Grimm Future
Grimm Future is a video installation comprised of three projected video tableaux vivant. Visually inspired by early 20th century illustrations of European fairy tales and 15th century “Netherlandish Primitive” painting, the videos employ no camera movement – each is a fixed shot, reminiscent of a painting. They are meant to be projected large, so that the figures in them are close to life size. The videos are just over 14 minutes long, and are intended to loop.
Grimm Future is my poetic response to recent and current events: pandemic isolation, war, climate change anxiety, increasing political polarization, the emergence of AI and algorithms that filter what news we receive, the proliferation of fake news, etc. All three Grimm Future videos are composited from multiple layers of still images and video that were shot separately. This compositing allows me to disrupt conventional camera perspective, and visually reference the types of spatial organization used in ‘Netherlandish Primitive ‘paintings – created before camera obscurae were widely adopted as drawing aides by European painters, and camera-based pictorial perspective in western painting became standardized and associated with ideas of ‘realism’. This visual strategy also could be read as a visual analogy for the ways in which we “piece together” our understanding of what is going on in the world from different sources of information.
The two musicians (Carol Sawyer and James Meger) in the video Rapunzel provide the musical soundtrack for the entire installation (there will also be ambient landscape sounds throughout). The musicians play two versions of the jazz standard ‘Ill Wind’ (written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler in 1934). The first version of the song is a fairly straight up, minimalist version. Ribbons with snippets of the lyrics float through the frame. At the end of this take the screen fills with smoke, which lingers during the second longer, more abstract, and more emotionally distraught take.
The image edits for all three Grimm Future videos are now complete. The final sound design, which will add more weather and environmental sounds, will be completed in fall of 2024. I am currently considering whether the installation needs any other components – perhaps one or two video still lives playing on monitors or projected smaller than the three videos already completed, or some sculptural or photographic elements.
Links to view the videos online are available on request – if interested, please email me via the contact form on this website.
Grimm Future Credits
Test Installation – June 2024
SFU School For Contemporary Arts residency – through the SFU SCA internship course run by Kay Higgins, CA 307 – I was generously the lent space, gear, and support needed to test installing components of my video installation, Grimm Future. I projected the three videos BIG in a studio at SFU’s Goldcorp campus downtown in the old Woodwards building, which helped me make final decisions about editing Rapunzel and building points of synchronicity between the three videos. My SFU student intern Stevan Oostenbrug helped me test different spatial configurations. Intern Megan Tran helped me with communications practicalities and strategies, including designing and building this webpage.
Sharon Kahanoff has been an invaluable mentor and advisor throughout the entire creative process of developing this work. I am deeply grateful to her, and the many people who have collaborated with me on shooting and editing Grimm Future so far – please see full credits for each of the individual videos, below.
Rapunzel
Rapunzel was shot in November 2023 in Studio A in the Boca Centre for Film and Animation at Capilano College, with the support of an expert team of Capilano University faculty and students, led by DOP Suzanne Pierce. The film department of Capilano U generously supported this production with the loan of their green screen studio and pro camera, sound and lighting gear.
Rapunzel features James Meger and Carol Sawyer improvising on the jazz standard ‘Ill Wind’, which drives the soundtrack for the entire installation. (Ill Wind was written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler) The centre of the image offers a glimpse into a far landscape of forest fires, floods, and traffic jams, before the image is obscured by smoke.
CREDITS:
Performers: James Meger, Carol Sawyer
DOP: Suzanne Pierce
Gaffer / Key Grip: Earl Kjargaard
Camera: Randy Peterson
Sound Recorder: Lisa Kolisnyk
Assistant to the Director: Amo Yue Wang
CAP Student Crew: Justin Cahyadi, Robin Krysl, Mohammed Zaman Khan, Jacob Brundrett, Eli Lava, Mia Jenieca Teodocia, Morgan Ayelet, Christian Zakharchuk, Alannah Vasquez, Miguel Angel Burgos Baragan
Stylist: Sabrina Ko
Hair & Makeup: Vivian Vera Chen
VFX/ animation: Kerr Holden
Sound Design: Collin Williston
Music mixing: Sheldon Zaharko
Editor: Lucas Isidoro de Silva
We are very grateful that this production of Rapunzel was funded by a grant from the Visual Arts section of the BC Arts Council. Michael O’Connell contributed to catering and transport.
The Alchemists
The characters in the Alchemists were developed in collaboration with the actor, Elliott Ramsay, and were inspired by fairy tales, the Ryder tarot card deck, and the illustrations of Kay Neilsen. They are the emotional anchor points for the installation, and appear to be keeping the earth afloat.
CREDITS:
Performer: Elliott Ramsay
Director: Carol Sawyer
Camera: Amo Yue Wang, Carol Sawyer
Stylist: Jenny Brohin
Makeup: Hallah Donovan
Editors: Carol Sawyer, Pegah Tabassinejad
Many thanks to the Historical Dance Society and Catherine Lee for their generous loan of costume components.
Amor Vincit Omnia
The first video created for this series is Amor Vincit Omnia. It was shot in 2020 during the COVID pandemic with just myself on camera, and Amo Yue Wang portraying the stoic heroine. Pegah Tabassinejad edited the film, patiently removed birds from the sky I shot at Iona Beach, added the rock that I shot at a construction site, and figured out how to add glitching effects to Amo. Animator Negar Samadi created Amo’s text banner and animated the plastic bags and newspapers that I shot in my studio, so that they appear to blow through the landscape. Some of the plastic bags appear to get sucked into points in the sky.
CREDITS:
Performer: Amo Yue Wang
Director/ Camera: Carol Sawyer
Editor: Pegah Tabassinejad
Animation: Negar Samadi
We acknowledge the support of the British Columbia Arts Council.
