Photo by: Michael Furman
Digital Media Studies professor, Christopher Coleman’s experimental video was chosen to play on three huge screens in Times Square in New York City.
This opportunity arose because of Coleman’s video “The Magnitude of the Continental Divides,” which won the Metropolis Art Prize in December and won Best Experimental Film at the FESTIVUS Film Festival in Denver Jan. 17.
The Metropolis Art Prize is an award given by Babelgum.com, a free revolutionary internet and mobile TV platform. Coleman entered his video in the competition because someone sent him a link and it was free and easy, he said. Coleman received a congratulatory e-mail on Dec. 10 stating that he had won the prize; the e-mail was sent from the U.K.
“I get a lot of stuff from the U.K. so I was sure I didn’t win,” said Coleman.
He responded to the e-mail in an attempt to confirm that it was real. Twenty-four hours later he heard from a friend involved that he had won the award. Seven days later he was among thousands in New York City watching his video play on three large screens.
“It was amazing because I make work to share with people and to have the work shown in such a public place it was an amazing experience,” said Coleman.
“The Magnitude of the Continental Divides” is an animated video about five minutes long that visually explores the way we define nations and ourselves. The video journeys to many locations in various states of violence, aggression and their after effects. Borders, weapons and identities mesh and are lost in each other leaving the viewer with the eerie knowledge that if this continues we may be lost to destruction.
The animation was done using Adobe After Effects, except for the final scene, which Coleman used the program, Blender, to create. The visual style was inspired by the illustrations in terrorism readiness pamphlets put out be Homeland Security. Coleman found these illustrations gorgeous and wanted to draw attention to the fact that people are dying and causing strife against each other without terrorism. The flat graphical style of the 1930s and 1940s inspired Coleman to imitate the hand-drawn, woodblock style of this era. He says it was when modern America really defined itself.
“I liked how these combined,” said Coleman. “The contrast gives extra power to the piece.”
The idea first arose three years ago and took Coleman two and a half years to animate the video.
“Two years in I almost gave up,” said Coleman.
He felt that after the presidential election and Obama’s message of hope, he should be producing work more light-hearted. With encouragement, Coleman decided to complete the project and when finished he felt the movie’s relevance in light of troops being sent into Afghanistan.
Italian actress, filmmaker and model, Isabella Rossellini was chair of the jury and said she picked Coleman’s piece because she felt it to be relevant since people are still tearing worlds up from afar.
“I’m interested in the idea of borders,” said Coleman.
The catalyst for this idea he attributes to his experience in Buffalo, N.Y. While living there he noticed the divisions made by backyard fences. He saw that for every one large house on one side of the street there were two smaller houses that fit in the same space across the street.
“The way that some guy sitting in some room drawing lines on a piece of paper changes people’s lives astonished me,” said Coleman.
He realized that the city planning in the area led to wealth on one side and poverty, less education and fewer resources on the other.
He also cites events such as the British creating the border between Pakistan and India and how people on the wrong side of the line are subjected to violence as being an instigator for his exploration of borders.
“I want people to think about the way they identify with their country and what that means,” said Coleman. “We’re all just people dealing with invisible borders.”
Within the bounds of the classroom, Coleman focuses on areas of study like interactivity, iPhone development for creative uses, electronics and animation.
Outside of the classroom he is currently working on another short video that will mimic peregrine falcons in their mating rituals, which occur during flight, with predator drones.
To view “The Magnitude of the Continental Divides,” visit www.digitalcoleman.com/video1.html.
