Everyday Illusions

Experimentation in videography, time-lapse, slow-motion, reverse action, perspective-shift and invasive editing tactics.

Submitted as a part of a video-editing exam for art school. All footage was acquired by myself in the cities of Dubai and Sharjah. The editing was done in an examination setting. The thematic inquiry was on the topic of "Reality and Illusion".

I decided to shoot footage of everyday things that have been put in a skewed and unconventional perspective. As the video progresses, the viewer is invited to approach the visual imagery from an alternative point of view.

There are skips and jumps in the playback, giving us a sudden jolt to reality whenever we find ourselves lost in the illusion. The viewer is left annoyed and irritated when he/she is repeatedly forced out of the illusion's flow.


Shot 1: A young child in a rocking chair for elderly people. As soon as the viewer is made comfortable with the rhythm of the rocking, the camera freeze frames on the child's eyes, giving a sudden perspective shift, since the eyes are a bit momentarily unnerving for such a cute looking child.

Shot 2: Children playing with bubbles. The girl in the center seems happy to share all the bubbles wafting from her wand but then we realise at the end that she's merely stealing the bubbles for herself in a sleight-of-hand movement that squashes the bubbles into a container in her other hand.

Shot 3: A preparatory shot for shot 4, where we see a strange light in the sky. We know it could just as well be a street-light, but it could be something else too? Could that be a...

Shot 4: A UFO? Aha. Just a UFO. Oh well. It looks like a computer animated UFO too. The viewer is comfortable with the scene until a large dog appears and grabs the UFO in its mouth, and you realize that it is a frisbee thrown by the dog's master (and another freeze frame) gives the viewer a little time to ponder before the next shot. Perhaps the stillness will make the viewer impatient about the flow of the video

Shot 5: The hazy time lapse photography of traffic near a desert makes us think of either the desert consuming the city over time, or the city consuming the desert over time.

Shot 6: There is water and some sort of red material. And some sort of shiny metal object. It's really weird and strange. Very out of place. Suddenly the water starts to move, and the movements become faster and faster until we see an implosion of water and we end up seeing a water-baloon, bringing us another perspective-shift.

Shot 7: A very bizarre rotating purple obelisk with slots of light coming from it. What could it be?

Shot 8: We take another look at water. We take in the colors of a fountain and we trace the movement of the water upwards as the water itself flows downwards. This prepares us for...

Shot 9: LAVA LAMPS! We recognise them instantly, yet they don't contain lava and the blobs inside seem to be the opposite of water, flowing upwards at times and downwards at times.

Final shot: The music goes quieter and we are given a view of water that glitters like gold. There are particles at motion inside. We are drawn to just stare at them in fascination while the music draws us in. Suddenly, the video flow skips and jumps, giving us a jolt and another perspective-shift as we are snapped back into reality to realise, as the camera zooms out, that the shiny water is just part of another lamp.

I guess you can make illusions out of everyday objects after all.

Hence the title, Everyday Illusions.

I hope this video will be well enjoyed. I learned a lot while making it and I had help from a lot of great people (especially the 1st grade class of 2003 at St. Mary's Catholic High School, Dubai!)

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Sameer
• Arshad

[Kassandravie]

hahaha i still watch this

[fourchords]

Thank you! It's 6.5 years old now. I am glad people still enjoy it!

[Kassandravie]

STILL WATCHING IT LOL

[1jmetz]

sux

[HumBellyBelly]

cool!

[Kassandravie]

i happened to be cruising through videos and i came across this. At first i was going to pass it up because it only had one was star but something pulled me to it. So i watched it. I have to admit. I love it!

[HattoSora]

its like an acid trip in real life.