Eliza Smith and Gabriella Sabo
Our film encapsulates our feelings about cycles and rebirth. Life is a continuous cycle of change and while we all experience it differently, the one thing that we all have in common is that nothing is permanent. The only constant is change. Our film aims to capture the ephemerality of life and encourages the viewer to consider life from several points of view including those of human and nature. It aims to encapsulate the excitement and fear that comes with the impermanence of life. It serves as a reminder to notice and enjoy the worlds within nature that often go unseen through the relentless movement of time which we all increasingly feel. Beauty is all around us, we just need to take the time to slow down and appreciate it. We both have encountered death recently and grappled with what it means to live and the fact that life itself is also impermanent. Everything ends, but that is what makes life so special. What living life to the fullest means to us is putting our energy into what makes life so magical. A connection point for us is strong female friendships and nature, themes that we will explore through our eyes in our film.
A reading that struck us is Curves Along the Road by Susan Griffin. In this Chapter of her book, Griffin uses the metaphor “curves along the road vanishing” to highlight the feeling of change and impermanence (92). This metaphor emphasizes that you can think ahead but you can never see or anticipate what's coming, because the road is never completely straight or clear. Life is impermanent and always changing—we can only experience what’s in the moment. Most of humanity refuses to accept and acknowledge death as a part of life. We fear endings and change. Yet endings are a part of life—there would be no life without death. All existence is nature, and death is natural.
We used a Zoom Q3 video recorder to film clips and audio which we overlaid with collage and drawings. We edited our film using Adobe Premiere and used collage and drawing materials to create the visuals we will overlayed. We also useD sheet glass and filming from underneath with paint and our faces. Eliza played the song april come she will by simon & Garfunkel on the guitar and recorded it, along with the recordings of the birds which we used as the background music. We hope our film reminds viewers to slow down, to appreciate the fleetingness of a moment, the cycle of life, and our imminent return to the Earth.
Blooming petals
Of pink and yellow
Smelled of sticky sweet perfume
Of pink and yellow
Smelled of sticky sweet perfume
Summer came
With the whisper of the rain
And the breath of the wind on my shoulders
With the whisper of the rain
And the breath of the wind on my shoulders
Petals began to drop
In the bitter cold of the fall
Can’t remember that smell anymore
In the bitter cold of the fall
Can’t remember that smell anymore
Pulled from the earth
And dragged through the dirt
Dropped with the roots in the air
And dragged through the dirt
Dropped with the roots in the air
Forgot what it meant
Until spring came again
And new roots began to swarm
Until spring came again
And new roots began to swarm
Standing tall
In the wrath of the storm
I know there’s more to come
In the wrath of the storm
I know there’s more to come
