Demet Adiguzel

Tied Down

WHAT :
My latest project Tied Down, was actually named after its soundtrack, is a two minute long video.
The whole video takes place on black background, most of the image moves either slower or faster than normal. These series of speed-altered footage starts with some white texts on black background, which combine with the images of the actors in the very first scenes - like an introduction- and never reappear - except the closing credits. The video consists of close up and wider angle shots of the actors interacting with each other and sometimes with objects. During the video, only two actors appear; a couple in their early twenties. The actress is a blond long haired young woman, who appears partially nude; the actor has brown hair and he also appears partially nude in the video. They both have blue eyes which is apparent in the close-up shots.

HOW :
I worked with two dancers from Codarts who in fact were in a relationship. This was intentional in order to capture the true chemistry between the subjects. The whole video was shot in more than six hours in a studio on black background. There are also footage shot outdoors and in a bedroom scene which were not used.
I used a Canon 5D MkII Camera and pretty primitive lighting. The subjects were asked to act certain emotions, reflect specific feelings such as rage, despair, desire, affection and their derivations.
In the post-production phase firstly, the approximately six hour long footage was viewed and picked. The editing was made on iMovie because of my lack of experience with more complicated video editing tools. The outcome ended up with losing the original quality since the tool had some problems related to speed alterations and I had altered the speed of most footage.

WHY :
This project started as a part of my PZI application assignment. For this assignment, we were asked to provide series of photos inspired by one of the seven deadly sins. I have chosen 'Lust' and along with the photos I have shot for this subject, I was also inspired to shoot a video.
The purpose was to acquire the exaggerated but genuine description portraying an inter-gender relationship. In addition, I referred to how women are crushed under the norms of male-dominant cultures.
The soundtrack also had a solid role to present the work. I chose this specific piece because it gave the dramatic and even poetic tone that I intended to reflect.
In the end, Tied Down was developed to visually speak for gender relations born by lust and the way they were balanced in our world. Respecting the feeling of the soundtrack of two minutes, the video intended to expose the intense secrets of a couple, their struggle and how they affected each other by directing the viewer's attention to particular symbols and acting.

The video can be viewed here : http://vimeo.com/user7626123/tieddown