As I mentioned in my last post, I had a machinima selected for showing at Supernova 2016. Our Music of the Spheres premiered on the LED screens in the Theatre District of Denver last night. It’s a film poem filmed at The Far Away in Second Life, with thanks to Ziki Questi.
Melancholia is a recurrent theme in my work. It is more than sadness, it is also a peaceful reflection on life. But this time I wanted to noticeably lift the ending, to turn it from things gone and past, to love and creation and the legacy that lives on. That emotional sense is important to me in machinima making – I want the viewer to feel something as they watch the video. Technically I try my best and push the limits. But what really matters is to make some connection with the viewer’s feelings, emotions and memories. To find something distinctly human.
As always with my video work, the process is cyclical – an idea, some filming, a search for music, then back to the idea again. But with words also involved, there is also a re-iteration between images, music and words through the process.
There is always an element of serendipity. While searching for ‘fields’ on Free Music Archive, I discovered ‘A Sad Song for Junction City Fields’ by The Fucked Up Beat (link below). I had already decided on the opening visual of the radio. This coincided wonderfully with the public domain voice they had put into their audio. I couldn’t quite tell what was being spoken, but could pick up parts of it. This led me to think more about the railroad not simply being a rusted junction, but also a metaphor for other divisions.
Avatar styling uses a combination of El Lisstizky ‘Mayakovsky girls’ and Solstice by alpha.tribe. Once again, features of these elements fed back into the words – the ripples and spheres.
So here it is… hope you enjoy it!
* ‘A Sad Song for Junction City Fields’ by The Fucked Up Beat was the original link. Free Music Archive has changed ownership and has lost some of its content. However, it is now available the band’s page on Bandcamp. Creative Commons BY SA (includes public domain samples)