home (hõm) māja; dzimtene

 title draft: homeland / dzimtene. 

 the time management: 

for the purpose of the film i'm visiting the national archives of latvia to acquire original footage from 1989 demonstrations and footage of soviet latvia, as well as possibly revisiting sites and shooting footage that would help hold up the narrative of the film. i am also readying a book that looks into the multiple deportations that took place in latvia and the history of the forest brothers. i have created a separate schedule for the production with approximate dates, however it might change as the style of this film allows it be quite flexible.

 the research updated: 

 the text style inspiration: 

 the scribbles: 

From the very start of this project, I had been wanting to use a 'distraction' - showing the audience one narrative, only to deem that useless by a new one (if that makes sense?). To do this I've decided to tell the narrative in two parts: one that would be presented as stories that aren't necessarily true, and second that would be presented with real facts.

As of now, I've decided to have the voiceover be in Latvian with subtitles in English, hence the use of text within the film. I am currently doubtful of this but I have had an idea to leave a 'secret' message in the audio for those who understand Latvian, or direct a paragraph to them only.

I hope to create a piece that is more of a PSA or a visual pamphlet on the topic rather than a fictional story. I could not find an archive release form before the actual visit so I edited the personal appearance form instead, adjusting it a little for the archive.

baltijas ceļš.

Initially my ideas were mostly based around text, possibly due to the fact I found inspiration in experimental films such as Bradley Manning Had Secrets by Adam Butcher and Blue by Derek Jarman. I was also amazed by Dan Mace's The Sound of Silence due to its unusually fast tempo during its opening sequence. Theme-wise I wanted to explore something metaphorical up until very recently.


My previous idea had been to see how something beautiful could hurt a person, but after a chat and some soul-searching I decided to pursue an idea I had had for years.

This idea was to create something rather personal and important to me. I realise not many people know the history of the Baltic States, those being Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia, but I do find it fun to bring up our painful stories whenever someone compares them to Russia, or forgets that the Soviet regime was not voluntary. Anyhow, my plan was to make everyone more aware of just what my home has been through.


Originally I used this idea in a short I did for the theme Personal and Political where I created a short piece that used online footage of the people participating in The Baltic Way and created an audio piece that, whilst mostly muted, explained the current situation in Latvia from my point of view.

 The Baltic Way 

In 1940 the Baltic states were occupied by the Soviet Union which had previously agreed upon it with Nazi Germany. The agreement was entered into on 23 August 1939 in Moscow and was entirely secret. This document is called the Hitler–Stalin Pact or the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.  

 / 

At the end of the 1980s the effects of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact were still sharply present in the Baltic states. The occupation continued but the USSR denied the existence of the Pact and continuously asserted that the Baltic states had voluntarily joined the Soviet Union. On 23 August 1989, the 50th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the inhabitants of the three Baltic states demanded public acknowledgement of the Pact’s secret protocols and the renewal of the independence of the Baltic states.  

 / 

At 19:00 on 23 August 1989 approximately two million inhabitants of the Baltic states joined hands forming a human chain from Tallinn through Riga to Vilnius. The Baltic Way was organised by the national movements of the Baltic states: the Estonian Rahvarinne, the Latvian Popular front of Latvia and the Lithuanian Sajūdis. The participants gathered in the cities and villages where the campaign was to take place or drove to the less inhabited Baltic territories where the Baltic Way was to wind through. [1]

[1] The History of The Baltic Way (2014) At: http://www.thebalticway.eu/en/history/

(Accessed 09.03.2018)

replica.

 don't feed the wolves, they said,  •  but they are my thoughts and  
•  i don't really want to starve because i  •

  am already empty everywhere else •  and the complexion fades per day

This is a photographic replica of a human being, detached and dazed. These images are views and reflections, discreet and almost impossible for a human eye to see in real life. They're states of mind, and the feeling of unease, they're each other's compliments and they tell a story of a fight with our own thoughts and doings. The purpose of this series is simply to let you feel and assemble the scattered fragments.

These photographs were taken using thirty small, sharp mirrors, done over two days whilst the subjects were in a variety of moods (as I felt they shouldn't be fabricated and instead true to self) to portray a fictional story of a being, for lack of a better term, who finds themselves without control over their mind, thoughts, interactions. The poem is in five parts.

I: don't feed the wolves, they said, - 

talks about fuelling our self-destructive thoughts and how that shouldn't be done

II: but they are my thoughts and - 

they are a part of the person and their characteristics, so without them the person is incomplete

III: i don't really want to starve because i - 

talks about how it's impossible to cancel out something that is within ones head

IV: am already empty everywhere else - 

the feeling of confusion and disorientation that is so strong it makes one feel empty (of strong feelings)

V: and the complexion fades per day - 

the person feels all over the place whilst to others it is unnoticeable

today i will write a poem for us.

 My main focuses for sounds were: 

• wind (such as whistling, blowing into an empty bottle,

blowing into my palm, breathing)

• train (metal against glass for the train track vibration,

dropping announcement, train woosh)

• birds (a mix of both seaguls and chickens)

(because Jack lives in Norfolk and everyone has to have chickens there)

• paper (opening a notebook, running fingers over a piece of paper,

scrunching up paper, throwing paper into the air, paper falling)

• writing (opening and closing a pen, writing in different paces)

I also had to improvise because I didn't have a dead cat

or any other microphone cover..

After that, I created a timeline for all that was happening within the piece.

Birds in the sky. Light wind. Train station.
People kicking stones in front of the station.

Metallic sound/vibration of the train tracks where a train is approaching.

The train goes past. There is a person standing at the station.

Announcement rings through the small station, wind flows through the gaps.
The person opens the little folder in their hands and pops off the pen lid with their mouth.
They scribble something whilst looking up at the view instead of the paper.
They look down and tear the paper into two, scrunching it up and throwing it away.
They write something again, this time paying attention. As they write, the wind picks up.
It whistles and gets noisy. The paper flies up and is taken away by the gust.

I ended up with eleven tracks overall. Right before the export I came across a problem in the playback after unplugging my headphones. Detected dropped samples. There would be a very short jump in the audio but when exported, it would disappear. I tried to find the solution within Audition but couldn't, so that's something I have to look into because it really confused me.

This is the final outcome.