Final Edit #2

As I was getting into editing this piece, I couldn't help but think about the presence and commentary on interior and exterior space. I wanted to try and represent barriers imaginary and physical by using certain techniques. Some footage used in this edit came from when I blindfolded myself and walked around, this is also footage that is not listed in the posts below. I came across it while I was looking at other footage. I noticed that line elements and blurs from some of my stills taken from outside the church were similar in quality to the door that I was filming while blindfolded. I decided to use the freeware Avid Free DV to look at the time line for patterns and manipulate many different series of images. I then looked at the quality of tone and contrast, I edited this to flow more into one mood. This discovery of design elements doesn't really stray from what I've been finding all along: most of my best material has been accidentally done or came about unintentionally.
This footage was shot on March 4th between the hours of 2 and 8 pm in Milwaukee, WI by me (Julie Voigts.)

Final Edit #1

So much footage, so many questions. What feeling came to me when I thought about my trip, and my mood that day when I shot this? I was feeling overwhelmed, unsatisfied, and at points unable to concentrate on what I was to be doing...essentially not "experiencing" what light the wanted to come in and be part of the footage. After a frustrating walk, I sat down on my couch and noticed that most of the day was slipping and it was almost laughing at me in a projection on the wall. The light had about ten minutes of play before it sunk out of sight. It wasn't until then when I had relaxed enough to engage with the experience. Experience is ironic.

This footage was shot on March 4th 2007 in Milwaukee, WI by me (Julie Voigts.)

Stained Glass Play

One of my favorite spots was in the loby of a church. The image is composed of whatever light filtered through the glass. I shot it just past dusk so, there really wasn't any way of having a differing light source. I was surprised that it came out so crisp some places. I enjoy the flow of the capture from top to bottom, and it reminds me of the top to bottom clip from earlier (going down the trench.) It might be posssible to kind of focus in on how the top to bottom camera movement play in viewer understanding and/or disorienting. Maybe I could replicate that movement over and over, but within different contexts. I enjoy how dark this is, and also, that it's kind of a treat to wait for the color to filter through. I also enjoy the indescernable shapes within and past the glass.

Dusk Flicker

I took a break from the cold to jump inside and while I was sitting on the couch I was able to capture some of the last rays of the day. I enjoy the abstract qualities of the light and shadow in this composition. The way the leaves flickered in and out of the shadows was almost like a wave effect. I filmed until it was too dark, so it's interesting to look at the difference in brightness from when I started shooting and from when the clip ends. I have a pretty large file for this, so it would be interesting to include the brighter and darker transformations as well. I also was able to capture a double image because of a mirror close by, this might be something to look into incorporating. Maybe the use of screenshots to draw within this film, splicing even closer in distance, and then pulling back to. I also enjoy the pacing of this, it's one of the clips that really told of my experience with the time.

Blindfolded

I put on a blindfold and decided to stomp on through the woods and see how the movements were picked up. It's kind of impressing to see how much specific movements are in compared to our seneses. I didn't think playing with that sense would come out like this, but when you look at the details of back and forth quick shake, and the fact that I was running into branches...this is a little more of a clue to what was going on at the time. I enjoy the spans from ground to sky, this might be interesting to play with. I also enjoyed the quick movements back and forth and may look into incorporating those images in reverse, maybe even splicing in some slower stills of more ground to sky or maybe a close up of sorts.

A Walk Down The Trench

I played around with turning the camera to the vertical position to see what it might be like and I found this little clip to be pretty interesting. I like the split of the dark and light in the screen, and in some instances you're disoriented by the scroll of the image from bottom to top. I'm interested in the grate as well, I didn't think that anything would have been captured from putting the camera up to the grate, but I guess that it got more than my eye was able to pick up. Another interesting part of this that I might look closer into is the green geometrics at the end. I like the streaking. I have another clip that has a lot of red in it, so they might look pretty good next to each other. I like the pace of this too...it's slower than some of the other clips.

Stills Mix

I was interested in a group of stills with differing contrast. Some of the stills in the mix are clearly from outside and during the day, and some are obviously around dusk or shot from outside in. I played with mixing different bluring photos next to clearer crisp compositions. I really like the shots from down low where I put the camera next to the salt that was on the church steps. I think I got a little over eager with placing in too much at one time, so I think I might concentrate on one image, or two of around the same brightness. When we viewed this over and over I found myself wanting to linger on one or two images, I wanted to have the time to let my eye sit and take in all that one or two had to offer. I might go ahead and play with that low down shot, or the tiny speckled light refraction qualities in some of those blue night shots.