Freedom and Return
This slow motion study of man's dramatic battle and existence with gravity reveals the emotional toll that we have endured after a lifetime of constant and unrelenting imprisonment.
Like the moon, pulling the tides of the Ocean, gravity has a constant hold of our bodies, which is Seventy-three percent liquid, and it is through this slow motion imagery of man being made weightless and free that we observe the body rejoicing in it's expression and shape, as he sores upward and away from the earth. As we move away from gravity, all physical and emotional expressions seem to float effortlessly upward in a positive direction. When the top or apex of the escape is reached, a sort of weightless euphoria is recorded on the face and body. Then as gravity takes hold and pulls the body back down to earth, we see the transformation through the skin, limbs, and face of our reluctance to return and the power of gravity. The facial expression can be observed in defeat, depressed, and the body sags down, with weighted weariness as gravity pulls us back to earth.
All the subjects will be shot at 2000 frames per second, while jumping on a trampoline and performing a certain small task. Afterward the body will be completely steadied in a postproduction process known as 'tracking'. This process takes the subject and steadies them in the frame, so they are no longer moving up and down. All that moves up and down is the skin and weight of the body, caused by jumping on the trampoline. Therefore the overall effect will be the person completely still in the frame, yet their skin, fat, clothes and expression changes and moves dramatically in slow motion, as they defy gravity and are pulled back down. It is beautiful, magical, yet emotional effect.
There are four different pieces. Each one is performing a simple action, designed to make us look at the emotional effect of gravity on their bodies, not get caught up in what they are doing; although, all four actions do lend themselves completely to the concept of gravity and it's emotional pull on our lives.
One is a man getting undressed. He is in a dark bedroom. Everything seems sharp and crisp - folded, graphic, sterile and neat. Very Kafkaescque. He is taking off his suit and his body is letting itself go after being bound up in this uniform for twelve hours. His belly moves up and down and his worn expression and fatigue shows. The second is a woman getting undressed. She is in a classic, wealthy conservatory, with instruments. It is daytime and her manner seems to be more seductive and too camera. She seems at times erotic when her emotions are gliding up, but as she is pulled down it is like we get a glimpse into the real her behind the façade. The third is a man saving a unconscious teenage boy from what appears drowning. They are both wet from water and the man is trying to hold the thin, slippery teenager in his arms. It is a struggle for the man to keep the lanky teenager in from falling out of his grasp, as he constantly re-adjusts and gather the slippery body. The background is a dark forest. The fourth is a couple we follow dancing as the background spins by. It is in a busy intersection at night and lights play on and off the couple as they move from pools of dark to flares of light. The background really becomes a blur of passing, soft lights. They forever seem to be out of step, constantly trying to dance in sync, as they stare into each others eyes. They at times are pushing their partner down or holding them from flying away, a dance as a constant struggle.