BLOD, BLOD(y), BLOD
(2023)
author(s): Kersti Grunditz Brennan, annika boholm
published in: Stockholm University of the Arts (SKH)
BLOD, BLOD(y), BLOD – an exposition of recurring processes, trails and building blocks of the film and research project BLOD through the lens of its methods.
The BLOD methods are articulated as a Manifesto, written to accommodate a multitude of contents, forms, and modes of collaboration, while demanding cross-disciplinarity, honesty and risk-taking. The methods are non-linear, looping, and embedded in the manifestations of the research: films, performances, presentations, etc.
The BLOD project aims to create multivocal cinematic experiences through embodied practices. The research explores relation-building through a feminist methodology of creating gaps and friction – between audience, story, time, matter, and co-creators. The project asks: how to tell multifaceted, non-exploitive stories of womb-related states of life and death, rarely depicted in cinema? And how to disturb film industry hierarchies through a collaborative practice that maintains individual artistic integrity and promotes collective authorship?
The BLOD research shares its outcomes via the mediums of its artistic practice: videos, texts, digital expositions. This exposition is designed to reflect the connections and interactions of the research's building blocks: ideas, places, materials, people, time, experiences, technologies.
To enjoy BLOD, BLOD(y), BLOD: move around it with your mouse, follow dotted paths out from the center towards texts, images, and videos. Hover over numbers and words in BOLD to reveal expanding texts. Linger on images and videos for captions, translations, and instructions for further interaction. Along the outer rim of the main page are spiral buttons to take you back to the center with a click. Subpages have links on the main page but are also listed in the Content index in the upper left menu.
The exposition is mainly in English. Videos in Swedish have English translation.
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.