Interview with artist and filmmaker Anna Franceschini
For Anna Franceschini, film is more than just a medium. It’s a living, breathing form in itself – it’s modernity manifested behind a silver screen.
For Anna Franceschini, film is more than just a medium. It’s a living, breathing form in itself – it’s modernity manifested behind a silver screen.
Milan born and bred ‘documenter of the soul’ Anna Franceschini boasts an impressive résumé of exhibitions, awards, fellowships and residencies across the world on her belt. With her numerous accolades one must wonder that she’s certainly got the art of experimental s film to a T – metaphorically and literally (See: THE STUFFED SHIRT film of hers). When viewing a film of hers I was always intrigued as to the thought process that drove such exceptional ingenuity. I was lucky enough to interview her and find out.
Very briefly, for those who have not heard of your art before. What would you describe it as?
I work mainly in experimental film, art films, and experimental documentary. By ‘experimental documentary’ I mean something that is in between straight documentation, visual anthropology, surrealist films and everything that escapes the conventional definition of 'documentary' but has, somehow, a deep relationship with the observation of phenomena and performances that involve the production of moving images in real time.
Now you studied media and film extensively. But what initially inspired you to get into this field?
When I was a child, my parents allowed me to stay up late at night only if there was a good movie on television. We would go to the video shop together with my father, which was also a bit of a ritual. This helped me to develop a 'taste' in film, and visions in general quite early on. Also, my mother and father had always been very attentive towards the cultural offerings I was exposed to. This doesn't mean they prohibited me to watch this or read that thing. It was quite the opposite – I always had a lot of freedom, but they were always present. They were always explaining, contextualizing, and entertaining themselves and I with irony. They had been the first and most important trainers of both my eyes and mind. And now, the more I grow up, the more I realize how important and inspiring that was. I now have a different look towards things, to be autonomous in my thinking. This is what led me to be an artist and this is what they taught me.
Anna Franceschini, The player may not change his position, HD video, installation view at Spike Island, Bristol, UK, 2014
What aspect of your work do you think defines you? In other words, what do you think makes you a unique artist?
I never thought about myself in terms of uniqueness, but I would say that my aim is to focus on some inherent characteristics of the film language like: movement, montage and light. I'm also interested in cinema not only as a form of art or entertainment but also as a technique – an apparatus. Besides this, I'm interested in a sort of 'cinematic experience' that encompass different aspects of life and experience. Traveling by modern means of transport, taking a escalator, watching the effect of the wind, living in a urban landscape. Everything that belongs to modernity, historically intended, is somehow cinematic. It's not by chance that the first experiments with moving images and the beginning of the modern era are coexistent. Modernity is cinematic and cinema is modern. Which makes the term ‘seventh art’ a little obsolete now. But all this is occurring in a beautiful way though. Cinema is aging gracefully.
You are a very visual artist as well as a filmmaker. Would you consider your art to be a viewing experience for pure aesthetic purposes or something else?
It's a very crucial question and answering it is quite complicated. The esthetic experience it's way more than the mere experience of 'beauty', it involves perception, rational thinking, emotional reactions, all that concerns the self and the Other. I think art has been mainly based on the form rather than its contents – otherwise it turns purely informational. Jean-Luc Godard used the expression 'politique des formes' and I think it's a perfect synthesis for what art is.
Lastly, what’s your creative process like?
It usually starts when a thought meets something that belongs to the so-called ‘phenomenological reality.’ It's an encounter between my subjectivity (or some aspects of it), and what I consider the 'outside.' It’s based on a process of identifying which is often subconscious. Then I interiorize these ideas and rationalize them in order to achieve a result.
Anna Franceschini, Polistirene, video, still, 2007
ROOMS 17 presents: A Female Perspective in Film
ROOMS proudly waves the feminism flag presenting the latest feature aimed to celebrate and pave the way for more female recognition in Film, A Female Perspective in Film, featuring Francesca Gregorini, Daisy Jacobs and Ruth Paxton.
