Montage Statement

 

Statement: Montage

The images for this project were all chosen because of their similarity of visual aspects. For some it was color, for others it was the subject, and each was edited to relate and transition to the next. Because it's a subtle story in spite of being emotionally charged, I chose to use a muted color range with soft blues and yellows, using a darker blue effect on the images that were part of memories or dream sequences. I chose to represent it in painterly texture because I try to sympathize by putting myself in others' shoes, and I know that I would best deal with something of this magnitude through painting. And so the story is told the same way.

The sound was chosen after sampling several different bits of instrumental before I found one that was appropriate and assisted in narrating the story without taking over by causing the viewers to react through the rises and falls of the audio. The sound starts off sweet and melancholy, and progresses to tense, suspenseful crescendos as the woman, the protagonist, experiences a loss that ultimately leads her to take her own life.

                Although the experience of miscarriage isn't personal to me, it did happen to my aunt when I was a child. I remember her being devastated though I hadn't thought about it until I actually began on the project. Throughout the process, I began to think that the vague memories I have of her disappointment is probably what's caused me to develop such an aversion to pregnancy over the years. I realized that it has reached the point that my blood pressure elevates whenever the subject is approached. It me wonder about what kind of effect an event like that has on someone psychologically when they go through it first hand, which led me to create this montage as it stands now. It’s a heaviness that’s carried around forever.