SARAH WOOD
Great Escapes
Three short films:
Ingenuity, Determination, Camaraderie
Video, each film one minute
2021
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"As an experiment during lockdown I began writing down memories of watching the films I love in the cinema. What surprised me was that more often than not the thing I remembered was where I had watched each film as much as the images that had moved me on screen. It made me think about how the situation of film-watching transforms our understanding of the work.
What does it feel like to watch films under the constraints of social isolation? In my house we consciously chose to acknowledge lockdown conditions and have passed the last few months watching prison films. Well, prison escape films actually so we can keep on our toes.
I decided to return to these films for this project. My plan was to make one minute cut ups - tiny essay films about constraint and freedom and the ways these concepts are embedded in our shared cinematic imaginations. In the spirit of these odd times I decided to make each essay film according to a set of constraining rules. They were invented by The Video Essay Podcast (thevideoessay.com) for a brilliant Pecha Kucha challenge. Here are the rules that I followed to the letter."
1. Find one movie/TV episode/media object.
2. Upload the file to whatever video editing software you use.
3. Find ten, six-second video clips and line them all up however you like.
4. Pair the clips with one minute of continuous audio.
5. Export the file.
6. Upload the file to Vimeo or YouTube.
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Sarah Wood
April 2021
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