My final project was a music video for the songs “If I Had a Heart” and “Concrete Walls” both by Fever Ray. The main theme in my video is witchcraft and black magic, I was inspired by a book I found in the library of symbology, which featured a varied range of symbols from old civilizations such as: Aztecs, Egyptians, Chinese, Greek… etc. It was very interesting to look up some symbols we use in modern life and figure out they used to have a completely different meaning in the past. I also enjoyed doing some research about the occult and pagan belief and trying to revive what we have lost through modernity, technology and logic. for me art it self is not something logical, therefore I wanted this video to make no sense at all, but at the same time to make people experience different emotions and reactions while watching it. I used the Lowell lightning kit – which was really heave by the way 🙂 – but very useful, and helped me achieve the images I wanted to create. I played around with some candles, ink and water, filming myself and my electronic project 😛 (at least I got to use that) I also spent a lot of time editing it, which was really hard; I did it in Final Cut Express – which I learned to use in this class. and I am pretty happy with the results… I think if I would revisit this concept in the future, probably I would make the video much longer, not feature myself, and add lots of weird effects 😛 Thanks for everything, I think this class has been the most useful so far, I learnt to use a bunch of new programs and got lots of freedom to experience everything in my own way.
Best wishes Gabriel.
inspiration:
Stranger Than Kindness – Fever Ray
I think my video is way to heavy, I’ve been having lots of problems trying to upload it, I’ve been trying since yesterday, as soon as I can get it uploaded I’ll post it…
Hi Gabriel,
I think your overall concept is really interesting, and that you did a great job putting all together. All your projects have a playful mood, I like that. But I don’t agree with a new version of your video without you. It was kind of an unexpected Performance. Really cool!
Eduardo
Hey Gabriel, loved the pagan-wiccan-symbolic-satanic video. I agree that the Lowel lighting kit was ridiculously HEAVY to carry – my shoulder was so sore for a few days – but it seems you put it to great use! The candles and the flashing scenes suited the theme and mood of your film – and it looks like you had a lot of fun with the special effects on Final Cut. That being said – having yourself in the film was beneficial – like Eudardo said, it looked more performative rather than a film and that’s always fun to confuse the viewer with. You just may be too hard on yourself really.
Thanks again for your comment on my film. I’m glad you enjoyed it – after all, it was meant to be funny and enjoyable. Your films and artwork are always colourful and intriguing to watch/see and I hope you pursue this in your future endeavors.
MMMMMMMM Fever Ray. Your taste in music is wonderful. I thought that you using Bjork was great last time, but starting this off with If I Had A Heart was even better. Karin has such an eerie voice and leaving Concrete Walls as the second song did so much for it; the vocals are so eldritch and it suited what you were showing perfectly.
You did a really great job and seeing you experiment so much this year has inspired me to try out new things as well. Thank you, and I hope to see you next semester!