On Sunday February 21, we recorded the music for Strands at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal with composer Gabriel Dharmoo and sound recordist Jean-François Blouin.

The music is made up of harpsichord (Jean-Willy Kunz), marimba (Olivier Maranda) and clarinet/bass clarinet (François Gagné). The timbral possibilities of these instruments cover a wide palette of colour and expression, which will enhance the different atmospheres or moods created from one movement to another.

To see more pictures, click here.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, this festival is about music and video collaborations, so both Gabriel and I have a chance at winning various awards, from Best Original Score, Audience Choice Award, to Best Experimental Film. But besides that, it will be a great experience to make connections with other filmmakers and composers.

Funding is through SODEC and the Office Franco Québécois pour la Jeunesse (OFQJ). Below is a quirky little animation video introducing the festival.

**Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec has also awarded me a travel grant to cover the remainder of the costs.

Link:Festival International du Film d’Aubagne 2010

Refractions, and particularly its music and sound design by Gabriel Dharmoo, has been selected to compete in the Official Short Film Competition, category ‘Experimental’, at the Festival International du Film d’Aubagne in France, taking place March 15 – 20, 2010.

In the Short Film Competition, Refractions is among 74 films selected out of 1,187 submitted to the festival.

This festival is designed to support young cinematographic creation and music and sound creation for motion pictures, both short and feature.

Link to complete selection of short films: Festival International du Film d’Aubagne

December 2009

Strands mini-shoot. Note that these photos are of animation in process. There will still be some post-production on the animated shots of face manipulation.

VIEW VIDEO EXCERPTS FROM ECM+

Click here to view the embedded video.

November 2009

Refractions screening November 13, 2009, INVIDEO festival – Milan, Italy. Funded by grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec.

About Strands

Animated fingerprints interact with dancers in this live action / animated dance film about desire, consciousness and body memory.

Strands is a 5 minute dance film that explores the layers of desire in relation to the unconscious and the awareness we have of the impact of our actions. Much of the time we operate from mental patterns programmed over time and are unaware of what lies just below the surface. In the span of a second, our conscious mind processes a mere fraction of our environment in comparison with that of our unconscious.
As we move through life we inevitably leave marks behind. In the film these marks are shown through the animation of fingerprints. Our conscious mind struggling to become aware is represented by blue prints, our constant and always present unconscious by black prints, and white prints symbolize the marks our dualistic society leaves on us.

Bringing this film to life are three dancers, or characters, each connected to a set of fingerprints. Manifesting consciousness is the principal dancer Jonathan Turcotte, who in turn is manipulated by the other two characters and the animated strands of fingerprints. Marc Boivin, the second dancer, embodies both Jonathan’s desire and unconscious, whereas the final dancer, Clara Furey, who represents society, acts initially as an obstacle to Turcotte, yet eventually provides space for the two dancers to evolve. The relationship between Boivin and Turcotte shifts constantly between the weight, uncertainty and anticipation of desire.

The film begins with a blue ink blot splashing onto the screen, which dissolves, leaving only traces of fingerprints. The camera pans back, revealing a man, hand raised, whose prints unravel to the floor. At one point, the black prints coming from Boivin’s hands and feet, unravel into long strings, acting as marionettes, flailing Turcotte’s body up off the ground, controlling and manipulating his movements. Finally Turcotte gets unwound and freed by the forces that controlled him from the beginning.

Strands is in post-production and will be released April 2010.