Thursday, January 26, 2012

A Look Into Collaboration

         
          After hearing suggestions in class and meeting with my sound collaborator, we chose a German handwritten letter from an unknown person to my paternal Grandmother. It is thin tissue paper and is four pages long, dated 1955. So far, the plan for the images is to consider the objectness of the letter and contrast it with the immediacy and immaterial properties of email. I plan to be careful to avoid imagery in the video that could be too literal. I want to pair email and letter writing without simply showing video footage of one medium and then the other. I want to stick with the minimal settings and imagery style I used in my 30 second video. I enjoyed how I was able to successfully convey my message in that video with minimal objects and images. I have not entirely decided if someone should read some of the German as part of the soundtrack. That is something to consider as I progress in this project. A letter could at first be seen as just another piece of paper in the family, but through my video, I want to emphasize how this document will last, while an email will not. I may also address the language barrier in the video as well. I may emphasize the few words that may be recognized by English speakers.
          The sound coordinator and I discussed some sounds that could be associated with paper and technology to include. We agreed to let time make the final decision on what the soundtrack will truly be like. For now, we focused on diagetic-like sounds.  

3 comments:

  1. I'm really glad you decided to go with this concept. I think it will provide a really good challenge for you, and I like the idea of letter writing and the time it takes to put into it, rather than an email.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sara-
    My first question is: WHAT is the Content of the letter???

    I like the idea of addressing the language barrier in the video - maybe there are two voices - one in Text on the screen (German or English) and one in Voice Over???

    The image you supplied of the multiple pages on the floor is very intriguing- the thin tissue like paper - transparent, overlapping of words and letters - you might want to play with the scale of the words on the screen?

    Your main idea seems to be about letter writing and contrasting it with the immediacy and immaterial properties of email. There are many people discussing this phenomena at this point of time - We (21st century contemporary human race) seem to be living in a time that is not concerned with preserving history! I would suggest searching on line for discussions or debates re: this subject. Also - think about images that MIGHT represent or suggest erasure?

    I do appreciate your suggestion of minimal settings and imagery style you used in "Encounter" but - I actually thought the layering that you did in "I Want to Line the Piece Up" might be an appropriate visual direction for this video??

    Do you have any belongings (objects-visuals) of your Grandmother's??? Is she still living?? If so - would she be willing to discuss??
    What visual and literary metaphors can you come up with that might relate / resonate or contrast with your concept?

    Looking forward to your solutions!
    Cathy

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fully exploring the tactile quality of the paper could be rich territory, but how to make visually compelling? Take advantage of your proximity to a German Department! Why not?

    ReplyDelete