Textural Cinema

"My work in cinema is a process of self-actualization. I use cinema to challenge my sense of identity: on film I present my life as it is yet should not be. Frustrated by my day-to-day (in)abilities to empathize, I often find it difficult to understand what motivates and drives people to do what they do. By transcribing paradoxical situations in which I have personally failed, the cinematic medium demands I replay and reevaluate even the most seemingly meaningless of events many times over.

The incessant repetition of writing, producing and post-producing my work forces me to analyze moments past from countless perspectives and increasing degrees of precision. Ultimately, the facts stay the facts, but the scenarios I choose to recreate, by construction, offer an openness to be perceived in many ways and a space for multiple interpretations.

In my method I seek the exactness of a scientist or an architect and plan meticulously. By setting my foundations in writing, I give attention to ever more nuanced details during filming and then editing. Producing becomes an exercise in executing the blueprint and managing disappointment; I transform what could be into what is; to do so with minimal damage to its source, an art in itself. Indeed, I define my life as a project to be improved upon and refined through the cinematic experience. It is a completely selfish act and I am both the creator and the consumer of my work. It is born from an autodidactic agenda, with the growth of its creator as its only conscious intent.

The film experiment 'Antagony' is the manifestation of a specific master film research into the role of cinematography in relation to decoupage and the creation of spaces using purely cinematographic means for expression - framing and composition, hard and soft lighting, lenses, focal length and the moving camera. The goal of my experiment is to investigate the role and usage of the camera in the construction of a cinematically rich and effective mise-en-scene that is physically sparse and economical, exploiting the conventions of film grammar for expressive impact. This is in service of a deeper understanding of how to translate an ambitious concept on to the screen.

A unique and minimalist, claustrophobic visual style has been conceived to abstract away extraneous visual elements, for example set design and locations are done away with. In their place comes something akin to the filmic equivalent of black box theatre - an empty space with two actors and no decor, in which we must gauge physical and spatial relationships by how light interacts with actors, where highlights and shadows are cast, changes in perspective, framing and how the moving camera, itself treated as an actor, is acting and reacting to the story."

Alexander McKenzie

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