The Siren (2012)
High Definition, 4 minutes & 27 seconds
‘The Siren’ explores the nature of the feminine mystique within the screen and the seemingly active gaze of the audience, to reveal the inherent paradoxes and enchanting nature of the seduction of the projected image.
It is here within the projected film plane that a tension is realised between the material (the auditorium and the screen) and the immaterial (the projected moving image). The film plane is a void, a non-entity consisting of a substantial nothingness and it is within this nothingness that the Siren’s projected presence exists as pure artifice. The screen itself becomes like the water, “an absence of depth, a superficial abyss” (Baudrillard, 1979). It is within this abyss that the Siren, by playing to her nothingness, exists as pure ephemeral light and constructs her own reality – a reality where she forces the audience to acknowledge her presence and demands, ‘If I do not exist in my own right, then what exactly am I?’
‘The Siren’ was filmed entirely underwater and exhibited at Kinetica Art Fair 2012, as the very first slow motion underwater holographic film installation. Although originally intended for the medium of holographic projection, it can exist outside of this medium as a 2-dimensional film projection or installation.
‘The Siren’ will be exhibited at the ASFF: Aesthetica Short Film Festival 2012 from 8th – 11th November in the city of York.
Wired Online Magazine review: Underwater 3D projection brings Siren to life
Film Credits:
The Siren Performed by Gemita Samarra
Artist/Director: Laura Jean Healey
Underwater Cameraman: Mark Silk
Gaffer: Bernie Prentice
Phantom Technician: Liz Hoar
Underwater Housing Technician: Hugh Fairs
Assistant Director: Roisin Marie Griffin
Musion Representative: Oliver Gingrich
Production Assistant: Cheryl Fenn-Healey
Make-Up Artist & Hair Stylist: Claire De-Graft
Hair & Make-Up Assistant: Kat Wenham
Post Production Producer: Thomas Cole
Colourist: Matt Osborne
Title Sequence: Carrie Godsiff
Music Composer: Leigh Gregg
With Special Thanks To:
Mark Silk
Bernie Prentice
The Action Underwater Studio
Dave Haupt, Thomas Cole & The Moving Picture Company
Oliver Gingrich & Musion Systems Ltd.
Adam Coles, Tony Samuels, Peter Swarbrick & Panavision
