Something Different

Sandy

Ever so often, something different comes along and enlivens the rest of the day. Nothing is as refreshing as an unexpected delight.

Take for instance the music by Jeremy Loops from South Africa. If you’re a fan of folksy-pop seasoned with Afrobeats and choral harmony then you’ll probably like him. My introduction was this video, This Town featuring Ladysmith Black Mambazo . It’s a mash-up of musical styles from The Lion King and Paul Simon and was enough to make me look for more. It was this video though, that I really loved. The music is nice & upbeat but it’s the choreography, urban landscapes and overall energy that I found fascinating.

After watching this video, I felt inspired to dance, go to the beach and take up my camera again.

Animation takes many artistic forms, the most familiar being long story films like Kubo and soon to be epic, Pinnochio by Guillermo del Toro. Here is something different. An experimental film told in Instagram Story format with illustration, sound and narration. I like it because of how it deals with family, loss and fragmented memories.

“A PORTRAIT OF TRACY … lets us in on a conversation between Tracy and her late grandfather – someone Tracy holds closest to her heart but struggles to remember. What echoes from childhood remain for a young immigrant who had to leave one life behind for another in a foreign country? How does one grieve for the memory of a person lost to distance, language, and time? ”

Joanne Lam, writer & director

A Portrait of Tracy from Joanne Lam on Vimeo.

After watching, I imagined my own stories told with pictures and audio bits that represent a narrative but doesn’t tell it. I am inspired to collect images and audio recordings to make my own story collage.

What are your sources of inspiration? Do you find videos like these purely entertaining or do they inspire your creativity? What do you look for when you look at a good video? Is this something you do or would want to do?

15 Comments

  1. I am in awe of you video-makers. As it is, trying to sort through photos takes so much time & energy. I can’t even imagine the filming & editing process involved in achieving your artistic goals!

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    1. Although video making can be tech-intensive, it doesn’t have to be really. If you ever want to try it out, you can begin with Canva and use your photo’s to compose. Something like the A PORTRAIT OF TRACY would be achievable thusly. I think the really ‘hard’ part would be coming up with what you want to say … just like writing a creative essay.

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    1. Thank you for going down the rabbit hole for me! It’s an interesting behind-the-scenes view of the video.

      One of the reasons I like the original is that it gives me a view of South Africa that I didn’t know. It’s similar to BC with it’s proximity to beaches and mountains. I suspect though, it might be a bit warmer 😉

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    1. I’ve seen! I agree, making videos is enormously time consuming. It’s not the filming per se but the effort in planning, editing and addition of sound and music that takes so much time.

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