H. MAJUSCULA
H. Majuscula wants to communicate the idea that all life is intelligent, surprising, and instinctual when one takes the time to appreciate it. It is an experimental documentary, that features ‘Bean’, the female Giant Australian Rainforest Mantis. This short film uses macro cinematography, expressive audio, and a casual yet revealing editing style, to showcase the unique details and movements of praying mantises.
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The process of this film was non-linear. I began with the initial idea to film Bean to showcase her personality and beauty, and developed a deeper concept as I went along. I had a general idea of what I wanted to capture Bean doing: walking, eating, and staring, but I knew that Bean was going to do whatever she wanted. Instead of building a story board first, I actually filmed Bean first, developed style frames, and then built a story board using the footage I had collected. All while developing the film concept and being inspired to shift directions bit by bit as I captured more content.
An incredible achievement for me personally and during the creation of this film was capturing Bean's final moult into her adult form. The metamorphosis of a mantis is a privilege to experience, and I am lucky if I catch my mantises shedding their exoskeletons every month or so. But the fact that I found her moulting into her final stage, and captured it on film was an absolute miracle. It was something I had not planned to catch for this piece, and I most definitely included in the final sequence, and that speaks to the non-linear process of this film.
H. MAJUSCULA BONUS CONTENT
This is a short sequence using footage that I did not include in the final cut of H. Majuscula. It provides a different perspective from the point of view of the mealworms she eats.
COWDUCTION
Cowduction conceptualizes the textural experiences of reading a physical book. My goal was to tell the classic alien abduction trope of the cow being abducted at an evening hour and returned incorrectly by being upside down. If I could include smell I would have used old book paper, cold grass, and gasoline. I wanted to express the enjoyable nuances of reading a printed book. When the book spine cracks, how stories almost come off the page as you read, and actually holding a tangible item.
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Each number is illustrated using gouache to ensure colour saturation. The gradients on each number represent the sky and the sun going down. I wanted to portray a passing of time with colours and also show a specific time of day. The evening and night is a common time for eerie activity to happen, and a time when aliens commit abductions. In post-production, I also colour graded each shot to match the neutral, cool, or warm tones that the number is supposed to be representing. The white balance starts out neutral, and changes to warm and then cool as the “sun” goes down.
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I accented the visual components of touching, opening, and flipping the book with satisfying sound effects, spine cracking, and book sliding. I also used audio that one associates with aliens, unknown chime, eerie background music, and conceptual alien space ship landing sounds. The cow audio is used to add an element of humour.
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FAME
NO AUDIO
I took Andy Warhol’s “The Marilyn Diptych” and brought it to life. I chose this work for its size and variety. There are 50 variations of this print that range in colour and texture, and I thought that there could be lots to explore as a moving piece. I also really admire Marilyn Monroe and recognize her as one of the most iconic celebrities of pop culture, who was objectified by the public and treated very poorly throughout her whole life. A concept I wanted to communicate is Marilyn’s awareness of her objectification in Hollywood and when the camera is not rolling, she turns off her smile and is actually just really sad and empty. Warhol had a fascination with the celebrity lifestyle and obsession with glamorous people, which is why he chose Marilyn for this
piece. He wanted to portray her as this immortal illusion of the iconic celebrity and their innate capacity to be reproduced for mass consumption.