Beyond Cut and Join - Expanding the creative role of film editing
(2023)
author(s): Kersti Grunditz Brennan
published in: Stockholm University of the Arts (SKH)
The research project Beyond Cut and Join – Expanding the creative role of film editing comes out of two major observations over decades of professional film editing experience: that a lot of film editing’s potential is untapped in filmmaking, especially in relation to character creation; and that editors’ skills, influence and authorial participation often are misunderstood and undervalued. Through editing practice and writing, this research explores an expanded role of editing by asking: 1. what can editing do to create characters; 2. what is a useful and challenging creative research design for exploring editing; and 3. what expanded description of film editing can be articulated for these explorations. The project aims to share, refine, and add to editing vocabulary by articulating creative strategies for shaping characters. It further aims to challenge notions of authorship in cinema by developing collaborative structures and artistic methods that benefit creative processes in the edit room. By demonstrating how significant the handprint of one individual editor is, the project’s final aim is to highlight the extent to which editors’ personal experiences influence their choices in composition of material. Outcomes of this project are filmmaking methods that place editing and collaboration in the forefront when weaving dramaturgy, aesthetics, and content creation processes that shape film characters and cinematic stories.
The output of this research includes films, academic articles, personal essays, a video essay, and pedagogic applications. These outputs cumulatively demonstrate the artistry of the editor and the significance of editing.
Affective Atmosphere: A Non-Representational Method of Devising Film Performance and Fiction
(2022)
author(s): Pavel Prokopic
published in: Journal for Artistic Research
Affective atmosphere is a new method of directing film performance and producing experimental fiction in the tradition of art cinema, which emerged from a wider practice research project entitled Affective Cinema, funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council. As an approach to filmmaking, affective atmosphere prioritises the becoming of an event over a narrative/production plan, and uses experimental production strategies to maximise the potential of spontaneous directorial decisions and the unpredictable flow of reality for generating alternative narrative/dramatic film structures. The method is rooted in practitioner know-how stimulated by reflection, but also informed by a synthesis of the key concepts of Deleuze and Guattari, and theoretical writings on atmosphere (Böhme, Griffero) and film performance (Benjamin, Del Río). In this way, the project meaningfully applies philosophical concerns to filmmaking, expanding, in the process, on theoretical understanding, while embedding this knowledge tacitly in artistic practice. Furthermore, the research leads to the development of a set of applicable film production methods, unified by a clear rationale and a creative purpose linked to demonstrable outcomes.
From paper to performance: nonverbal communication as a vehicle for expression
(last edited: 2019)
author(s): Renato Dias Peneda
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
This artistic research project focuses on the use and role of nonverbal communication as a means to effectively communicate narratives and display characters in modern percussion works, with particular emphasis on visual cues, i.e. physical appearance and kinesics – facial expressions, posture, and body and ocular movement. Research into this topic was motivated by the author’s desire to become a more expressive performer and had the added benefit of expanding the author’s solo percussion repertoire. The research strategy applied was the realisation of two case studies, on Cie. Kahlua’s Ceci n’est pas une balle and F. Sarhan’s Home Work. The mixed methods approach to the topic included literature research, analysis of the scores and videos of performances, interviews, coaching by experts in music, theatre and dance, quasi-experiments, and autoethnography. The interventions resulted in the author’s own versions of the compositions, each with its own narrative and corresponding characters, which are made clear by the use of nonverbal cues. In addition, the author designed a general method for preparing engaging performances that can be followed by other musicians and thus provides a contribution to the field. By the end of the research process, the author had improved his body awareness, stage presence, and nonverbal communication skills to the point where he could effectively communicate his artistic ideas to the audience.