Empathy Series – A series of images that are of my husband and I superimposed together into individual photos. This concept was influenced by a car accident my husband Ricky was in about a year ago. He suffered a concussion and the left side of his face was torn by shards of glass from his driver’s side. As I cared for him at home I began to feel pain pressure on the left side of my face as well. This was the fist time I had experienced any kind of physical empathy with someone.
In order to mesh still photography with a time-based format such a video my plan for my final goes as follows:
Setting – (taken with still shots) Ricky and I are standing facing each other in front of a wall of white linen. The white linen symbolizes the fabric bandaging that was used for his injury, as a sort of backdrop to the setting.
Motion - At this point neither of the left sides of our faces are directed toward the camera because at this point the accident has not happened. As we face each other still shots will be taken from a wide shot point of view (from ceiling to waist level).
Then the lights darken and a projector displays the superimposed images over us. This action of the projected images over us represents the accident occurring. The whole reason for superimposing each other’s images on one another is to help further emphasize that we are close and very much connected, even in a psychic physical way.
As the projector covers us with these images the camera slowly gets closer and closer until the camera is a medium shot (from shoulders to head). As the camera comes in for the medium shot I turn around facing in the other director from Ricky. Then I start to move back towards him and then he hugs me, holds me and then we are cheek to cheek. At this point in the medium shot both of the left side of our faces are facing the camera.
Then the projector switches to moving images of hot wax being poured. The water like projection over our faces cascades and causes a glistening shimmer of light. The pouring of the wax over our faces further represents our melding of my physical reaction to his experience with mine.
Then in the melted wax starts to become more solid as it cools in the moving projected image and the moving image slowly stops and hold still frame over us. In a time lapse partly warm pieces of wax start to little by little cover our face, until finally covering both of our faces together. This represents an even more connection and melding of this experience we shared.
End – After the wax has joined the left side of our faces together, we are both left with memory from this experience. The camera pulls back in still shots of us breaking apart the wax from our faces, ending in a still frame of us still in an embrace but with red skin from the hot wax. The redness of the skin has the meaning of the mark of memory.
Sound – As far as sound I plan to compose a score of light airy ambient music. This will resonate from the beginning of the first projected images and the point where the wax breaks from our faces. The reason for choosing a lighter soundscape is to keep the focus on imagery.
This piece should be approx. from 3-5 minutes long.
