Identity Project: Round Two (The Disney Version)

This video is a lot like my first test run in the way that I wanted to try and capture that dreamlike, drug-induced quality through filters, transitions, and audio effects.  All the footage was filmed in 2010 on a trip to Disneyland on Walt's voyage around the globe "Its a Small World," originally created for the 1964 World's Fair.  The audio you hear throughout is the "Small World" theme written by Richard and Robert Sherman, only in reverse resulting in a slightly demonic rendition of the classic song.  I have always been obsessed with listening to songs in reverse and trying to find hidden messages within them so including this in my identity project was important to me.  If you listen closely toward the end of this video you can hear the children's voices almost start to chant "All hail Walt Disney" (0:52).

Also the use of anything Disney itself plays a big role in my identity.  I've always been known as a complete Disney nerd amongst my friends.  I've volunteered at the Walt Disney Family Museum in the Presidio for the last two years and recently applied for an internship at the parks for next semester when I'm done with school (anxiously awaiting my acceptance).  My biggest dream is to use my education in art to work for the Disney Parks company in designing attractions and sets for the guests to experience on the daily and hopefully create for them the magic I have gotten from the company my entire life.

Overall I think this video really captures my style as an artist, I am constantly trying to balance sweet and vivid imagery with a subject matter that is more dark and twisted.  I believe that all comes across in this video but I am excited to hear any feedback during the critique.  I'm thinking about making a video for the entire song and creating some kind of installation to present it in fully encompassing the viewer within this absurd realm.

Identity Project- First Run

I really wanted to get my footage outside, first because I love nature and I feel most alive when I'm outdoors hiking, but also to capture what we see as the natural world and then with the special effects of Final Cut Pro make it completely unnatural.  This was important for me to represent in the terms of identity because most of my physical life feels unreal... I have more emotions going through me when I dream, which is why I used lots of video filters to create this dreamlike quality, as well as reversing all the audio.

All the footage I had captured before this was me in front of the camera, but that felt so boring since everyone sees that part of me already in person.  So I thought having the camera from my point of view or perspective would be a better way of expressing who I really am.  Everything you see is from a local hiking spot in my hometown called Rockville Park and one clip is from my parents backyard. I had a lot of fun experimenting with all the filters and transitions and I think the overall quality of the video is just what I wanted.

Yet ANOTHER New Idea for the Identity Project

So, in my last post I talked about wanting to do a piece on how we are constantly changing our identities as we grow older, or even day by day.  Now I want to take this topic and express it in a way that is not so representational, which I think will be easier with the one minute limit we have for this project.  I felt as though my last idea was too straight forward and I feel as though video is a good medium to be metaphorical with.  

I plan to film different spaces from my point of view (with the help of a tripod of course) and using these places to represent the progression of the different stages we go through in our lives.  I would like it to be a commentary on how our environments and surroundings shape and effect who we grow into.  For example, living in San Francisco has changed my perspective on the world around me immensely.  I'll be going into this with a post-modernist mindset; everyone's realities are different. I would really like to capture this feeling of alternate realities and how one person's perspective can seem crazy to another's and vice versa.  I'm planning on using blurring effects for this reason, bringing the camera slowly in and out of focus.  This was inspired by a video piece by Leah Virsik.  She came into my GWAR class the other day and shared a piece with us exploring an old seat cushion that was basically zooming in and out of focus.  It really intrigued me, it was beautiful to me.  As for the audio, I want to use the sound of footsteps to symbolize the personal journeys we're all on, and I'm attracted to the sound one pair of shoes makes on the new laminate flooring in my house.  I also want to include breathing that will change throughout the video, as an allegory for life.  I plan to alter this breathing audio, most likely by speeding it up and slowing it down, so that it almost doesn't even sound human.  This decision was inspired by one of my favorite pieces by my good friend Eden V. Evans called "Condition/Response."

I guess for me personally, this video will be about feeling lost in a time where I need to begin the next chapter in my life.  This is a universal feeling I think we can all tap into... Now just to think of a title.

New Ideas for the Identity Project

So I woke up with a new concept for this project.  It still involves hair fixing in a way.  But instead it will be a video of me waking up in the morning and getting ready for several days... only each day will explore a new identity.  The video will pose as a commentary of how we as human beings are constantly reinventing ourselves.  To accompany the video I'm planning on using the Pink Floyd song "Comfortably Numb."