s paintings of people in his life, who he famously depicts in a similarly hazy manner:
In my view, the effect creates distance from the subject, in my case Olivia – someone I love very dearly but am separated from in our present situations.The prominent cyclical element in my film furthers this idea, stressed through the repetition of the roof-top chimneys, two at the beginning but one at the end.
I increase opacity towards the end, layering images of carnations – some of Olivia and my favourite flowers – and then just in the final moment, with an empty chair (the one that she had sat in).
I tried to stick to yellow and pink hues in the piece to create a warm, loving ambience for viewers.
I created the music with a keyboard-synthesizer and aimed to create a fluid but expressive emotion that flattens with the ‘loss’ of Olivia towards the end.
I’d love to know what you make of it all.
Isabel
BRIAN ENO: Artist Background
Brian Eno was born in 1948 in Suffolk, England. Already noted as a student at Winchester School of Arts for his questioning of contemporary perceptions of an artist’s role, Eno has become a primary figure and promoter of cultural criticism. He joined in eaerly with the 1960′s discussion of ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture (think ICA, Warhol, Rauschenberg, etc.) Largely influenced by the minimalist movement of art, his own style is largely defined by what is known as “ambient music”. He has performed in various groups and bands, worked solo, produced records (ex. Coldplay’s Viva la Vida, composed for video games (Spore), and even developed video software. He is a famous collaborator, working with the diverse names of David Bowie, David Byrne, Microsoft, and Peter Jackson. Within the context of this class, I have observed a few of his more famous videos that incorporate his music, and have tried to analyze what it is he values in video art. His use of colouration, particularly in “Thursday Afternoon” is sensual and vibrant, and the pairing of music to image seems extremely (well)calculated.
The following sources were consulted:
Brian Eno
http://www.enoshop.co.uk/
http://creativegames.org.uk/MA_CreativeTechnology/input_output/Pop/pop_eno.htm
Richter:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/arts/artexhibition-20653712-details/Gerhard+Richter:+Portraits/artexhibitionReview.do?reviewId=23654511