Cameraless Experience

Every time I would walk into my Intermediate Documentary class I would see strips of film pinned on the wall right below the projector screen.  I was always so curious to what those strips were for and how students could mutate them.  I would see what was stuck to them, writings and pictures from magazines and newspapers.  What!?!?  But how?  Well the time has come for me to finally experience how to change the form of film and experiment with scratching, sanding, inking, magazine transfers, bleaching, oiling, drawing, and so many more.  The experience was a lot of fun!  My first clear liter strip took me the longest.  I guess I was too slow and intricate with a project that was more focused on being portrayed as abstract.  It probably took me two and a half hours to finish half of the clear liter strip.  With the earth, water, fire, and wind theme, I used blue ink for the water segment.  I also took tape and cut out images of fishes throughout and inked over it to give off the theme of water.  Also experimenting with the application of inks such as paint brushes, tooth brushes, cu-tips, paper towels, or just applying ink directly from the bottle was a good lesson on how the slightest altering of how you apply ink to film can drastically change the overall look.  My favorite part of the cameraless project was the magazine transfer.  I had no idea how easy it was! Magazine transfers is a project that any one can do in any location.  All you need is magazines, water, and the film! So simple!  I also like the look of the magazine transfers, it takes the form of a collage. I will say that after a while I ran out of ideas, and I got tired of the theme.  Overall, this project taught me a lot of film strips and how to do art on them.