CORNFIELD explores processes of representation through the contemplation of light, duration, movement and visual transformation. It is presented as a silent twin screen film which was filmed handheld in what might be regarded as an ‘ecology of light’.
The cornfield was selected for the film because of an analogical association with the agricultural ecological cycle in which time, light and the visual are involved. Time and sunlight being a requirement to help germinate, grow and ripen the corn. Followed by the gathering and transformation into food substances for consumption, energy and to sustain life,
The film was made using a single camera in one 13 minute ‘real time’ continuous take. However as an attempt to foreground film duration the second screen (right) is a duplicate of the first but is screened in reverse order. So that at the end of the film the 2 screens will have swapped their image positions each appearing visually opposite to the way they started. It is only at the mid point of the screening duration where for a brief moment each of the images synchronise and appear identical.
Within the image content itself the movement, shape and direction of the clouds become the main visual indicator of the passing of time. Where there is little indication in the changes of light or within the movements of the corn.
The film references the rhythms, changes and transformations in light which occur within a framed section a cornfield. The changes and frequency in the illumination of the image is determined by the momentary duration in which the sun is obscured and ‘filtered’ by clouds.
The centre edges of the joining 2 screens create a visual tension between the 2 images. Which is enhanced by the movements created as a result of filming handheld without a tripod and the changing geometry of the green horizon line stretching horizontally across the 2 images.
It is hoped that CORNFIELD will present a phenomenological and reflexive experience for the viewer in the observation and contemplation of the film. It also extends my exploration of spectatorship within my experimental film practice and particularly in the perception and response to films involving long durational takes.
