Film Name: A Portrait of Otherness Island
Directors: Kate Sullivan
Writer: Kate Sullivan & Assorted Ai technology.
Starring: Otherness Island
The island Is alive, and it wants to Say Hello…
Kayak beyond the estuary to Otherness, a foreboding yet welcoming place, created using 35mm stereo pairs, Ai and manipulated samples of ¼” audio tape.
This experimental travelogue is an investigation into stereoscopy and animation’s ability to transform inanimate objects into fellow presences.
In a new exclusive interview on Blazing Minds leading up to the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival I got a chance to ask Writer/Director Kate Sullivan a few questions about the film ‘A Portrait of Otherness Island‘
‘A Portrait of Otherness Island’ has been selected to play at the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival on Sunday 21st January at 17:30pm
Q. Your film Otherness Dead has been selected to play at the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival. Can you tell us what we can expect from the film?
A. The film is a portrait of an imaginary island/muse, ‘Otherness’.
I’m very interested in animism, (the attribution of a living soul to plants, inanimate objects, and natural phenomena). I wanted to bring the island to life – and have done so by creating what is essentially an arty ‘Wigglegram’.
By ‘Wigglegram’ I mean a looped animation created using, (at least), the left and right images of a stereoscopic pair. A common means of creating Instagram eye-candy, the technique is often overlooked as a means of artistic expression. I’ve always loved loops. They seemed fitting for this film. Otherness Island exists outside of time and space as we know it!
Q. What were some of your influences for the look and style of the film?
A. Audio was big influence. I created the soundtrack by manipulating archive tape recordings by the late British Computer Pioneer, Tony Pritchett.
He recorded early computer technology, making digital music. The resulting ¼” tape recordings are unlabelled, but my research indicates that they are likely to be of ‘Event One’ at the Royal College of Art, (1969).
I hope that the mix of digital and analogue, Ai and early creative computing lends itself to an otherworldly timeless feel – and that this extends through to the visuals.
Folklore was a big influence, too. I’m very interested in exploring folklore and its methods of creation in relation the process of creating Ai-generated imagery.
Q. Did you make any changes from the original script during filming?
A. The film doesn’t have a script, but it involved a constant evolving dialogue with the Ai technology. A cybernetic loop of feedback and response, if you will.
Q. What were some of your favourite moments during filming?
A. Converting the images to 3D and seeing each shot ‘come to life’ through a combination of animation and stereoscopy was very nice. I’m an animator by trade and I will never tire of creating, ‘the illusion of life’.
Q. Did you experience any issues during filming?
A. Most of the time things ran smoothly but there was an occasion where I had to resolve a bug in the Google Lab software. I got there in the end, despite having very basic coding skills!
Q. What makes Otherness stand out as something different in the horror genre?
A. It’s probably wigglier than most horror films.
Q. What do you hope people take away after watching the film?
A. I’d like them to feel like they’ve had a brush with several fellow presences.
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are currently working on?
A. I’m working on a project about the early British computer animation work of aforementioned British computer animation pioneer Tony Pritchett and am developing my first horror feature.
Q. If someone was looking to direct their own film what advice would you give them?
A. A crew marches on its stomach!
‘A Portrait of Otherness Island’ has been selected to play at the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival on Sunday 21st January at 17:30pm
You can find out more about the festival and purchase tickets here:
Published in various websites, Philip is a reviewer who is best known for his interviews and media coverage of independent projects including; films, books, theatre and live events. Always on the lookout for something different to cover!