Women are pioneering the film industry now more than ever before, slowly shrinking the gender gap that has long dominated cinema. ROOMS proudly waves the feminism flag presenting the latest feature aimed to celebrate and pave the way for more female recognition in Film, A Female Perspective in Film, featuring Ruth Paxton, Francesca Gregorini and Daisy Jacobs.
Writer, director and producer Francesca Gregorini one of the women featured, earned a nomination at the Sundance Film Festival 2013 Grand Jury Prize – Dramatic for her film ‘The Truth about Emanuel.’ In the feature she shares an insight into women’s position in film today; ‘I feel very honoured to be one of the very few women out there when you think of the percentages of filmmakers. I take it on as a responsibility because there’s not that many voices out there and I think if telling women’s stories, if this is the only thing I ever do in my entire career, then I’ll be completely happy and satisfied.’
Unfortunately, Gregorini is right about the amount of women filmmakers out there. According to the latest industry statistics in 2014, women accounted for 7% of directors, up 1 percentage point from 2013 but down 2 percentage points from 9% in 1998.
Francesca Gregorini
Although, it appears that female supporting their own in film is increasingly evident in the industry with films directed by women featuring more women in all roles. There is a 21% increase in women working on a narrative film when there is a female director and a 24% of women working on documentaries. Thereby, suggesting that the new wave of feminism in film is an encouraging prospect, showing women having more of an impact in aiding the success of other women in the industry. Gregorini shared similar views in the feature, urging women to be aware of all types of positions available in film; ‘We need more female financiers and female executives and all of these people being mindful of trying to help a sister out.’
It is a slow battle of equality for women in film, the latest Oscar award ceremony proved in abundance that men are still leading in the high leagues with writer and director Ruth Paxton who also featured stating; ‘five filmmakers nominated in the Best Director were all white men, reflects the reigning racism and sexism in Hollywood, which sets the blueprint really.’
The underlining notion is that there needs to be a balance of women and men in film, not just to balance out the sexes but to equalise the kind of voices and the type of films being produced. Paxton is accurate to have these opinions about sexism in Hollywood; it is after all, the largest controllers of distribution, exhibition and production in film and in order for there to be more equality, it needs to be initiated by Hollywood first who maintains this power. If Hollywood continues as it is, controlled by men, from the top investors to the top directors, that sets an inevitable misogynist binary in film that does not cater for women in our population.
But for now, we live in hope. ROOMS latest feature, A Female Perspective in Film certainly offers that, exhibiting the latest in pioneering female filmmaking of three talented women proving success can be built on merit and not gender.
Phoebe Shannon-Fagan interviews Francesca Gregorini, Daisy Jacobs and Ruth Paxton in our current issue ROOMS 17 Who decides what you see
ROOMS 17 | Who decides what you see? Unravelling Perspective
We invite you to embrace the un-embraced, explore the unexplored, in an adventure of perception. Will you unravel yours? NEW ISSUE OUT NOW!
How do you gain clarity in a world of instinctually different perspectives? Of minds fixated in black and white, oblivious to those standing boldly in-between? The greys, the what ifs, the could haves… the creators. This April, ROOMS answer exactly that and invite you to explore the ever-growing path of fresh talent and raw perspectives, bringing to you a carefully selected, impressive host of artists, designers, musicians, filmmakers and world class, working creatives.
Among them, exclusive interviews with former graphic designer and now director Greg Barth, composer and video artist Michael Nyman and the man behind the lens, photographer Luke Wassmann. Delve into the delicate works of Yuko Oda, the perceptive designs of Asa Ashuach and the playful works of Olaf Breuning. And skillfully mastering the art of art making with tea drinking, we speak to Carne Griffiths about his drawing rituals, catch up with the visual charmers of PUTPUT and Luis Vasquez tells his beautiful story of how his music turned into an engrossing passion of survival that saved his life.
We invite you to embrace the un-embraced, explore the unexplored, in an adventure of perception. Will you unravel yours?
Also in this issue, we talk to Addictive TV duo, Bianca Pilet, Daisy Jacobs, George Vasey, Realities United, Tom Hancocks and so much more.
Visionaries and reporters united : Unknown Fields Division
This summer on the salt flats of south-west Bolivia, a pan-global group of artists, designers, architects and filmmakers are digging down through the caked up layers of sodium chloride.
