'S K I N' (2008)

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• published: 04 Feb 2012
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CC BY-ND 2008 WILLEM BOTHA REMASTERED VERSION PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED Shot on MiniDV on a Sony DCR-TRV19E Digital Handycam with a 0.5X wide lens attachment at 576 50i. Made progressive in post production. This is a remastered version. It was originally 4:3 with a 16:9 Letterbox, but I have upscaled it to 1920x1080 (1280x720 for Vimeo) with a 1:1.85 Letterbox to preserve original aspect ratio. This is the most avant-garde piece I have done to date. The inspiration to make it came purely from the fascination I had with the lips of the partner I was with at the time. I found myself staring at his lips uncontrollably, so I asked him if he'd be interested in letting me film him for a short film. I wanted everything to be stripped down, as I wanted to have all the focus on beauty in the male form. I didn't know in what direction I wanted to take the film in terms of the final edit, but I started shooting extreme close ups of his lips, chin, jaw, shoulders and collarbones. As I edited the best shots of that session together, I realised I needed some more shots of the rest of his body in order to fill in the gaps. I never wanted to show his eyes, as this would have broken the 'mysteriousness' of the film. When you don't see the eyes of someone, there's a barrier and it's impersonal. I didn't allow any facial expressions or a lot of movement or speaking, thus to keep the illusion. The end result was better than I expected. The camera kept falling out of focus on many shots because at times it was poorly lit and I had the camera zoomed in most of the time. This added the perfect avant-garde look that I was looking for. The goosebumps on his skin made it all the more interesting and then of course turning it black & white was a must. Because of the private nature of the content and to protect the privacy of the subject, I previously didn't officially released this title. The few friends and relatives I did show it to all interpreted it in a different way, because I never explained what it was about. Some said it was erotic art; some said it was pure sex and that the gestures made it seem like sexual frustration; and some said it simply looked like an artistic video about the male body. I didn't come up with the name for the short until much later, but I eventually settled on 'S K I N'. I am still not happy with the title, but there is nothing else I'd rather have it as. Filmed on 16 & 30 November 2008. Editing finished on 02 December 2008. Remastering finished on 04 February 2012. Edited on Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 Remastered on Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Rights for Music Reserved by 'East Norfolk Sixth Form College' Under Permission Of 'EdExcel' - http://www.edexcel.org.uk/

'S K I N' (2008)

• Report rights infringement
• published: 04 Feb 2012
• views: 63034

CC BY-ND 2008 WILLEM BOTHA REMASTERED VERSION PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED Shot on MiniDV on a Sony DCR-TRV19E Digital Handycam with a 0.5X wide lens attachment at 576 50i. Made progressive in post production. This is a remastered version. It was originally 4:3 with a 16:9 Letterbox, but I have upscaled it to 1920x1080 (1280x720 for Vimeo) with a 1:1.85 Letterbox to preserve original aspect ratio. This is the most avant-garde piece I have done to date. The inspiration to make it came purely from the fascination I had with the lips of the partner I was with at the time. I found myself staring at his lips uncontrollably, so I asked him if he'd be interested in letting me film him for a short film. I wanted everything to be stripped down, as I wanted to have all the focus on beauty in the male form. I didn't know in what direction I wanted to take the film in terms of the final edit, but I started shooting extreme close ups of his lips, chin, jaw, shoulders and collarbones. As I edited the best shots of that session together, I realised I needed some more shots of the rest of his body in order to fill in the gaps. I never wanted to show his eyes, as this would have broken the 'mysteriousness' of the film. When you don't see the eyes of someone, there's a barrier and it's impersonal. I didn't allow any facial expressions or a lot of movement or speaking, thus to keep the illusion. The end result was better than I expected. The camera kept falling out of focus on many shots because at times it was poorly lit and I had the camera zoomed in most of the time. This added the perfect avant-garde look that I was looking for. The goosebumps on his skin made it all the more interesting and then of course turning it black & white was a must. Because of the private nature of the content and to protect the privacy of the subject, I previously didn't officially released this title. The few friends and relatives I did show it to all interpreted it in a different way, because I never explained what it was about. Some said it was erotic art; some said it was pure sex and that the gestures made it seem like sexual frustration; and some said it simply looked like an artistic video about the male body. I didn't come up with the name for the short until much later, but I eventually settled on 'S K I N'. I am still not happy with the title, but there is nothing else I'd rather have it as. Filmed on 16 & 30 November 2008. Editing finished on 02 December 2008. Remastering finished on 04 February 2012. Edited on Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 Remastered on Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Rights for Music Reserved by 'East Norfolk Sixth Form College' Under Permission Of 'EdExcel' - http://www.edexcel.org.uk/