Aratrika text on practice 1st draft

1. What have you been making?

I have been working on a short film for the EYE-project, titled “where is a portal?”. It is a visual poem about gateways to other worlds I noticed, looked for and found, or were thrust upon me in my everyday life. I have also been gathering self-recorded clips of myself, in my room where I spend most of my time, filmed in moments of moments of joy and euphoria, or whenever the sun is out. Often along with clips of things I see from my bedroom window. [Ideas of re enactment,re embodying]

2. How did you do it? (method)

Image-making for me is the first step to discovery and meaning-making. I follow the rhythms of my body and moods to make images and then look back on them and see what they could mean to me, what narrative they create for me and my experiences. They also are a way of discovery and documentation of the world around me.

Project 1: What: A 3-minute long, 4:3 film made up of clips taken on an 2000’s digital camera. Titled “where is a portal?”. It is a visual poem about gateways to other worlds I noticed, looked for and found, or were thrust upon me in my everyday life. The footage retains the in-camera colour and light and the sound is the raw ambient sound from the footage itself.

How: I spent a few days shooting as I went about my daily routines and travels, then closer to the deadline I sat down and looked at the footage all together and see how I could bring a sense of rhythm and flow to the clips so they could inform each other.

Why are you making it?

In the past I’ve leaned more towards making photos than moving images, and in making photos I feel like you see portals, in different places… like you see a still image and it feels like a portal. So I’ve had a lot of moments with photos where I was like: this is amazing, this takes you somewhere else. I’ve also been thinking about portals you don’t just stumble upon but ones you create, as a means to go where you want to go. I was talking to my friend and we were talking about what you want from a portal says something about you and your desires. It’s also an escape from your reality and it tells you about things that you don’t like about where you are currently. It’s also trippy and it feels like an immersive experience. A feeling of going elsewhere; it’s always positive, or optimistic rather. That’s why I’ve been interested in it.

This was also my first time really having to think of a topic and then shooting footage for it intentionally and putting it together. I usually film whenever I feel moved to do it, and then it comes together as a coherent work later. So the theme I’m exploring and my method of making it was new for me to explore. This was also my first time trying this old digicam and shooting with it and discovering its textures and how it really works in action.

Project 2:

What will it be? A film montage of visuals of me filmed by myself using different instagram filters. In these clips I am alone, doing everyday things, often looking into the camera. There is overlaying audio that creates a coherence and narrative.

Why do you want to make it? I am interested in the ways we choose to depict ourselves, the joys of choosing and building our identities. I have been exploring self portraiture in this way for a while now and want to put the different clips together and see what I discover.

Describe how it would be made: -Look through archives from 2019-now and download relevant and interesting clips -Put them into a video editing timeline -Play around with them in terms of order, duration, colour -Make note of what kind of themes or narratives emerge, feel free to experiment with various iterations -If it feels right work on a voice over or sound design to tie everything together -Imagine how it might play out as a video installation

Extra steps: -Imagine how it might play out as a video installation -Play around with TouchDesigner

3. Relation to previous practice