This summer on the salt flats of south-west Bolivia, a pan-global group of artists, designers, architects and filmmakers are digging down through the caked up layers of sodium chloride. Their aim is to find a chemical that laid unused for 140 years after its discovery. A largely unwanted and impure element, good for little more than turning flames red and refusing to disconnect from aluminium.
This is lithium, and it is now the beating pulse of mass communication that lies at the heart of the green revolution. The group are the Unknown Fields Division, a collective that undertake artistic studies into the mechanisms of a modern world.
In Bolivia, the group will turn its attention to lithium, or ’grey gold’. The fascination in what is to a cursory glancer dirt stems from its seeming lack of worth. For years it was underrated, hoisted up with the elemental also rans. A neighbour of dull old beryllium. This all changed however, when a Stamford graduate, M Stanley Whttingham, suggested that the then nuclear associated chemical might serve better in batteries. After 30 years of development he proved right. Lithium is now the core component of every electronic mobile device and the future of electronic cars.
The goal of Unknown Field’s trip is to study lithium, to dissect its new found cultural significance and then, through written reports, films and sculptures, to communicate these findings to the wider world.
With all of Unknown Field’s work, there is a focus both on the end product, the smart-phone in your pocket, and its origins. For Bolivia, this is a found reserve that has added billions to the country’s economy. On a previous trip, it was a town turned upside down by global demand.
Unknown Fields Winter 14 Expedition
Liam Young + Kate Davies
Showrell Dir. by Rich Seymour + Jonathan Skerritt
In 2014 Unknown Fields undertook a three week journey up the global supply chain, tracing back the path of consumer goods taken from the factories of China and into our homes. What they encountered was the brutal side effects of an industrial machine. Situated in northern most China, Baotou, or Deer City, was a settlement of 97,000 in 1950. It is now home to 2.5 million and is the world’s biggest supplier of rare earth minerals.
The environmental impact of such an unprecedented boom is severe. Vast refineries sprawl endlessly through the cities neon lit streets. Massive pipes erupt from the ground and run along roadways and pavements, arching into the air to cross roads like bridges. Despite such a man-made, synthetic dent, the work produced by Unknown Fields is free of condemnation.
One piece was formed from radioactive clay from the city’s polluted lake. It is a series of ceramic pots modelled on traditional ming vases, with each proportioned on the amount of toxic waste produced by the city’s use of different minerals.
A vessel takes shape, formed from the amount of toxic material produced in the manufacture of a single mobile phone. Film Still © Toby Smith/Unknown Fields
Another is a video of visceral quality. It looks inside the factories, glimpsing the might of un-fathomably powerful machines. The effect is something similar to Godfrey Reggio’s Koyaanisqatsi.
The result of such considered work is profound. The approach is subtle, with the viewer coaxed rather than forced to reflect on the weighty topics. From the Texaco oil fields of the Ecuadorian Amazon to The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, the subjects are massive, and a personal, emotive response undeniable.
All images via © Unknown Fields Division
Time-lapse | An interview with Jeffry Spekenbrink
Jeffry Spekenbrink is a photographer, filmmaker and visual image artist whose works are the result of a very long and dedicated process involving his camera and the unremitting power of earth’s multifarious landscapes.
Jeffry Spekenbrink is a photographer, filmmaker and visual image artist whose works are the result of a very long and dedicated process involving his camera and the unremitting power of earth’s multifarious landscapes. Using his photography to create time-scapes, Jeffry’s works transform the everyday into an otherworldly representation of stunning visuals, perspectives and pure cinematography, often captured in the space of a few minutes.
In 2014, Jeffry graduated from the ArtEZ Institute of the Arts in Enschede and was a finalist in the TENT Academy’s Film Awards for his hugely successful time-lapse film, Part of the Empire/Plague. His video presented a six-minute compilation of the many highlights captured on his journey that stretched between the uniquely desolate environs of Iceland to the densely populated French capital of Paris and with it, the realisation of a growing population living in social isolation.
Jeffry’s accompanying music adds an extra exciting, slightly unnerving feel to the film and the sheer spectacle of the entire video is incredible to behold. I caught up with the man behind the lens to find out more about his journey.
