Medium Specificity-Film

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwsQNbm5kP8&feature=youtu.be

Artist's Statement:
The main influence for my piece was the Russian writer Maxim Gorky. Gorky described film as "the Kingdom of Shadows." Film is the capturing of light. Therefore, for my piece I wanted to explore capturing light. Light is energy and the basic way of observing the energy of light is observing fire/flame. I therefore captured various images of a flame. Light has a range and colors are various values of the visible light spectrum. I decided to keep the color around the value of light I was capturing and the flame was towards the lower end of the visible light spectrum so that is why it is reddish/orange.
The reading which influenced my piece was the portion on The Matter of "Seeing". We don't all interpret what we see the same way and we don't always know "what is 'really' there." This statement from the reading "what is 'really' there" applies well in regards to film. All that is "really" there is light and shadows but that's not necessarily how it's viewed. My piece sought to be more basically light and shadows though it could also be seen as various images of a flame. What is "really" there and what is seen is a large part of film and the film craft. Filmmakers have great control in trying to shape what an audience believes they are seeing. However, if you look at film on the surface level, all it is is light and shadows.
While working on this piece I was also influenced by Plato's "The Cave Theory." Plato believed that we only perceived a imitation of true and perfect objects in life. He had the analogy that we are all tied up in a cave facing a blank wall. Behind us is a fire and which casts shadows on the wall. These shadows of objects are what we believe to be the real object but are only an imitation of the real and perfect object. Film is very similar to this theory. Traditionally to view film we sit in a dark room while light is projected from behind us onto a blank wall. The light and shadows form images of objects which we believe to be the objects. We do know that it is a representation of the real images but sometimes we set too much in store in something which is only a representation. Film is a version of Plato's "The Cave Theory."
Overall, my piece explores the concept that film is the kingdom of light and shadows.