https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4eqp95BFPU
(A few of the movies I appropriated for the project - all of which feature a formidable structure or building in its conceit.)
For my VISA 110 Appropriation project, I created a short video of tracking shots used to film empty hallways in movies, music videos, and TV shows.
I remember walking through my high school - a concrete and stone building built in the 70s - and reveling in those rare moments when I would walk down a long hallway alone. There was some quiet significance I gleaned from walking an expanse that was usually teeming with my peers.
I didn't give much thought to this predilection of mine until my first year at university, when I happened to read an article about Derridean archive theory for my Arts Studies class. I immersed myself in this field of thought that questioned these structures we inhabit and what they reflect about our person and our greater society.
When faced with this project, I was surprised with how organically this idea came to me. I suddenly became very aware of how structure has always interested me - from the empty hallways I used to walk through as a teenager, to my fascination with my father's architectural sketches as a child. I was excited to dive into this interest at a practical level and find those hallway scenes that I was certain proliferated filmmaking, though in a very inconspicuous way.
The final product was reversed as if to show a person walking backward down a hallway. I felt this choice had the effect of demonstrating the absurdity of our presence within these spaces, how arbitrary the relationship is.
This project related greatly to my research in my first-year Arts Studies class, as it compelled me to investigate these theoretical concepts in a more practical and cinematic fashion. Ultimately, this was a project for my Visual Arts course, so fittingly I learned much about compiling footage and editing it together in an effective manner.