How did everything begin for you? What inspired you to start making time-lapse videos?
I bought my first DSLR in 2010. Shortly after I saw a short time-lapse video from the northern lights shot somewhere in Norway. I was really touched by this phenomenon, but also by the way it was shot. It gave me a very calm and serene feeling and I realised that, although it looked very surreal, this was a real life phenomenon, captured by just a camera. From that moment on I began to experiment with my own camera as often as I could.
With every meteorological phenomenon that I was able to capture around my house, I began to wonder what it would look like in a time-lapse video. Just like analogue photography, you could never tell what the actual footage would look like until the process of digital developing… making a video out of the few hundred pictures that you take.
A time-lapse video can also create a very different perspective…
I love the perspective of the time-lapse medium… it’s almost as if you are looking at the world from another sense of time. It’s the perfect medium to let people realise what their civilisation looks like from an outsider’s perspective. I didn't realise this until I started shooting cities. This changed the composition of a wide-angle view to a shot of the people from above. I wanted to give the people a look at our world from a slightly different perspective.
A lot of your shots capture scenes without people…
I have always had some kind of curiosity for desolate places. I lived my life in the countryside in the east of the Netherlands, but there weren’t really any desolate places here, I was always wondering how it would feel to be in a place where it was just you and nature. I liked the nights because they were quiet and nobody was ever around to ruin the shot.
What was the inspiration behind Part of the Empire/Plague? Were there any main themes that you tried to incorporate within your images?
At first I just wanted to capture the feeling of serenity that I got from watching night skies and empty landscapes, but I also wanted to add a subtle storyline. I started writing ideas on paper for a short film. That's how I came up with the idea to contrast an empty landscape with a big city. I had lots of ideas but no budget, so I had to make choices… my priority was to show the biggest contrast possible.
You must have travelled quite a bit for this project…
I didn't have much of a budget, so I saved and made a shooting list with all the shots I needed. My first priority was to look for desolate places. The Northern lights was first on the list, which I knew would be difficult to capture. So after doing some research, it came down to Iceland in April.
“In April, Jeffry took a three-week trip with his car and 1.5-meter long slider to Seyðisfjörður in Iceland and spent fourteen consecutive days shooting time-lapses. The results were mind-blowing.”
Had you visited all of these places before?
I had never been to Iceland. For the cities, I had been to Rotterdam and Paris before but not to the places I needed to take the shots from. So again I had to do some research before I went.
Why Iceland?
Iceland has a very unique and various landscape with volcanic activity, glaciers, moving icebergs… its sea with black beaches. In the summertime it doesn't get dark in Iceland… that means there are no Northern lights to see and in the wintertime it stays dark, so not ideal for landscapes. That's why I wanted to go in April, the last month that you can see the northern lights, and experience Iceland with a day and a night.
After Iceland I needed city footage. I went to stay with a friend in Rotterdam to practice and shoot footage for the film but was looking for a bigger city like Paris or Berlin to shoot from a higher perspective.
Is digital manipulation a strong element of your work?
The film consists of 12.406 21-megapixel images from the 23.807 pictures shot in total. Because it is made out of 14 bits RAW-images you get the possibility to pull great details and beautiful colors out of the image. I also used filters whilst shooting to level the contrast between the sky and the ground - this is how you get more details in the clouds.
In some shots I removed smaller elements such as dust and birds… these were distracting because they were moving too fast. I wanted the viewer to focus on the slow movements that become visible due to the acceleration of time, like the movement of the clouds and the water.
Digital manipulation is an important element, but it has to remain the reality. With every shot, I experienced the environment and tried my best to express the feelings I had at the particular place through the image. I did that separately with every shot of the film.
There’s been a lot of interest recently in nature and the man-made. Do you think that your work reflects this through the contrast of rural and urban landscapes?
I think so, yes. It was my meaning to show people the contrast between the rural and urban from an outsider’s perspective, in combination with my view of the places.
The whole experience of traveling has been very important for the end result. During the city trips I experienced something really different to that in Iceland. It takes up to a few hours to take one time-lapse shot so during that time I was able to observe my surroundings very well.
