The inspiration for my video remix, “Moving Forward”, evolved as I was reflecting on the idea that life is continually moving forward at a constant pace, never stopping or slowing down. The intent of this video is to capture and emphasize the significance of time. The merits of this work lie in the careful selection and arrangement of the video and music clips. Hours of video was curated in search for footage that matched the concept and theme. Many of the clips in their original form were in color or facing left and were therefore converted to black and white and horizontally flipped to ensure all were moving in the same direction. The final step was arranging the clips to correspond with the music and balance out the piece.

The footage included in this project is from the Prelinger Archives. The videos range from the timeframe of the 1920’s to the 1970’s. The clips used include vehicles, trains, airplanes, objects, animals and people all moving in the same direction, to the right. Using a range of characters was meant to signify the non-discriminatory way in which time impacts all, whether human, animal or object. In selecting the clips for this video, it was important to ensure immediate movement so that each clip flowed into the next without stopping. As the video progresses, the timing steadily increases, symbolism for the way life seems to accelerate as we age. Throughout the video, a man is seen driving a car, looking at his watch as if he is going to be late. There is also a repeating clock. Both the man in the car and the clock are used to symbolize time running out.

The music layer of the video is from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Spring, and is used to bring life and emotion to the piece. This particular selection helps to build energy and anticipation as the video progresses.

The artistry of this video collage lies in the concept. It is simplistic in form with the power being in the intended message. Time is perpetual, but we who live within its boundaries are not. The style used is comparable to “Dissolve” by Aaron Valdez with its black and white imagery and use of minimalist transitions. The inspiration for the repeating clock was Christian Marclay’s twenty-four-hour video collage titled, “The Clock”.

The inspiration for this video remix was to make a piece that featured women in celebration of International Women’s Day which was March 8^th. The concept was to highlight feminine emotion and vulnerability as seen through the eyes of a woman. I was drawn to the aesthetic used by Penny Woolcock in her collage From the Sea to the Land Beyond and how her video tugged at the heart through her use of a century’s worth of video footage and moving soundtrack.

Using both black and white and color video footage from the 1950’s and 1960’s, my goal was to portray women who appeared to be emotional­—whether happy, sad, or distraught. Many of the video clips used were taken from old television commercials, educational films, home movies, and even an exploitation short entitled These Girls are Fools which was released in 1950, but most likely shot in the 1940’s. I felt it was important to find shots with a single woman to emphasize one emotion. One of the challenges I experienced with this project was finding clips that were racially diverse and inclusive. I was able to find one African American woman and she appears towards the end of the video. Twenty-five different videos were used in the creation of this two-minute remix. The strict parameters to stay within a particular time period and only use female characters required combing through over a hundred videos to find the appropriate shots.

The music selection for this remix is “Turandot, Act 3: Nessun Dorma” as performed by Plácido Domingo. In selecting the music, I was looking for a piece with a male voice to contrast with the femininity of the visuals. I also wanted something that would build up throughout the piece to evoke emotion from the viewer. Although the lyrics of the song do not relate to the message it has a melancholic feel which helped achieve the desired effect.

The video begins with a woman who sits down to watch TV. She clicks on the remote control and the view switches to the TV sitting in front of her. The montage of selected video clips flow through the screen with a subtle cross-dissolve between each clip, similar to the aesthetic used by Aaron Valdez in his found footage film, Dissolve, where he also used old educational films. Midway through the video, the music changes to a fuller sound which coincides with the video coming out of the TV to fill the screen. The idea is to give the appearance that the woman watching is immersed in the emotion. Towards the end, the music changes back to the old-time TV sound as the full screen then fades back into the TV, and the woman is seen sitting in her chair watching the TV with the same video clip she started with of the blonde girl with tears in her eyes.

One of the most interesting aspects of this video is how the use of slow-motion effects, subtle transitions, music, and finding the right clips shifted the message. Most of the footage in its original form would have conveyed an entirely different meaning, particularly the woman who is pining for new kitchen appliances in a Frigidaire commercial. Although the film stays true to its original form in the sense of time period, it is still transformative and presents the viewer with something new.