Artist Jenn Reeves creates HD work

Jenn Reeves likes to experiment. Dabbling in film, music and art, not to mention melted down medicines, she has won awards for her innovative work. In 2004, Reeves’ critically acclaimed experimental feature, The Time We Killed, scooped the FIPRESCI Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival. Her latest offering, the short film Light Work I, combines 16mm techniques with HDCAM in a blaze of colour and sound.

Light Work I is based on a live performance collaboration with musician Anthony Burr at the Rotterdam Film Festival. “I rarely do performances,” says Reeves, “So I wanted to make this HD video that would bring the project to a larger audience.” Reeves has achieved that goal, with the piece being screened at the Sundance Film Festival and also available to watch on the internet.

Light Work I is a unique piece of visual art, created by sewing together film with melted pharmaceuticals. “I painted and affixed melted pharmaceuticals, and used other implements like needles to directly alter some original 16mm footage,” she explains, “So this footage blows up these very small textures, like a microscope might.” Reeves shot the film with an HDCAM camcorder, which she then used to film the 16mm footage projected on a wall. The final film was made up of composites, or overlaid images, combining 16mm and HD imagery.

Reeves has produced a string of experimental short films, but this was her first time combining 16mm and HD in such a way. “Doing this digitally gave me almost complete control whereas before, chance and magic seemed more of a factor,” she says.

Light Work I asks whether HD and film can coexist in the modern film-making industry. “The colour and texture of this are meant to express the conflict at the heart of the matter,” says Reeves, “HD is said to be the medium that will put film out of the reach of artists’ hands. It is a great format for shooting documentary and of course is going to be used more and more for all genres of filmmaking. With HD you can get quite a beautiful image, work with a smaller crew, and get more dazzle from light and colour than you can with any other video format out there.”

Jenn Reeves’ Light Work I is available to download from iTunes.