I'm continuing to experiment with moving images, trying to think in terms of snapshots with motion, as opposed to "video". In this 30-second piece, I wanted to play with a haphazard and erratic aesthetic.
The piece is anchored by two main "moving images":
The first "moving image"
and...
The second "moving image"
The idea was to create an experience where it feels like you're looking at a photo, but you notice little hints of movement - like the people swimming in the first clip, or the grass swaying in the wind in the second clip.
After settling on these two anchoring images, I started looking for some audio to complement the visuals. Actually, I was more interested in audio that would contrast the visuals. The visuals were so serene and natural, that I wanted to to find audio that had a strong "commercial" or "capitalist" vibe. I started searching for informercials on YouTube. I quickly came across an old Chia Pet commercial and realized that these islands in Halong Bay look just like Chia Pets.
So I grabbed the audio, and laid it behind the video.
Then, in order to add some interest, I interrupted these serene scenes with super-fast cuts to other scenes on the island. People swimming, a shot of a little hut with the Vietnamese flag blowing overhead, and a motorbike on an open road. The shots didn't matter to me, I just wanted to jerk the viewer's attention around and create a feeling of scattered thought and flashbacks.
This was a fun exercise because none of it was premeditated. I had no concept for the video when I started out, and each piece of the process informed the next, purely through exploration.
The only thing I really had in mind was that I wanted an erratic and unpolished aesthetic, which I think comes through in the final result. This is a nice reminder that when we have a certain intention in our work, and we use that intention to inform all the tiny decisions in the creative process, those tiny decisions add up to a palpable feeling in the finished product.