A short film collaboration with expressionistic portrait artist Keli Lucas. The film acts as a visual interpretation of her poem and a self-portrait painting of the same name. It explores the internal struggle of the creative process, focusing on themes of frustration, anxiety, and feeling trapped by downward spiraling thought.
The main challenge was to represent the abstract feelings in Keli’s poem. I needed to create a haunting atmosphere that would make the viewer feel the same sense of being stuck an artist experiences during a creative block. This extended to the sound design, which involved layering vibrating taps on large metal sheets with the intermittent sound of striking matches to build tension. The matches represents the many cigarettes she smoked during her process. A critical part of the process was capturing an authentic vocal performance. To achieve this, I had Keli record each line dozens of times until her voice conveyed genuine frustration. I then processed her voice to sound like it was coming through a shallow, hollow radio, adding to her sense of isolation.
The final film is a raw and intimate glimpse into the darker side of the creative journey. The authentically frustrated voiceover, processed to sound like a distant radio and set against the unsettling sound design, creates a powerful experience. I came up with an idea to host the film on a hidden webpage, accessible only by a QR code at Keli's exhibition next to the art piece. It created an innovative link between her physical painting and something more. This approach provided a unique reward for viewers at the gallery, offering them a deeper insight into the artist’s mind. It successfully transformed a static piece of art into an interactive, multi-layered experience.
