RAYA MARTIN "TRACK PROJECTIONS" (2007)

this is a film i greatly admire, Track Projections (2007), by independent Filipino filmmaker, Raya Martin.

 {2007, 6mins, hi-8, colour, Philippines} 

it is hard to put into words the emotional/sensory experience one has while viewing Raya Martin's beautiful short Track Projections, but i feel compelled to at least attempt to share my impressions/observations as a form of appreciation for his work.

Track Projections is an abstract poetic film, dreamlike, a meditative train journey through a wintry countryside et into a city at dusk. it is simultaneously an exploration of seeing/observing et a study of the medium that records what is seen/observed, of video itself. Martin presents us with a new way of seeing the world, he gives us a unique perspective of our surroundings.

 

  

Martin subtly transforms et renders the everyday landscapes et objects into abstract shapes, colors, textures, weaving rapidly, they blur et merge, smear into each other then break apart, sometimes we get fleeting glimpses of familiar images, the chimney of a house, a corrugated fence, iron railway structure, graffiti on a wall, cars in the street, pavement stones, pop into focus momentarily, then vanish again into the stream-of-consciousness.

we are also made aware of the materiality et structure of the images that have been captured on analog video tape. Martin creatively includes the imperfections et defects; stretchmarks, drop-outs, static, tracking glitches, he incorporates them into the film rhythmically, as another texture, but he is also making us aware of the videos construction et fragility.

the limitations of the camera itself are also used innovatively, Martin is using a hi-8 consumer camera that has a built in auto-iris, the camera struggles to expose high contrast images, between strong highlights et deep shadows causing the iris to open et close continuously. Martin uses this restriction creatively, he renders the pulsing dilations et contractions of the iris as a rhythm, a heartbeat, but it also has a blinking quality, like a sleepy eye, slowly opening et closing, the intervals getting longer, slower, heavier, before finally remaining closed.

Martin significantly rotates his continually moving/train-tracking images, reorienting the horizontal nature of the landscape/horizon so that it becomes vertical. in doing so he makes the images flow upwards, as if they are streaming out of a film projector. the abstracted landscape made up of vertical lines, shapes, forms et textures appear more like scratches, bleach et paint marks, evoking the direct, hand painted/collage films of Len Lye et later Stan Brakhage.

the film is left silent, Martin has consciously chosen to go without any sound or musical accompaniment, this also evokes the films of Stan Brakhage, who boldly omitted any form of soundtrack to his films. they allow the images to speak for themselves, it is a purely visual experience {which is not to say one does not imagine sound}. it also significantly takes us back to the beginning of cinema before the invention of sound.

one of the final images in Track Projections reveals a child on a train, staring out the window, transfixed by the ever-changing landscape. one begins to think perhaps the film has all taken place in his mind, this wondrous vision of the passing landscape that we have been experiencing is being filtered through his youthful et innocent eyes. Track Projections is a delightful commingling of reality et imagination.


great news, you can watch Track Projections below: