Guest Lecture: James Cant

James presented to us his new film A Remembrance. The film was a video essay exploring his relationship with 2 photographs. One had been lost and only recovered by memory and the other he had on hand. The film is inspired by those two photographs and the events that took place. The man in those photographs was one person, James' Great Grandfather. In the film he reflected themes of time, memory, loss as well as inclination of history and geography. 

After watching the film it inspired me to go away and consider using film in my new project. What caught my attention was the use of short clips and the photographic way he achieved it. Positioning the camera in one place and letting the movement of people, wind and sea do the work. I also liked the mix of diegetic and non-diegetic sound. With James talking in the background and the noise from the waves crashing or wind blowing brought the whole piece together. During the clips of Nieuwpoort James captured the moving footage both in and out of focus. When out of focus I found it interesting and thought it linked in well with this idea of memory and how he could only picture the first image as he no longer had it in possession. 

James also mentioned how he placed a pinhole in front of his lens of a digital camera. This is something I will consider when making my moving image/ still life as I'm looking at creating that film look within my new project. It's something to experiment with!