Diagonal (Ian Hunt)
3min 33s – 16:9
Synopsis
This is a new development in my film research into memory conceptualisation in Cinema. Using found footage from the late 19th and early 20th century I created a short experimental film in the style of a City Symphony. While not a true example of the City Symphony as it is filmed across serval locations it does retain the essential components of this rare genre film. This film is number 3 of 3 films sharing a similar aesthetic style.
Artist Statement
The untold story of some of the pioneers of the film industry. The film is a montage from several early films merged to show a small boat as the cameras focus as it rows through the seas, across continents and through the canals of Venice.
I think the image of movement – of moving bodies – is a good way of suggesting and evoking both the idea of the complex and unstable structure of memory and the sense of history as something dynamic and ever-changing, ever-moving, rather than something stable and fixed. Water is therefore an interesting symbolic image in this regard.
I think the use of clearly remastered imagery is interesting. It means this is not about nostalgia for analogue film, or for some authentic past, but instead suggests that new image technologies can give us access to the past. There is a broader significance to this conceptualisation of the past – and history – as something that has to be revisited and narrated continually. (Bennett 2022)
Ian Hunt
Ian is currently a PhD researcher in Film at Lancaster University while producing a series of short films as part of his PhD practice.
Ian is keen to make films using vintage cameras and is currently shooting several experimental films in Super 8 film format using a 60-year-old vintage Russian camera that works using clockwork and an early 70’s Canon Super 8 camera.
Previously:
Ian graduated from Bournemouth University with a master’s Degree in Cinematography for Digital Film and Television in 2014 and is a founding member of the award-winning Independent Film Production company, ‘Smudgerhunt Film’, which was formed by former students of Bournemouth University.
Ian graduated from the Arts University Bournemouth as a Digital Media Designer and this was where he developed his early camera and editing skills and what would go on to become his passion as a filmmaker.
Ian has previous work experience working in the professional Television and Theatre Industry as a Lighting Engineer and Camera operator gaining experience as an International Lighting Engineer, responsible for Lighting installations in TV Studios and Theatres in Europe and Asia.