OVUM
2012
Single-channel digital film
UHD colour - stereo sound
3' duration
Commissioned by Protein for Random Acts on Channel 4
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The ovum is the female reproductive cell that divides after fertilisation, starting a miraculous chain reaction that builds the embryo of a new life.
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This film focuses on the symmetry of that process. The mother nucleus tears itself into two identical daughter nuclei. The cell forms a dividing wall that separates the daughters into their own compartments. The compartments pull apart to form two complete cells. The cycle starts again in each cell.
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A dancer represents the cell nucleus, partly in order to exploit the beauty of a symmetrical figure in motion and partly to hint at how cell division echoes procreation at the human scale.
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The film was crafted in the most straightforward way possible. The dancer and kaleidoscopic lighting effects were simply superimposed to evoke the transparency of cells under a microscope.
Credits
Performer - Amber Doyle
Makeup Artist - Deanna V’lcevska
Hair Stylist - Diana Asherson
Music ‘Blackout’ - UNKLE
Still frames from OVUM