Fields and Frames Presentation

For my fields and frames project, I was initially very unsure of what to do and it took me a long time to settle on something. I decided after some deliberation that I would use a combination of the projects I had previously most enjoyed, and those were the experimental film project and sound. I also used to do animation and I wanted to incorporate that as well, which I have wanted to do for a while, and this seemed like a good opportunity to do so. I was especially inspired by the scratch film workshops where I drew a frame by frame short animation, and sort of remembered how much I enjoyed doing that sort of thing.
So I knew what I wanted to make, but I was still lacking in a theme. I did have one idea, but I was trying to avoid doing it because it meant I had to make a film about myself which wasn't something I really wanted to do... but I couldn't think of anything better so I decided to get over myself and just do it.
When I was 7/8, I was was told I had ADD, which is very similar to ADHD (just without the hyperactivity - mostly). My year 3 teacher had noticed I got distracted very easily, wasn't listening or paying attention and had trouble concentrating. These are symptoms everyone experiences every now and then, but if you have ADD or ADHD it's more of a happens all the time kind of thing, which can be very frustrating.

So my idea, is that I want to make an experimental film using film and animation, with sound as a very major part of the piece, and is about life with ADD (from my perspective anyway)

I then began to research films either in the type of animation that I wanted to emulate with my work, or that were relevant to the style of filming and editing I wanted to use.


30% (Women and Politics in Sierra Leone) from Anna Cady on Vimeo.

I found this film and was instantly struck by the dramatic animation style it was done in. I did something similar to this - on a much much smaller scale - on my foundation course and I really liked doing it. On this film I love it because in what is otherwise a relatively average camera frame, the animating brings a whole new level of colour and movement, which I find brings a lot more life to the film, and keeps it really interesting and enjoyable to watch. The work was done using oil painting and live action, and I like trying to figure out how it was done. I would imagine that they had glass plates or something that were placed in front of each frame and traced each image with paint. It must have been very time consuming. I think I might have liked it more if the entire film was done in this manner, I find the live action part of the film quite dull to look at in comparison.


ADHD from onnolee w on Vimeo.

This film I chose because it was about ADHD, and it becomes this sort of montage of overwhelming noises and distractions that pull attention away from what the subject is supposed to be doing. The sounds in the piece are introduced slowly and increase as the film goes on. There is also emphasis on the symptoms of ADHD, for example the post-it notes everywhere, and the forgetting of the keys, something in the background grabbing attention, and the constant restlessness, fidgeting and doodling.  The sound reaches a crescendo and falls away to silence, and I think it's really effective the way the sound builds up, creating this sort of sensory overload. While I enjoy this film I also think it comes across as not necessarily the highest quality. While I find is useful as a base, and to get some ideas from and helping to visualise my own plans, I would hope to largely improve upon this if I did something like it.

Feeling My Way from Jonathan Hodgson on Vimeo.

This piece is my favourite. It is an analogue film piece that must have been drawn over frame by frame to create this effect and I love the final outcome. It was created by animator/director Jonathan Hodgson in 1997, and is of "a journey from home to work through the filter of the conscious and subconscious mind. Through use of moving collages and painterly animation combined with live-action footage, the viewer is able to share the traveller's experiences and his mental reactions to the trials and triviality of urban existence."
This film is what really inspired my idea, and is what I want to experiment with doing for my piece - although mine will possibly be more experimental/erratic, and less linear.