The most interesting part of manipulating my film was not knowing exactly what it was going to look like when it was finished. As someone who has grown up in the digital age, I am used to getting a clear visual of my product as I am editing it. Every time I change a setting, there are instant consequences. When editing digitally, I also have the option of hitting the 'undo' button and reversing my previous edit.
When Smiles and I split up our responsibilities, we decided that I would do fire and wind, and he would do earth and water. As I represented fire, I used the stock footage from the medical film. To portray fire, I used orange, yellow, and black sharpie and paint. After covering each frame with color, I scratched in flames using an ex-acto knife. My goal was to make the film look like flames were consuming the stock footage.
When portraying film, I used the clear leader in combination with ink, oil, and glitter. After spreading pink, green, and blue inks across the film, I sprayed it with canned air to give it a "windy" look. I also hoped the spring colors would remind the viewer of breezy days.
Overall, my experience with direct film manipulation was a fun one. It was liberating to not have to be a perfectionist or worried about how something would look. Instead, I could just try things out and see what happens.
