INTENT:
Drawing influence from Douglas Trumbull’s “cloud tank effect”, Sink is an exploration of emulating cloud-like formations. It draws attention to the intrinsic detail through its bright neon/fluorescent colours and captivates the viewer through its mirroring effect generating an experimental kaleidoscopic and hallucinatory aesthetic.
Sink was produced based on this video in which the creator injected evaporated milk mixed with food dye into a tank of water against a black backdrop.
I had no idea whether it would work and turn out how the way I wanted but I went ahead with it anyway. In my instance I used condensed milk which I had to water down because it was too thick and would just sink when injected into the tank of water. Also using a filter and colour grading didn’t even cross my mind until I started playing around on Final Cut. The fluorescent colours making the cloud formations stand out was what I was trying to achieve all along.
Through the process of this project, which originated from wanting to create a video with paint/ink, the idea of Gnarls Barkley’s video for Crazy that turned into making ink drops in a tank and to finally an imitation of Douglas Trumbull’s cloud tank effect, in the end it was very enjoyable process and experimenting with my final medium despite some minor issues which I’ve explained in a previous post.
I felt like I should’ve assigned more time on the music, since it was very last minute. I decided to go with something more percussive and upbeat, since the cloud formations in my video are quite fast and didn’t resonate well with the slow, relaxed music and vibe I was expecting. After editing the whole project on Final Cut, I exported the video and imported it into Ableton. From there I utilised a clip called ‘Dubstep Burial-128bpm‘ as a loop in the background of the video whilst I composed the simple repetitive melodic lines on the instrument ‘Lovely Keys’. This was difficult at start without a MIDI keyboard, but it was easier drawing the notes in, perfectly on the beat after. I tried to make the melody correspond to the direction of the cloud formation as best as possible and afterwards I had to export the audio track and import it back into Final Cut, readjust the edit so that it correlated and was in sync with the timing, then at last exporting both the video and audio as one out of Final cut for the finished product.
Overall I am very satisfied with what I have achieved despite the average sounding music and would like to continue experimenting with the excess materials i still have remaining.
Brianna Ng 