Commentary video and single image prepared for the Final Crit. The script for my video (wip clip of final video work with spoken audio):
The video work ‘somethings burning” reimagines the legacy of TV chef Fanny Cradock through the colourisation of found archive footage.
The Look of particular spot coloured portions of the video has an inescapable link to Andy Warhols vibrantly coloured screen prints of pop culture imagery, although Fanny Cradock’s celebrity quality is bought into question in comparison to the likes of Marilyn Monroe for example.
The flickering, ghostly addition of colour is also reminiscent of Anna Barribals video work “fade”, and use of the laborious colourising techniques of early cinema.
The process of editing is evident in “somethings burning” and suggests certain level of dedication to Fanny Cradock Herself, in spite of her effective disappearance from contemporary popular culture. Perhaps in reference Cradock’s infamous use of food colourings, her colourful image is revived here in an equally garish and artificial way. The tone of the video is made cold and uncomfortable by hard cuts between select, unnerving moments.
The narrative of being invited to a casual cheese and wine party at a celebrity chefs proud home is thus distorted and escalates in tension and urgency. The colours are sickly and bizarre whilst Fanny Cradock loosely upholds a manner of “sophistication” that ultimately comes across as a caricature of the period.
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