CPS WK 4 - Place - 'The Lift'

An exercise made in one hour for Character, Place and Simulation exploring the theme of 'Place'.

Theme

Explore with Place, make with Place.

Method

Using video I want to play with the idea that one place leads to another, except when it doesn't.

Context

Artists like Escher who play with perspective to create or warp our understanding of place or orientation make us stop and catch us off guard for a moment. We momentarily have to check in with reality - are the things we think we know merely assumptions?

LINK: https://www.dw.com/en/a-journey-through-perspective-pictures-with-mc-escher/a-43568129

Response

This idea - to create disorientation and surprise in the form of a lift that leads nowhere didn't really work.

I wanted to create a video inside a lift (elevator) where, each time the doors opened, instead of opening onto the expected floor or level, they opened into another lift and another lift and so on.

I only got half-way through figuring out how to create this illusion using basic cuts. I think I should have used whip-pans to disguise cuts so that it looked like one contunious shot (like feature films Russian Ark, or Boxing Day).

It's left me inspired to research more the work of directors/video artists/animators who have successfully executed the type of disorientative experience I was aiming for.