Fourth installment in the One Second series. Each piece is in 25 parts, composed of 24 still frames and a one-second video loop made of each of the frames.

24 frames:

Video (you can right click on the video player and select “loop” to get the full effect)

I think with this one I finally figured out a key element of getting it to look good as a video loop, which is like having a sort of flow to the images. I want this to work on every level, meaning I want each frame to be different enough that they’re each interesting on their own AND I want the video to work as a video. This is the first one where I feel like it’s functioning on both levels. I resisted the urge to move the layers and shapes around too much and just kept adding layers of the same shape on top of each other so there’s more of a flow to the video (and also paid attention to where on the screen the new layer was coming from). I also sort of tried to make an arc of like starting off with one background pattern, getting busier with little shapes, then coming back to one plane.

Making these has really made me think about the importance of seeing a process through from start to finish in order to figure out how to improve at it. It’s tempting to abandon something that you know isn’t going to turn out well, or isn’t going to be the best version of itself. But the act of finishing it allows you to better see where in the process you went wrong/where you can improve. I’m very new to experimental film, so it’s really tempting for me to give up or not complete things because I’m just “playing around”. But if I didn’t finish these, I wouldn’t be able to tell how to make the next one better.