© joão leal

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1. Chasms

   This is a pivotal work in this research. It shows a character on yet another walk, leading him in the direction of the sea (of possibilities) until he reaches a place named Chasms. He enters it to find huge breaches on the earth’s surface. This is a dangerous place to walk on and the inevitable ends up happening: the character falls inside one of the chasms. The fall is not visible. The only thing that is visible is him getting out of the chasm and continuing his walk towards the sea. This refers to the pitfalls that are spread along the way in most research or artistic endeavors and gives a positive and ironic view of them: whatever the depth of the fall might be, the artist/researcher has the tools to climb out of it and, at least, continue his walk even if he does not know where he is heading, even though he started near the sea and ended up in a forest.

   Unlike Experience of Place, this film has various shots and a more complex edit. One that suggests a sequence of events and a narrativity that is unclear enough to keep the film open. The sounds and images were recorded separately, and all the work was done solely by the author. Only the sound mixing was made by a sound specialist (Pedro Anacleto). This means that the off-camera movement was constant and tremendous: begin near the camera to start recording, go to the place, do the walk, come back to stop, see if it is good, repeat if necessary, change the point of view of the camera, repeat the procedure again, go back to record the various components of the soundscape (foley), change set and do everything all over again. Methodologically, the process of constructing this film is paradigmatic of the lonely and complicated path inherent to a PhD research project.

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   Vídeo 1920x1080 (full HD) com som stéreo (versão sala 8'34'' || versão exposição 3'31''
   

   Video 1920x1080 (full HD) with stereo sound (festival version 8'34'' || exhibition version 3'31''