Whilst I was looking around in the big cities I felt proud to be a part of a successful society. At the same time I felt a part of a huge growing population in which nobody really cares about the individual. I experienced the same in Iceland… I’d expected to find a lot of pristine nature, which we found, but it turned out to be pretty touristy.
Can you tell me about some of your favourite photographs captured within this time-lapse?
Technically, the first shot from the Eiffel Tower in Paris is my favourite, because that was number one on the list for Paris and I was quite happy with the end result, despite the challenges. I chose the Eiffel Tower because it has a fence at the top instead of windows. Taking pictures through the window of a high building brings more complications like reflections and limitations in focus length. The movement of the top of the tower caused by the win, for example. I wanted to take all of my shots at night which meant that I needed to use as much wide angles as possible and keep the shutter speed as short as possible to avoid blurry images.
Emotionally, both the Northern lights and the church are my favourites. In the two weeks that we were in Iceland, there was only one clear night when we the Northern lights could be seen so I was quite lucky to have experienced that. I drove my car up to the highest mountain in the area and aimed both of my camera’s at the sky. I go my own lightshow, which was stunning. And because I had to use exposures of 8 and 10 seconds, I had to stay there for 2.5 hours for less than 40 seconds of video, so I watched it from beginning to end. For me this was a very special moment, all alone on a mountain with a personal lightshow brought to me by nature.
After that, the northern lights only showed up once, barely visible with the naked eye, which became the shot with the full moon.
“For me this was a very special moment, all alone on a mountain with a personal lightshow brought to me by nature.”
How do you capture your chosen landscapes? What is the process?
I was well prepared before the traveling. I had already made a shooting list and decided the composition. It's always different when you get there but most of the time I stuck to the plan… that worked out pretty well, especially in the cities. For Iceland we planned the route. I had all of the spots marked on the map but I could never tell when I would see that thing on the list. The best shots were the spontaneous ones, and that's most of them!
Were there any challenges you faced along the way? Any freak weather conditions?!
Technically there were a few struggles like dust, but mainly the cold… harsh winds all of the time, blizzard, roads blocked with huge piles of snow… The shot with the wavy clouds under the orange sky, for example. I had wanted to shoot it from the top of the highest mountain on the map but that didn’t work out because of the weather conditions. I saw these clouds when we were in a village and they were pretty far away but I just had to make that shot, so I used a telephoto lens… slightly different than expected but in the end everything went well, we were pretty lucky I guess…
Timing is obviously a huge factor within your works... How long does a time lapse usually take to photograph at one specific location? The Northern Lights, for example, you capture them so beautifully!
In the daylight the interval between the pictures can be very short, but I used intervals of 4-6 seconds most of the time depending on how fast the clouds were moving. In the cities I chose to shoot everything at night. I think cities show their true beauty at night, when you see only the things that matter and all the movements become visible in lights.
With the Northern lights it was really dark so I had to take exposures of 8-10 seconds with a high ISO. For 10 seconds of video in 30 frames per second you need 300 pictures and the actual time to take the shot varies between 20 and 75 minutes.
And I understand you composed the music by yourself? (which is stunning!) What was the process? The film’s sense of discovery and wonderment is just incredible.
In my opinion music is a piece of art on its self, that's why I didn't want to use the music of another artist. Music is very important for guiding the viewer through the images. To me the choice of music is responsible for half of the emotion you are trying to express through the film. Because the whole film is a very personal work to me, I couldn't think of another way than to make my own music for it.
I play guitar and I also took it with me to Iceland. There were a lot of moments when I could play the guitar and so I began to come up with the basics of a song for the film. The guitar at the beginning of the song was recorded at home and I went on from there digitally, using the same chords for the other instruments.
I then categorised the shots and adjusted the music to that. Basically I worked the other way around… the images were most important and the music had to bend and support the images. That’s a really satisfying thing to do because you’re not able to do so with the already existing music.
Is music making something you intend to pursue?
Yes, at the moment I am quite busy recording my own guitar playing and singing to improve the quality of my music for my next work.
All images © Jeffry Spekenbrink