I wanted to stay away from more obvious forms of journeys and look at it from a different perspective. I have been thinking of a few ideas, but they are only very rough and I am currently not exactly sure of how to achieve the final outcome of them. I thought about maybe doing the journey of an idea, similar to The Treachery of Sanctuary by Chris Milk looked at in my Installation Art post earlier, however I failed to come up with anything that I felt passionately about to actually create. I also thought about doing something in association with how when we are young children we may wish we were older and get to do more adult things (such as stay up late etc), whereas when we're older we often dream about being younger and having less worries and responsibilities. I thought I could maybe find some kind of journey and link between the two about how the role seems to reverse and how that switch happens. However I am very unsure of the nature that this would take on. 

My most thought about idea so far has been to do an experimental film based around the theme of anxiety. As someone who does suffer from anxiety quite a bit, I can relate to the process of becoming nervous at something as a journey and how changes occur to and around you as you progress deeper into that state of mind. The film will be originally light, more calm and slow, but as it moves onwards the pacing will get faster, be disorientating, become more chaotic and much more darker until it is almost all black. It will mainly use movement to show how anxiety builds up, such as nervous twitches, shaking, rapid eye movement etc. I also looked into this sort of movement becoming dance like and possibly having some sort of rhythm, but not in a linear or fluid manner. Sound, like the pacing, will start off more calm and collected but transitions into much more uncomfortable tones, such as scraping a chalk board, as well as quick uneven noises. I also want to make a focus of the sound of the movement carried out by the actor / dancer and put a great emphasis on this, such as tapping your fingers nervously on a desk. I'd also like to use the technique of overlaying video clips over one another, such as that we saw from Measures of Distance by Mona Hatoum in our first screening, to give off an effect of things building up and make things more chaotic and overbearing. Basically I want the final outcome to give off a sense of panic, irritability and a feeling of losing control. What I was also interested in doing, was finding someway to gradually enclose / make the audience feel as if they are being trapped as they are watching the film. For example, at the beginning they would be watching it in an open environment but as the film progresses the room or area they were standing/ sitting would appear to be getting smaller, giving off that sense of being trapped and on edge, which makes them relate to the uneasiness of the film. 

Research on Style of Film

Lighting and Cinematography

Editing/ Pacing

Memory by Design

  I have posted about Memory by Design last year, but for it's sound rather than editing (however I ended up not using a similar soundscape). This time I want to do an similar quick paced editing style, showing briefly different nervous moments in a person. 

My idea for the task is to go out around a previous unexplored part of Farnham in a random pattern and take photos of the environment and anything I find interesting or unusual on the journey. Once I have gathered the images, I plan to write a short story based off what is in the photos/ the locations I have travelled. Specific features from the story, such as characters, will then be illustrated on paper, scanned in to the computer and digitally placed over the photography pieces in order to have visuals for the story in a way similar to what is seen below : 

Psychogeography involves 'drifting' around urban environments, with emphasis on playfulness and new experiences, in a geographic approach. Guy Debord, a French filmmaker, writer and Marxist theorist, defined it in 1955 as 'the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organised or not, on the emotions and behaviour of individuals.' 

Mini Project 

Leah has set us a task to try our own form of psychogeography and do some research into different ways to carry it out. This could involve writing our name on a map and following the route that the name overlaps, or specifically going out in search of graffiti so as your attention is attracted to something unusual rather than traditional consumerist places or things.  I shall have to think about my own approach to the theme of maps and journeys, involving psychogeography and research into how other artist's have carried out similar works and possibly find inspiration. 

British directors Chris Petit and Ian Sinclair take us on a journey through the M25, trying to unearth secrets and stories behind London's orbital motorway. With the use of found footage and low quality video, as well as the length and slow pacing of both film and narrative, it seems to reflect the experience of actually being on the road itself. As a result, the viewer may easily lose attention easily and become bored. However this means that the film perfectly gets its point across; the M25 is not the most exciting journey or an interesting area. 

Seven Days (1974)