Flowers and Emulsion Lift Films

Flowers Film

After I decided against attempting to further my 'flash' films I began to approach the video element from a different angle. Realising that the first couple of films I created were too static, and lacked movement both in the shots and movement of the camera. I started to try to explore the plants using a smaller, more mobile camera, along with a ring-light to provide constant, even lighting. The ring-light also helped to make atleast some of the shots more like Learoyds, as in the first image below. Unfortunately, having shot the footage in HD the files were too large to upload to Youtube and so instead of embedding the links as I have been with previous video submissions I have simply placed in screenshots.

Emulsion Lift Film

I had wanted to incorporate a video of the emulsion lift technique into my work however I didn't feel that an explanation or tutorial of the process would be organic to my work. Instead I approached the subject from a more abstract angle, studying the membrane as it floated in water. Again there is little or no camera movement within the film however the objects in the shot move and so, by playing with the pace, as well as playing some shots in reverse, I managed to make the film more interesting than my original 'flash' films. The furling and unfurling of the membrane reminded me of time-lapse film, specifically those in which plants open up or close. This also links back to a comment made in an earlier group tutorial about the likeness of my still photographs to time-lapse stills. Again this video was shot in HD and below are the frame captures from the film.

I think both films could have benefitted from the introduction of sound, given more time and some more technical proficiency this could easily have been added. In my subsequent projects I intend to focus more on this, particularly in creating 'abstract' soundscapes. I did attempt this but found that the range of sounds I could create and record was limited and each sound was easily identifiable. More specifically I feel I need to work on the pace and rhythm of the soundscape.