18. SIGUR ROS VALTARI MYSTERY FILM EXPERIMENT

This is a series of moving image work to accompany songs by Sigur Rós for their album "Valtari". It's a lovely concept where select artists and directors were each given the same small budget to work with and no further instruction. They were allowed to make whatever they felt appropriate choosing a song off the record. There are 16 in total and they are all beautiful.

Sigur Rós gave fourteen film makers the same modest budget and asked them to create whatever comes into their head when they listen to songs from the band's album Valtari. The idea is to bypass the usual artistic approval process and allow people utmost creative freedom.

"We never meant our music to come with a pre-programmed emotional response. We don’t want to tell anyone how to feel and what to take from it. With the films, we have literally no idea what the directors are going to come back with. None of them know what the others are doing, so hopefully it will be interesting." – Sigur Rós, May 2012

The way that video can so powerfully move one's emotions and also its ability to enrich what is already superb music are attributes that I just love about the medium. The creative potential is huge and often the result can be so mesmerising. I've ordered a new camera for myself, with which I hope to recreate these qualities over time and really learn its art. The full kit should arrive next week and I'm very excited.

My favourite from the Sigur Rós series is the one below, a short film by Floria Sigismondi entitled "Leaning Towards Solace", using two of my favourite tracks on the LP. I don't think my brain is yet trained to justly critique moving image, but there's something about the cinematography and storytelling here that is so so beautiful to me. It's a film that blends the realms of art and design for sure, but it's executed so charmingly. If I made this 12 minute film for my Year 3 project, I'd be delighted.



> Read more on the project and Sigur Rós at tlee. Black
>> Visit the official Valtari Mystery Film Experiment website
>> Watch all the videos on Vimeo