Seagulls#Minor: Video Experimentation.

Creating an atmospheric experience that engulfs the listener is something that I am striving for in this project, seeing how we react to sounds and what emotions they conjure, it's been that way ever since I saw Bill Viola's installation at the Y.S.P during my diploma.

While Viola's work mainly focuses on themes of religion and spirituality, my work this year seems to implement a flâneur way of thinking (observing urban society and it's positives/negatives), taking in the location and trying to find where me and my work can fit.

The soundtrack was where I started because I find it's easier to arrange images to sound instead of the other way around. I played around in Audacity with some field recordings of seagulls making a ruckus at the park, after stretching the sample out (from 20 seconds to 3 minutes) it didn't sound anything like seagulls, it sounded like someone screaming, cries for help, desperation and a longing for something.

Adding some reverb, echo (Brian Eno eat your heart out.) and a minor chord progression I ended up with an ambient piece that was emotionally moving to me, I then used Adobe Premier to edit the shots together, adjusting the clip speeds and having a play around with video transitions, the shots I took I feel were well composed, utilising the rule of thirds and focusing on shot placement was the main focus for the video.

I had a good time making this and this experiment made me feel like I was actually getting somewhere with my work, I need to experiment more with sound, next time I film i'll focus on the city and get some cool shots that reflects the experiences I have when i'm walking through here (flâneur again!).

(Heres a link if you're interested)