Film Process macro slo-mo tests 1

Almost a year since the last post. I have been concentrating on writing, and have submitted the RF2 and 10,000 word analysis on the two films. Now I'm back to the practice and the first tests I have done were during lockdown using a clip on £3.99 macro lens from B&M. It gives pretty good, immediate results using the slo-mo function of my phone and is small and light, so easy to get into small spaces. It also slows down the sound, so is good for capturing incidental sounds I wasn't intending to record.

The downsides are that it has an extremely narrow depth of field (maybe all macros do?) but it also blurs out (in a radial blur) the edges, so only the very centre is in focus.

I have uploaded a selection of tests and here are my notes:

Raindrop

Water falling in slow motion looks luscious, sexy, liquid-y and droppy. It has a sensuousness, particularly in this film where the water builds up on the pink petal until it can contain itself no longer and it falls over the side in a long heavy extended drop. It's lovely to watch. I would like to film more of these experiments as they have something that I can't quite explain yet. There's a time aspect, a tension and a beauty that I like. And it would be interesting to combine sound elements.

Little Finger

A teeny tiny petal lies on an old stone wall whose texture is rough. The tip of a little finger moves in from the left and nudges the delicate petal. It pings away, leaping into the air like a spring, its movement much bigger and more pronounced than the gentle nudge would suggest. The little finger looks enormous, inflexible, solid, an object with no dexterity, a large solid object, with no movement or grace. A lump. A prodder. An inelegant, insensitive blind pusher. A whale. It's quite comical. Harmless, but a bit stupid. The tiny petal takes on a much springier, youthful, flexible character. It can move by itself in the wind, and is moved by the finger. The wind doesn't move the finger.

Suspended thing

Right in the middle of lockdown, the height of the uncertainty, I filmed a lot of things suspended in between other things. Lots of fluff and gubbins that had got caught at the end of leaves, in cobwebs, in transition from one place to another, caught in-between. This is one of the most beautiful ones. A section of a plant (sycamore, dandelion?) suspended by a single length of spider silk. It spins beautifully, like a spinning crown, like a merry-go-round. There is an element of humiliation about this video. I don't think the thing intended to be hung and displayed like this. It is so tiny the merest hint of breeze spins it around in a heady giddiness.

Dandelion held back

This is another, although where the suspended thing was held dangling from above, this is caught at its base, held down. It flips back and forth,180 degrees, its long stem like a wand, or conductors' baton. Frantic, it seems desperate to escape.

Feather

This is more down than feather. A minute thing carried on the breeze from one of our Sussex White chickens, snagged on a thorny protrusion. I was aiming for softness, whiteness, depth. Not sure that this one speaks to me of anything very much.

Green Leaf

Shot into the sinking sun, shining through the leaf, lighting up the veins and arteries. It is so green, particularly against the very black background. It has the look of a Dutch still life. An insect ran across the front, its body silhouetted. I liked the swaying movement of the leaf in the breeze. I didn't read too much else into it. It, like the feather, didn't speak very loudly to me of anything other than purely visual.

Pink Lillies

A montage of close ups of lillies in full bloom. Their stamen are wet, the insides of their petals are imprinted with a leopardy pattern, coming up from inside which makes it look like a tongue. They're garishly tarty. The closeness of the frame makes the film look like it's perfumed. You can't help but think there's a nice smell.