This is a video I created using found media on youtube as well as my own. The video is about my fear of birds and was inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s Birds, Matthew Barneys River of Fundament and Creammaster Cycle.
The chaotic collage style of the video is meant to illustrate my phobia and evoke an unsettling feeling in the audience.

Week 1: Collect all found media, audio

I’m going to be using some found media for example scenes from Albert Hitchcock’s “Birds”. This will be combined with my own videos to create a montage style video. I want it to be kind of panicky because of the concept of the project. Once I have collected all the videos I want I am going to trim them and figure out the structure of the video.

For the audio of the film I have two ideas. The first idea is to use a recording of my grandmother talking about her fear of birds. If that doesn’t work out because the quality is bad or it doesn’t work well with the video I thought of using a recording of a poem by a Russian poet. There are a few poems about birds that I have found and one of them is by my grandmothers favorite poet so it would work well conceptually.

Week 2: Film pigeons in a park/on the streets

I am also going to have mostly my own videos in the project so I am going to go to different places in New York where there are a lot of pigeons. Because I am not comfortable around them this will challenging so I think a lot of it will end up being zoomed in footage. I want to have videos from different angles to show how through this video I am trying to figure out why I am afraid of birds.

Week 3: Editing and making the audio if I decide to include my grandmother speaking

Once I have all of my videos ready I am going to combine them in Premiere. I want the video to look frantic, but also coherent with good transitions.

Week 4: Finalizing film

Inspiration:

During my visit to the museum I found the most interesting part to be the sound section. The Titanic video was interesting because it really made me realize the importance of sound in a movie or show. As the guide added new layers of sound to the scene the scene became much more powerful and with each layer it had a stronger effect on the audience.
I found it interesting to what extent music plays a role in movies because of how much more dimension it added to the scene. Although I noticed that before this really drew my attention to the role of music in movies. It was interesting to me how much detail goes into a soundtrack. Even tho the scene was only a few minutes there were so many layers of sound and it made me think about the time it takes to create and entire movie or show. I also found the different techniques used to create sounds interesting. For example the way they used an elephant sound to imitate the sound of a piece of the Titanic falling into the water.
I also found the room with all the costumes and props from famous movies interesting. For example the Nightmare on Elm Street sweater and the model of Blade Runner set. It was interesting to see how much costumes, sets and cameras have changed over time and how these techniques have developed.
This exhibition was very eye-opening to me as it made me realize how much work goes into creating a moving image. Not just in relation to sound, but also lighting, the set and the techniques used to create the moving image itself.

For my time map I decided to portray my physical and emotional life journey. I started by making a collage on A4 paper. Once I decided what will be shown on my real map I made a collage on mirror. The map shows me being born in Texas, moving to Russia, London and then New York. It also shows events that have had an emotional effect on me like Russian school, sentimental places in London and my parents divorce. To show this I used objects from each event, magazines and paper on mirror. These objects are receipts, my heart rate from the hospital, money and random objects I’ve collected throughout my life.
I chose to use mostly objects from each event in my life because I wanted this map to be more personal and meaningful. Each object used on this map has a certain memory or sentimental value attached to it which is what makes this such a personal time map.
The intention of the mirror is to show the present time as it shows exactly what is happening now. I chose the mirror as a background because I wanted to create a more conceptual as well as aesthetically please map. The mirror also connects the viewer to my map.

Prologue
1) Theory of time
2) Clerks arriving in two hours knowing exactly where to begin – time as a circle
3) Objects appearing minute by minute
4) “Dreams about time” “he sometimes cannot tell whether he is awake or asleep”
5) Introduces the idea of time as a circle as well as dreams

14 April 1905
1) Idea of time as circle
2) Repetition of moments in life
3) “Time is a circle, bending back on itself. The world repeats itself, precisely, endlessly”
4) “Nothing is temporary, that all will happen again..”
5) Time/life compared to an ant walking around in a circle not knowing he will return to where he began
6) Idea of being born again
7) Religious references as there is the idea of rebirth

16 April 1905
1) Time as a flow of water
2) Idea of time travel and how time travelers are more aware of their actions as they are afraid any move will alter the future —> Butterfly effect
3) If the time traveler gets dust on Klausen the EU will never occur
4) We live life without thinking deeply about the future and how everything we do has an effect on the future

19 April 1905
1) Parallel universes
2) Three chains of events, “each future is real”
3) Infinity of worlds in time

24 April 1905
1) Idea about 2 separate times
2) Mechanical time is just an idea it does not actually exist
3) People who don’t believe in mechanical time enjoy life more
4) People who think their bodies don’t exist live a more mechanical strict life
5) “Each time is true, but the truths are not the same”

26 April 1905
1) Time flows at different speeds in different locations
2) Youth as a status symbol
3) “People at ground level never sit. They run, while carrying their briefcases or groceries” – time moves faster when you are busy
4) People consumed with aging ended up getting old faster

28 April 1905
1) Time is everywhere
2) “In this world, a second is a second is a second”
3) Time as an evidence of God
4) Time is constant

3 May 1905
1) “Future and past are entwined”
2) Moments in time changing the fate of someone forever
3) Action vs reaction
4) “World of impulse”

4 May 1905
1) Repetition of events
2) “Time does not pass, but little happens”

1. Power of Ten
   • 10 second step; small picnic —> city —> lake —> satellite view —> galaxy —> million light years (galaxy of stars) —> 100 million light years out —> emptiness —> starting point
   • 10²⁴  (space) —> 10^-4 (inside the skin) —> 10^-11 inner space
   • Goes through scales, the smallest and largest scale look the same
   • 40 powers of 10

    

2. Powers of Time
   • Journey through time
   • 1 microsecond —> trobostrophic photography
   • 10^-10 —> beam of light traveling through an eye
   • World of quantum probability
   • Human generation —> a billion seconds
   • 10^17.6 —> symbol of early universe

    

3. The Psychology of Time 
   • Temptation (experiment with marshmallows and kids)
   • Religious reference to temptation (Adam and Eve) relates to time
   • Discussing people that are “Future Focused” vs “Present Focused” and how that effects their life and decision making
   • Paradox of time perspective
   • Understanding time perspectives
     • Time as a tool

    

4. Pas de Deux
   • Present body —> present x past body
   • Time frames mimicking the dancer
   • Bodies mirroring each other
   • 2nd body enters creating a narrative
   • Bodies multiply, disappear, mimic/mirror
   • Light vs Dark
   • High contrast creates a stronger visual experience
   • Use of sound in the video as a way to highlight the narrative, keep viewers attention
   • Sound does not always match the movement
   • A journey through time
   • Movements turned into an abstraction as they are turned into individual time frames
   • Forms objectify time
   • Pas de deux – not two

    

5. History of Japan 
   • Development of Japan
   • Religion
   • Government
   • Art and Literature
   • Military leaders
   • Samurai
   • Fight for power
   • Increase in population
   • Dutch influence
   • Westernization
   • WW1
   • League of Nations
   • WW2
   • Pearls Harbor
   • Hiroshima — long silence contrasted to the loud noise and fast pace to show the effect of the bomb on Japan and highlight its significance
   • Industrialization
   • Use of sound, pace, graphics

    

6. Scavengers 
   • Space ship Vesta crashes
   • The two scavengers use what is around them (nature) to try and get back to normal life
   • Woman figures out a system to look into time
   • View of daily life in New York
   • Man vs Nature