I hung the same dress I was wearing in the video, in the foam core structure. Then I projected the video on the dress hanging inside the structure. I wanted people to not only pay attention to the video, but also the structure itself. By making the video project behind the dress, it hides the projector and it also gives the video three- dimensionality.
So.
I defined cinematic space as capturing a movement over a period of time.
I wanted to use video for this project because I felt like it does well capturing things in the moment. Well, not exactly capturing, but more like seizing or stealing a moment in time. You're not exactly asking the subject if it's okay if you steal a moment of their time for your artistic intentions. You take control and take the shot. With video, you're able to control what people see.
In suicide, the person is seizing their own moment. I wanted to create the same feeling through my video. I was stealing a moment that I created-- and just for a second-- have someone feel my loss, my pain, and my friend's complete and utter loneliness and sadness. (Although, I don't think I'll ever be able to fabricate that.) With video, I was seizing time-- a mere 20 seconds-- to show the viewer loss, and hopefully reflect onto their lives, and remember of all the loss they've gone through, and remember them.
With my friend's passing, I wanted to remember her, to say goodbye, to wish her well in the life that she chose for herself; the afterlife. My concept, Hall of Dead, allows me to create a space where she could go visit me, or rather, I can go there and transcend life and death itself to say hello. I wanted to create a space where the living and the dead could meet-- even if that is a split-second.
About my video:
My friend killed herself through sleeping pills and a bathtub full of water. From my understanding, it takes about 20 seconds after losing breath to suffer from brain starvation (no oxygen to the brain) and die. I used 6 people because there's a saying that when you kill yourself, you effect at least 6 people around you. I also wanted the 6 people to be as close to mourning as possible, so with all of them wearing all black with hoods, it has a connotation of a funeral service. I'm wearing all white because I wanted to be ghost-like as possible. By picking white silk, I wanted to create a look that I am a spirit that the wind goes through. I didn't want to have a forceful commanding presence in the video. I wanted to have a powerful, strong but delicate presence in the video, to represent how fragile life can really be. I wanted the video to reflect transcending life and death itself to reach out to her to say goodbye.
If I was going to do this project again, I would pick different material. I wanted the structure to be light and fragile, but as a classmate megan said, it's still foam core. People can make the connection that it's foam core, a cheap material.
