For this project, the ongoing theme of my work is based on the concept of time and time perception. The media I used for this term is audio/visual, incorporating rotoscope animation, video projection, room installation and projection mapping (as proposed).

I began this work similar to how I always begin work and that is research. I read and researched the theory of time and began looking at artists who had worked with time (Zbigniew Rybczyński, Douglas Gordon, Bill Viola). I had initially began exploring the concept of time and body, displacing memory onto the the body and filming performance. However, I wasn’t stimulated by the work and was indifferent to the direction of where the work was going. Instead, I was more interested in the idea of storytelling and how time can be manipulated through narrative. I began looking at cinematography and filmmakers. Some notable ones are Godfrey Reggio and his film Koyaanisqatsi (1982), film director Christopher Nolan and Christian Marclay. With further research, I found that our perception of everything isn’t ever really true and are more like our version of reality. In the same manner, our perception of time is based off our own version of reality and time, as well as founded on our consciousness and sense of self: our ego. Our conscious mind forms ideas about time from our own personal experiences and our sense of self, in relation to the world and time. Thus everyone experiences time differently. To transcend time and the reality of time that we created in our own minds, we must forgo our sense of self, our consciousness. An experience of ego death allows for the transcendence of time. Similar to when a surprising experience happens, in that moment, the ego (sense of self) is immobilised therefore, sense of time is lost. Time feels either slower or completely stopped.

Going on from my research, I wanted to use the storytelling aspect of films to explore time perception. I came up with a story plot for a short film, which I decided to rotoscope animate instead of shooting real life. Not only is this more feasible as filming in a pandemic is difficult (social distancing, limited access to studios) but it is also a new media that I never tried before. I feel as though the material relates well to my work, being of repetitive nature, tedious and time-consuming, which bring me awareness to the passing of time. As I worked on the animation, I feel as though I can relate to the character of the film. The process also helped me better understand the concept of motion sequence which is important in time perception (succession). I also find the act of drawing each frame by frame to produce only a short amount of footage (10fps) to be really impressive.

The storyline that I came up with is a man in a constant battle of time. He feels trapped by time, always finding himself out of time i.e., lateness, missing the bus, losing track of time. He is weighed down by this burden and wishes to be set free. In his favour, he comes across an object of food that allows him to experience a total loss of time. This experience signifies ego death. I don’t want to allude too much to the concept of ego death and would rather it be an undefined experience (same goes for the food- not to be too caught up on the notion of psychedelics). He experiences the loss of time and comes to the realisation that time does not hold him in the way that he thought it did. Letting go of his fabricated perception of time, he is liberated from it.

The film includes time-based subjects such as the measure of time (represented in visuals of clocks), motion sequence (frame by frame rotoscope animation), passing of time (window- time-lapse of sky changing throughout the day), routine (repetition & loop) and the philosophy of time. The philosophy of eternalism (the theory that past, present and future all exists in the space) links with Einstein’s theory of general relativity of time. I signified this in the use and appropriation of found footage, representing the ‘beginning’ of time as we know, all the events of history, time-lapse footage & photography (snapshot of memories). I played with the idea that events that are of long routine, mundane and repetitiveness are to be shown really fast (time becoming a blur) juxtaposed with short-lived events that are long-lasting in memory such as moments of love, friendship, family, treasured memories. This relates to the understanding that memories expand and contract; moments that happen in a short duration feel longer as we try to remember them and vice versa. The animation storyline accompanied with real-life footage ensures that the work is relatable to the audience. I decided to use 3 video projections playing different videos to represent that all events that have ever happened and/or will happen are all occurring in the present moment (eg past, present and future). Also, the space created allows for the audience to be immersed into the story and thus more vulnerable to time manipulation.

How I will present this is through the use of 3 video projections, 1 of which will be a projection map of a clock, to represent a familiar object of time. It will be exhibited in a dark room, on 3 adjacent walls, accompanied with speakers to create a soundscape. The projection map of the clock will create the link between the spatial aspect of the work (installation) to time. The technique of projection mapping brings the viewer’s attention to a point where their temporal experience can be influenced.

What I liked about my work and found particularly interesting is the playfulness in the narrative. The use of repetition, reverse, time-lapse and non-linear order really adds to the story. I also enjoy the interactions between the 3 projections (i.e. man looking to the clock on the other projection) as it makes the work a lot more spatial, more 3d rather than 2D.

A critique of my work is that it tried too hard to include a lot of aspects of time i.e. passing of time, time-lapse, repetition, history, eternalism, general relativity of time etc. A more focused subject would have made a more in depth piece of work. However, I still like how ambitious the work is and it holds a lot of potential for further development. A real shame is that the mock-up of the projection layout didn’t really work out when I tried to recreate a smaller model in my room. I stumbled across many issues, the main one being that one of the projectors didn’t have the correct HDMI to USB adaptor, which meant that it couldn’t work.

Going forward from this, I would firstly make sure to convert the clock projection to projection mapping. Unfortunately, I did not have the resources to carry out my plan. I would reattempt to project the entire work in a real space rather than in my room on a smaller model (if possible under conditions of pandemic). As I mentioned earlier before (see journal), this is part of a bigger project of producing a full length feature film in rotoscope animation and real-life footage. I would like to complete the film someday and maybe have a premiere showing to the general public. In this, I would like to add more of my own video footage and sounds. Though I did make my own sound for this project, in the end I did not end up using it.