SITE_kitchen

SITE_kitchen is my emotional exploration of the Kitchen as a studied site. The film represents my visual diary executed through performances and audio recordings of interviews.

Staging/dressing the shot

I stuck with very bold primary colors, focused on reds and yellows. This is implemented in the clothing, the makeup, and accented flowers/cups in the background.

Performaces

The acting and choreography were inspired by the stories interviewee’s told me and emotions tied to the kitchen. [I was extremely lucky to work with dancer, Madison Doyle, to make my vision come to life.]

Freestyle and choreography performed by 

Madison Doyle

Actors:

Shannon Bronson

Andrea Brown

Sammy Copeland

Alisa Douvry

Jetta Grace

Linh Le

Jessa Lussier

Zachariah Lussier

Emanuel Muñoz

Ezra Nguyen

Hannah Ottinger

Ariantze Chantry Otto

Henry Roome

Angela Wang

Julia Waters

Audio

I used the element in documentary films of voice overs and interviewed a couple of friends of mine. I went back through the audio clips and picked the parts that would most represent my own emotions tied to the kitchen to accent my visual diary.

Voice Over:

Madison Doyle

Henry Roome

Julia Waters 

Music:

Walking Dreams - Moments

Still Life - still with you

I started the piece with the intent of making an experimental documentary and ended up making more of a statement/study of my emotions tied to the kitchen. I chose to end it with the tag of visual diary, because I feel that the piece is very personal. I can't say I love the finished edit, but I can't get over how much I love the process of making this film. It became more and more scary to edit, because I was so attached to the raw shots.

For the making of this, I posted on social media asking if anyone would be interested in acting. I stated that it would be minimal movements, and they would have to be okay with me dressing them, applying makeup, and possibly putting fruit on their face. I surprisingly got so many replies that I wasn't sure how to handle it- but I made it happen. The willingness people were showing to help me bring this piece to life is my favorite part of this whole work. I spent a lot of time listening to interviews I took beforehand to come up with unique performance ideas in preparation for the actors. In the end, I fell in love with the moment were the actors would break character and show raw emotion. In the midst of shooting this, I contacting my cousin, Madison Doyle, who is a traveling dancer to perform in my kitchen. (I’m thinking about doing a separate short of just her experiencing the kitchen in the form of dance. I have hours of clips of her, and they're just gorgeous) With the mesh of her dance and the actors in the site/kitchen/, I slowly realized in the film the actors are a representation of reality, and Madison represents the emotions. I got to work with madison for three days. Each day I did a different outfit, a different mood, and different props. I dressed the actors and the set with bold primary colors (focusing on the reds and yellows). I wanted the makeup to be all the same, while the actors had unique garments on. Depending on the number of actors in the shot, there is a balance of red vs yellow.

In the end this piece can come off as cheesy, but I think it shows how I personally feel about the kitchen and the piece itself. I feel like I need to keep playing with all the footage and audio that I have, and re-make the film about three time before realizing what exactly I want to make. It’s going to take some time, but I do enjoy this version 1 -my visual diary and exploration of the kitchen.