"UTEN
TITTEL"
Video, dv pal, 5 min
Amanda Steggell, March 03
Music: Sven Erga [max msp] and Tanja Ørning [cello]
Premiere: The Norwegian short Film Festival, June 03
Other screenings: x Independent International Film Festival [Barcelona],
Camera Obscura [Sydney], MOOV Festival [New York]
Collections: Kort 03 DVD
Program text: "This is a soundpainting that is indicative of
the neurotic felling of our time. The artist is very young, shows great promise
and I'm glad that the work is exhibited here"
[Ken Nordine]
This short film/video is based on material from a live audio-visual processing performance using Keyworx software with the Norwegian theatre company "Mobile Homes" in Dec 2002. I recorded my monitor/audio output to DV during the performance and extracted a section that could be shown as a "stand alone" video work.
Synaesthetic influences
The music, an adaptation of Wagner's Kindertotenleider for cello and max msp, was used as a modulating influence in the video generation which is most obviously perceptible as a red "soundwave" that is present throughout the movie. It forms a dynamic timeline.
Additional sound input influences include the triggering and scaling of visual elements.
Gestural influences from the real world occurred through the use of a midi controller (sliders and buttons) through which 7 layers of visual material were manipulated and triggered. Additionally, the gestural influences from the cellist were embedded in the live audio feed. Gestural influences were determined by the the music: a simultaneous listen > do process including a preparation (breath combined with preparatory movement) and execution.
The visual layers were organised in a colour hierarchy: black/white, red, yellow, grey, red and blue-green. By manipulating how these layers corresponded to each other in terms of keying and transparency it was possible to control which colour was dominant at any given time. My keyword for colour manipulation was "bleeding" - a corporal term expressing loss.
You can view Untitled (320x240 qt 15mb) here
While this video has been relatively successful in terms of screenings/interest, etc, I would wish for a greater feeling of depth in the visual imagery. Depth could be considered to relate to texture and adhere more to the sense of "touch". One way to do this may be to experiment with a live video input on a feedback level that also captures the light of the physical space in which the performance takes place.