The green dots at the beginning reminded me of lightning bugs hovering around in the night sky. I enjoyed the kaleidoscope effect of shapes (squares and circles) transforming into flowers and other patterns. They moved with the rhythm of the clanging beat, almost like a fireworks explosion. The blackness left behind cleared the way for the next explosion of colors. Sometimes an image lingered, almost burned into my vision, on the blackness. It was a strange thing to see from a film. The same effect has happened to me before when seeing fireworks or another bright light and then closing my eyes. The last image of the light remains present in my vision in the darkness.
Why do I want to take 6x1?
I want to take this class because in my almost four years at film school I have never touched film. I’ve used digital cameras to film many shorts, and in my track, animation, I’ve mainly used a computer to create moving works of art. I want to get my hands dirty. I want to touch the physical medium of a series of images and physically manipulate them. I also desire to explore other ways to tell stories or convey emotions through abstract means. In general I feel experimental filmmaking gives an artist the necessary room to create meaning through the abstract. In narrative or documentary filmmaking the artist is restricted to making the story clear and accessible to most viewers, which in a way is what the viewers want. But with experimental filmmaking, the meaning of a piece can be expressed in a complex way, not necessarily (and very often not) straight forward. I feel by taking 6x1 I can throw off my shackles of continuity and flex my creative muscles. I can challenge myself to think in new ways, create new meaning with old material, and construct new bridges between foreign ideas. The 6x1 environment is ideal for this growth: a dedicated nest of film students, learning to fly and flap their wings, about to jump out into the world on their own, all will fall, a few will catch a breeze, most will hover, and even some will soar, but they’re all seeking a few last tricks on how to live.
