On Saturday, I went to the Cent Quatre to start shooting material and try to get inspired and start figuring out what I’m going to do for this second project of defacement. Not to my surprise, the Cent Quatre was hosting residencies exhibitions, as well as an art installation, and many other people were there dancing, rehearsing, acting, playing football, practicing circus stunts freely around the space, typical Cent Quatre environment.

I focused on the architecture and I didn’t want to get people in the pictures at first because my plan is to overlay religious chants, horse hooves, and any sound that can portray the building’s older function with the present ‘s architectural images. However for the sake of eperimentation I also filmed a few clips of people’s activities and the variety of movements I found.

However, I’m leaving most of the filming for when my friend will have the choreography ready. I will use her dancing as my main footage to translate movement and expression as I have her approval to film her (unlike filming strangers who’s filming rights I don’t have).

Here are some picture examples. I thought it was interesting to see what the little indoor areas had turned into. For example, there is an “espace poussette” to park strollers. There is also the bathroom space so it would be interesting to overlay these with the sounds of the older functions of these areas. I hope the Cent Quatre answers soon to my email about building archives to know more in depth about the building’s history. There is also the lower platform where people were practicing sports which is where I imagine the morgue used to be, or maybe where they stored the coffins. When I photographed the outdoor alleys and main entrances I imagined horses dragging carriages with the dead bodies. Where I saw staircases I imagined the sound of old leather shoes and wooden heels stepping on stone stairs. Where I saw cafes I imagined people in mourning waiting to be attended.

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My plan for next wednesday/thursday is to start editing and overlaying and see what can be done. I know that for the pictures I want a sombre and not very vivid feel. So basically putting forth the colors of the architecture which are usually grey and beige and edit them with high contrast and lower exposure. I was thinking of putting them in black and white or sepia-ish  to maybe  emphasize the past but I’m scared it turns cliche. I hope that by next week-end I have a clearer technical direction, that the Cent Quatre answered me and hopefully I can start filming the movement part of my experimental film.

(I couldn’t insert video files as they are too large).