Memory: Architecture
A short film exploring process, (re) construction, and memory
As we continue to move our body of work through media, a set of vocabulary begins to develop. What is interesting to me is the way that Mondrian's painting continues to inform these departures. Although we continue to distance ourselves from the origin of our work, we cannot escape our source. it is almost as if the work has DNA, although it continues to mutate, it is tied to its ancestors. I chose to explore this idea with my short film. The memory of the painting and of the process becomes fuzzy over time; the rationale behind certain moves is modified and forgotten. In the film, shapes become vague while progressing...influences shift, images/ vocabulary units distance themselves from one another. Memory is imperfect. Locations change, experiences are combined. Images outside of the painting-world have found their way into the piece. Memories of events in my life have become linked to the construction of these pieces...they have infilitrated the imperfect record of memory. The common origin/DNA of the pieces seems architectural to me. Shape, color, and frame are like the I decided to use sound as a type of narration; a way of tying the disparate elements together and suggesting their common heritage. The soundtrack was composed with heavy consideration towards the original painting: Mondrian was visibly excited by the verve of the jazz scene in New York and by the idea of modern urbanity. Dislocated horns attempt to find a connection between the participant and MondrianŐs experience wile other, more obviously contructed elements are mutated, modified, and disloacted in a similar manner t that of the constructed images. Just as visual elements have been chopped up and reassembled, the sound has been subjected to reconstruction. Hopefully, it creates a memory of a place and time. Hopefully it serves as the narrator of the film, leading the viewer through the visual elements. Editing to the sound-track provided a frame for the arrangement of the visual elements, creating a serious of moves and mutations. The structure of the soundtrack allowed the visual elements. to take on movement and life in an organized way. It provided a plan for the project, and a way to push forward without having to ask too many questions simultaneously. First: audio levels were used to control the properties of the visuals (transparency, movement, focus) directly. After elements had been arranged and modified by the soundtrack, I allowed myself a bit more freedom to adjust the elements: at this point I tried to create narrative and continuity. Finally, I selectively deleted elements as the film progressed. Memory fades, paths diverge.
Play the film (quicktime)