1 Word, 1000 Pictures
This project took on several different lives for me, as far as the process of change that occurred between initial iteration, storyboarding, filming, and final editing (and re-filming/ re-editing). The initial word that I chose at random was “explode”, and I wanted to explore this word in the context of mycology, something I enjoy that I wanted to share about myself. I always begin every project by mind-mapping: exploring how the relationship between words and images can create and uncover new meanings and ideas.
This layout differed from my usual mind map methodology because I wanted to move quickly towards the movement aspect, something I had never considered. Film has never been something I explored because I find it incredibly difficult to think in movement as is required for film and motion. I chose to consider how the words, themes and concepts I came up with could relate visually, and how I might go about recreating them for the context of the film. A series of parameters established a guide for the project: no sound, and no color. My first thought was, “How do I translate the concept of an explosion without sound?” This forced a deeper exploration into the nature of explosions, and drove me to consider the word “explode” more introspectively and abstractly. I chose to explore the idea of an explosion in the emotional state, and in the context of mycology, for most, that implies psychedelics. I chose to lean on this theme as I enjoy exploring comedy and humor as a means of getting a message across, as someone who doesn’t actually partake in drugs, it felt like an obvious route to take given the subject matter.
Formulating, writing and visualizing the storyboard came somewhat easily, each sequence felt like a natural step to take after its predecessor.
The above image showcases the static elements of each sequence, starting with a zoom into my eye which would turn into a mushroom cap, as it is lit upwards and downwards to suggest the endless looking involved in any type of foraging. Suddenly, the screen flashes black and balloons and party poppers explode, releasing confetti and strings and streamers—the explosion of discovery. Clouds then move, sped up and blended with ink swirling into water, a visualization of the explosion. The screen flashes black again, then trick candles on the caps light on, continuing this theme. But what if I eat it? I bring the mushroom towards my mouth and a series of fast pace jump cut scenes suggest eyes twitching right to left, nail biting—the paranoia of psychedelics— and laughter, followed immediately by a swirling kaleidoscope as the scene fades back into my face, a reverse of the first scene meant to help loop the sequence together.
Of course, things don’t always go to plan and I realized as I filmed several sequences just how static many of them were. To me, the joy of film is the element of movement, which is difficult or impossible to achieve literally in most other mediums, so I wanted to move further into that space, away from the static frames. I realized that this could likely have been an effect of my storyboarding process, thinking very much in single visual chunks as opposed to the story from start to finish. A second observation was that many of the sequences I intended to use lost al context and relevance when the sound and color was remover per the parameters of the project. Exploding balloons looked anticlimactic without the sudden burst, the kaleidoscopic lighting lost its’ power without a rainbow of color. I realized I needed to rethink the narrative.
I decided upon a more linear and straightforward storyline: the idea of urban foraging and the dangers posed by heavy urban fertilization merged with the humor of the unintended psychedelic trip (in real life, this would likely just be death).
Critique of the final outcome suggested the power of the initial series of match cuts as something worth exploring further in the film, while it was also mentioned that the sudden switch from the match cut movement over changing terrain juxtaposed with the trip sequence jump cuts helped to further suggest the nature of the theme — the first half we are on a journey of searching and exploration, the second half we are thrust into a chaotic and erratic consequence. The use of jump cuts could also help loop the video together more effectively, as the beginning is clearly the beginning and the ending is clearly the ending, yet the two do not congrue, though this was generally intentional. Overall the final piece is something I can be proud of and use as a jumping off point as a delve further into the software and mindset of motion graphics.
