Portrait of a Voyeur by Kelly Anderson

-completed 12-15-06
-clip duration: 53 sec.

My video took form the form of a exhibition of the act of looking and the unsettling and disturbing aspects of voyeurism. I used a wide variety of slow edits and barely any movement to a lot of flashing images and an abundance of movement. The idea was to experiment with the typical conventions of horror flicks and the sort and play with how an audience views these conventions and what makes them unsettling. The audio was the icing on the cake. I used a lot of distorted amibent noises and ones that might make an audience tense and uneasy.

Project 3 Video, Light Capturing Trek (11-19-06)

I shot north in the Shorewood neighborhoods and lakefront. There were a lot of piers and wooded areas that I wanted to explore. There were a lot of unexplored territories in the Nature Preserve that I was interested in navigating.

Google Maps Link

Setting #1:
I went out looking for settings that I could focus on with different exposures and play with colors and the relaitonship of the forground to the background. These setting felt right to me because I was looking forward to exploring the eerie and ominous sounds with my video. I found a lot of desolate seeming pictures and a lot of stills where it feels like something is missing or something should be happenning.

Setting #2:
I also wanted to found some places that I would only want to photograph, not be in. I wanted to find pictures of enclosed areas and places that would make me feel constricted.

Production Strategy #1:
I went out looking for images that I thought would look better in black and white.

Production Startegy #2:
I wanted pictures of things that felt contricting, suffocating and cold

...I realized after looking over my stills that I was beginning to look at scenarios differently and find things about them that inspire me to keep evolving as an artist...

Project 3 Video, Sound Trek (11-17-06)

In order to capture the sound I was looking for I went south to the dowtown Milwaukee, more specifically at night. There are some interesting alleways and spots right over the river that I was very interested in recording. I spent hours down there, finding it hard to get new sounds, but the longer I stayed, the more I felt like I was meant to be recording everything I heard. Suddenly everything I had been hearing sounded different and new because I had focused on the more subtle intracacies of everyday sound. I honestly felt like I was evolving as an artist and my curiosities about how to expand as an artist were realized.

Google Maps Link

Soundscape #1:

I started trekking looking for sparse and ominous sounds where there was no need for constant commotion, sounds that felt eerily still. I found a lot of sounds that made me think about some sort of presence that I couldn't figure out, something that made me feel uneasy. I was glad to find many sounds that applied well to my visual concepts being the metaphorical supernatural or unreal.

Soundscape #2:

I was planning on finding sounds that violently opposed to the ominous ones I had found earlier but I found something different. I found opposing forces in sounds that were simply comparable to my bland yet eerie sounds. I recrded some material that was blatantly unsettling but it still had that feeling of ominimity, I couldn't figure out what made feel unsettled by these sounds.

Suite of the Fearless Killer Dude

Outside Looking In

Cold Blows the Wind

Blue Turning Grey

Baba O'Riley

Suite of the Fearless Killer Dude video

Outside Looking In video

Cold Blows the Wind video

Blue Turning Grey video

Baba O'Riley video

Ten Curiosities

1. Is it possible to feel so passionately about somewhere when art is being contemplated there?
2. When will I feel like I’m making progress in my artistry?
3. Will I be constantly evolving artistically?
4. How do I know when I have made art that isn’t cliché or overdone?
5. When will I be able to look at everything with a new, more creative perspective?
6. Will my art directly reflect who I am as an individual?
7. What philosophy will I fall into during my Trek03?
8. Does music really heighten an artistic experience like our Treks?
9. When do I feel like I’ve accomplished something artistically?
10. When will my art start to stimulate me into making me see things differently?

Sept. 21st, 2006 - Shorewood Nature Preserve

On my Trek01 my starting point was Shorewood Nature Preserve. With mics in hand, I hiked down a large hill and stopped at a clearing where I sat and listened. The sound was phenomenal, I felt like I could’ve been transported into the jungle. Every sound made sense to me: trees blowing in the wind, leaves rustling, birds chirping louder than I’d ever noticed them to, waves crashing on the shore a ways down the path. I even started smelling damp, humid smells, the kind you’d smell in the rainforest. Every tree I touched felt alive, like it was pulsating. Moss was spreading over everything and it all looked surreal. There was something I couldn’t place, something that I hadn’t felt for a long time. It was the joy I felt when I was somewhere that I felt like I belonged, recording and making art. It was such a beautiful experience. I can’t help but wonder if places like this are common to artists when they are doing something they love. Will I feel this way about somewhere on my next Trek?

Trek03 Area

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