Watch Overheated Symphony

Hi All

Yes its finally online! After all the blood, sweat and tears here is the final edit of Overheated Symphony an innovative cinematic symphony of women’s voices from around the world, as created by celebrated artist and film director Sarah Turner and sound designer Annabelle Pangbourn during the Birds Eye View Film Festival 2008 www.birds-eye-view.co.uk.

A big thanks again for all the inspiring and original mobile films submitted. Enjoy....

Final deadline here - and a message from Sarah Turne

Well, we're here - 50 great films, an excited film-making team, and a big day on Sunday. Here's a message from Sarah:

In the Overheated Symphony we wanted to provide a platform that would create a dialogue of women’s voices from around the world: an interactive project where women could contribute a part to a larger whole.

The idea of the symphony was inspired by Walter Ruttman’s 1927 film, Berlin, Symphony of a City. In this film, a team of photographers shot imagery of the city for over a year. Ruttman edited this footage into a whole by imposing a structure that simulates the passing of a single day. The ideas in the film are linked through composition, motion and theme.

Our theme, Overheated, was designed to provoke a response. That response might be to fears of global warming, domestic frustrations, or any situation that provokes heat!

We wanted to develop the idea of a symphony by using traditional symphonic structure: a piece of (visual) music in four movements. The editing will sample elements from each of the submitted films and link them through composition, motion and theme. The movements will loosely build to a musical crescendo...

During the live edit, Annabelle and I will of course be improvising; riffing around the work that contributors have sent in. Through what I’ve seen so far these are the main themes that have emerged: Domestic technologies (cooking/boiling etc), Sun/ light, Burning/fire,'Pressures of life': routine/work/transport, etc

So, let’s see what emerges ….……

We look forward to seeing you if at all possible in the ICA Bar on Sunday afternoon - be there by 7.30pm if you want to see the final screening of the OVERHEATED SYMPHONY!

Deadline Extended - past the 40 videos mark and still going...

Dear symphonic people,

Thanks for all the entries that came in over the weekend - we pushed past the 40 mark and got some real beauties (including a few from festival director Rachel Millward, how's that for dedication to the overheated cause!)

Here's another great entry, a witty and dark treatment of a barbie doll...



Now, seriously. Sarah Turner & Annabelle Pangborn, who are creating the overheated symphony live in the ICA bar on Sunday, are thrilled with the range and quality of materials uploaded so far, but they would love a bit more material. It could be a short burst of temper, it could be a sunset, it could be as simple as you like... Don't forget you can email it directly to us at overheatedsymphony@gmail.com.

More details will follow later in the week about the final edit and screening event.

Wow, that's pacy / what are you tagging?

Another great, great submission, this one from Luvia Geneviève Sauvé in Montreal, Canada. Check it out...



Now, we love this - it's pacy, witty, cool, and HOT. We're a bit worried, though because Luvia has tagged it with Overheated, not OVERHEATED SYMPHONY...

An urgent reminder - if you've shot a video, either upload to YouTube with OVERHEATED SYMPHONY in the tags, or email the video to us at overheatedsymphony@gmail.com. Either way, we need your name, nationality, and email address.

Thanks to all the contributors - deadline is in 3 days...

Message from Sarah Turner - 5 days to go!

Here's a message from artist Sarah Turner, who (along with sound designer Annabel Pangbourne) will be creating the final edit of OVERHEATED SYMPHONY during the festival:

"Many, many thanks for all the submissions so far. I'm REALLY impressed by the quality of all the submissions; - there's so many conceptual artists out there..
I'm particularly excited by the formal elegance, political engagment and sheer talent that's evidenced in the majority of the work. Very simple ideas, beautifully executed.

Just to reassure you all - everyone's work will be sampled. I can't say at this stage quite how this will work, but just think abstraction and repetition, feelings or moments that build to a symphony of voices, a dialogue between all of you, myself and Annabelle. Some submissions could play out in their entirety, others we'll maybe snatch a sound loop and use that to structure or pace one of the movements.

Also to say, we love both the lo tech approach and the highly crafted work. Don't be afraid to improvise or to sample more sounds of your everyday ecstasies and frustrations... The hottest moments. Have fun....."

So. Filmmakers of the world... The deadline for the project is March 2 - that's THIS SUNDAY. We would love some more films for the project - so if you think you've got a submission in you, or you know someone who's been thinking about doing something, now really is the time to act!

Eerie scene

The prolific and talented Debbie Radcliffe has no less than four films up for the OVERHEATED SYMPHONY... Great work! We have about an hour of material uploaded to the site now, but with just a week to go this is now an urgent call to action - get your films uploaded on to YouTube, tagged OVERHEATED SYMPHONY, or if that's too tricky mail them to overheatedsymphony@gmail.com and we'll do it for you.

Here's our pick of Debbie's films - an atmospheric scene in more ways than one. It pricks my curiosity to think of what might have generated this image.

Whodunnit?

Wow, the standard of entries continues to astound and amaze... check out this mini-noir-masterpiece (narrative! sound design! wit! in 17 seconds!)from Tracey Paddison...



Someone give this woman a short film budget. Unless Tracey Paddison is the nom de overheated of an already-famous film director? Who knows...