In some ways, editing for me can feel removed from the creative process, a barrier existing in the technological realm of knowledge that functions as another medium through which ideas must be filtered. I think this may be why I defaulted to poetry for my last post, even though I’ve never written it before; I needed something more than sifting through footage, marking points, and moving blocks of audio or images into a timeline.
This is not to say that editing is a process entirely void of creativity. In the past few years I’ve come to appreciate just how important the art of editing is, especially in light of how little attention it receives. It takes someone with a dedication to the craft and an exceptional eye for storytelling to be a great editor, not a seeker of fame or fortune. Maybe a seeker of a steady job, though.
But, again, since I’m not the most skilled editor in terms of technical functions, things take longer for me, and boredom as a result of tedium ensues. I’ve found a new way to address this boredom during the next few weeks, while simultaneously working to balance my footage vs. audio ratio, and incorporating themes of the full piece into the new creative endeavor.
For a film I made last year, I incorporated dirty dub footage of work I had done directly on 16MM film leader. A dirty dub is the cheapest way to “transfer” film into a digital format, especially when you don’t have access to appropriate transferring equipment. What this entails is recording the projection of the 16MM film with a digital camera. It seems like a bit of a crude process, but it works. Here’s a still from that film, which was made by painting india ink on clear film leader and doing a dirty dub of the projection:
I’ve discovered a new process in working with 16MM film, which is applicable to my current film. By taking bleach to the emulsion of any film, in this case, black leader, a chemical process dissolves the emulsion. By dotting the film with bleach, I can create clear-ish circles, but not perfect ones – veins of the emulsion remain within them, and it’s actually quite a beautiful process to witness. Lucky for me, the images created can be very easily likened to snow. Only the largest dots are visible here, but the below gives an idea of what I'm doing.
After just having projected some of the work I’ve done for the first time today, I’m excited by the results and have decided to move forward with bleaching. It’s another thing to tack onto the project, but one that is creative for me. Having this outlet will help me get through the most difficult portion of editing and, in my opinion, make the final product better.
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