PRACTICAL DV FILMMAKING

Practical DV FilmMaking

• Overview
• Inside video
• Films and how they work
• Pre-production
• Production tools
• Production aesthetics
• Post-production tools
• Post-production aesthetics
• Careers and distribution
• Mapping the industry
• Glossary of film and video terms

Films can be minutes, several hours or even years in duration (Douglas Gordon's The Searchers slowed down the classic western to last five years - the duration of the eponymous search), may have no continuous action, recognizable events or places, and may rely on just a few essential images. What they do tend to focus on is a strong central theme on which everything rests. In Steve McQueen's Wrestlers, two men occupy a large wall-sized screen as they square up to each other in slow motion. Slowly they col­lide and fight, then part, and so the film goes on. In Bill Viola's recent work, using high definition video at ultra slow recording speeds, classical images are enacted such as group portraits, a figure walking in fire, being doused by a waterfall and so on. Probably the most successful video art relies on few images and on few themes for its impact. Editing is relegated to a secondary role, probably because of its artifice-inducing properties - editing lies, but the camera doesn't. Another crucial ingre­dient is the use of place. Where the film is actually seen is more than just an important element - it is

Figure 3.3 British-based group Blast Theory create stunning images by combining text, images and animation, as in this film, Desert Rain.

a central pillar of the work. Scale is often used in McQueen's work, and so is the arrangement of screens, as in Gary Hill's installations, where screens are arranged in sculptural shapes.

To get a background to this kind of work, look at early Andy Warhol movies such as Empire (1964), the eight-hour stationary shot of the Empire State Building, or work by Korean-American artist Nam June Paik, who developed a more sustained approach to her work.

My kind of people?

Focused is an understatement - these people live and breathe their 'art' just as much as any Hollywood image of Michelangelo or van Gogh. They have to be, though, as the financial return from living as a video artist is low. Museums and galleries will show your work but don't expect to be paid, except in the more enlightened Nordic countries. The video artist is not a one-trick pony - they are adept at logistics, working with electronics and can turn their hand to most practical tasks. If not video artists they could just as easily run a military campaign - but would probably object to it, saying that the theme was not strong enough.