Monday, June 8, 2015

Thoughts on Montage, Larger Forces at Work







I made a short montage representing the fictitious leisurely activities of students at Lawrence University. Certeau said, “Today, it is no longer enough to manipulate, transport, and refine belief; its composition must be analyzed because people want to produce it artificially; commercial and political marketing studies are still making partial efforts in this direction. There are now too many things to believe and not enough credibility to go around.” I feel as though the art of montage can imbue a feeling, or a tone, more effectively and efficiently than many other mediums. Montage uses a sense of passing time coupled with images that, while alone, say something vague, but together, give a clear sense of the mood the creator is trying to give off. To induce an audience with this feeling is, in a sense, to “produce [belief] artificially”, as Certeau described. I believe that the motives of those who would wish to fabricate said beliefs range anywhere from innocent to malicious, but one can be sure that such unanalyzed beliefs permeate every aspect of our lives. Recognizing the inherent presence of these beliefs should come as especially important for my generation. Through social media we can create caricatured online profiles where we can selectively choose what the world will see of us. In the age where all the information we could ever need is beneath our fingertips, most – if not all – of what we believe is unquestioningly embraced. This is not to say that it is unwise to believe anything at all, only to question what one thinks – and why it is that one thinks that way.



With that said, watch my very own attempt at montage and try your best not to laugh at me.



Thanks.



2 comments:

  1. This was great! Funny stuff! I definitely like the ironic almost sardonic tone, especially with the mix between your personal footage and the found footage you collected. I do wish there was a stronger blend between real and fake footage with tighter cropping and editing to further the concept of whether what we're watching is real or not, especially with the rising escalation of events onscreen, which I thought was done with great humorous effect, by the way.

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  2. yes, definitely a lot can be said with this without explicitly "saying" anything. this project is definitely conscious of the media and the power it has to insinuate its own beliefs. clever, nice editing, very chill. 10/10 will share with friends :^)

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