My project titled 5:32 (2020) will consist of 3 video channel projections displaying a combination of rotoscope animation and real-life found footage, installed in an empty gallery space. Looking at the studio spaces available, I’ve concluded that the best location for my work is either room A2.10 on the 2nd floor or Seminar room A3.06. Each room will be constructed slightly different to best suit the work. For room A2.10, an extra constructed wall will be built in the corner of the room (furthest from the door), to form 3 adjacent walls to project on. The seminar room will have to have 3 adjacent walls constructed at the end of the room (furthest from the door) to hold the work. The room must be darkly-lit and require 3 video projectors either suspended or held on shelves on the opposite walls. This means that for both rooms, I will need blackout curtains to cover the windows. There will be no need for additional lighting. 2 speakers will be on either side of the room accompanying the 2 side projections (speakers to be out of sight), and 1 behind the extra wall. Each speaker will be connected to each of the projections as they all carry different audio. I will require the help of technicians to build the walls, shelves/suspensions, extension leads for all the equipment. The middle wall will have an empty clock (no numbers or hands) hanging top centred (conventional location of clock). Video will be projection mapped onto the empty clock and be part of the work. With the technique, I wanted to bring focus to the time (clock on the wall) and then manipulate the viewer’s experience of time through the storyline of the film playing in the space. Unfortunately, I did not get the chance to process the video in a projection mapping software, but for future reference, this is how I would have exhibited this work.
This work is related to an ongoing project that I have undertaken this year in exploring the concept of time and time perception. This is part of a full length feature film that I plan to produce, and hopefully have the chance to show others in a premiere showing. This project is important to me because of its theme on time and time perception. I feel that it is very relevant in today’s world, regarding the global pandemic and the several lockdowns. It feels as though the whole world just stopped and our sense of time was lost, a sense of disorientation from the lack of structure in our daily lives. I wanted to explore and reveal how easily our perception and understanding of time can be easily manipulated, largely because of perception of time is based off our sense of self and where we see our place in the world.
This work builds up from previous works since I continue to work with multichannel video projections and sounds. Continuing with video/audio works and installations, I aim to add projection mapping to my practice. Once again, my practice demands engagement from the viewer as I create a space (installation) where the viewer can experience the work and experience some form of time manipulation. To build from the usual installational works I tend to do, I have decided to use a new media that I haven’t tried before. This is rotoscope animation. I find that this media relates well with my work in the sense that the process is very repetitive, tedious and time-consuming. It also helped me better understand the concept of motion sequence which is important to the theory of time perception (succession). The idea that over 30 drawings, which generally takes over half an hour to complete, will produce only a few seconds of footage, is interesting to me.
As I mentioned earlier, this work is part of a bigger project that I have in mind for this year, and possibly for my 3rd year degree show. Reflecting on my work now, I feel as though I have attempted to add too many themes of time in my film, which might have taken away for the work. I feel as though the short duration of 5:24min long film tried too much to tackle a lot of different subjects instead of focusing on one and really exploring a specific concept. Also, I wish I had actually produced the one projection as projection mapping, so that I could’ve seen how it would actually look like in exhibition. I will continue to explore the concept of time in my work, and develop my practice.
Sarah K Obina 