Directed by Christopher Spencer-Lowe

Logline: Disorder incarnate, the lady of the wheel, Aleatoria.

Synopsis: Disorder incarnate, the lady of the wheel. Turning and cranking, spinning and churning the stuff of chaos. Randomness, chance, and the unpredictability of being are at her command. Created by random processes, including randomized images and decision making, found footage inspired from social networks and cameras spun on constructed wheel mounts in random locations.

Distribution Contact: WFG

More Details

RUNTIME: 5 Minutes
GENRE: Experimental, Narrative, Fiction
PRODUCTION FORMAT: Super 8mm
LANGUAGE: None
LOCATION: Nova Scotia
TECHNIQUES: Hand Process (b&w), Hand Process (col), Optically Printed, Live Action
KEYWORDS: Cultural Analysis, Chaos, Aleatoric Film, New Mythology

Director's Statement: I have sought the comfort of control in my work as a shield from the fear inherent in its creation. Lately, I have grown to resent that need as a kind of interior tyrant. Inspired by the theme of chaos, I thought that using random, or aleatoric, methods to shoot and edit a film would force me to surrender to chance, dethrone the tyrant and even free me to try some new things.

Using social media, I asked random people to tell me three images that came to their minds when thinking of chaos and chance. This generated a list of 80 images, 44 of which I was able to find a representation of online and re-photograph onto Super 8 film. By rolling dice for the order, I assembled the found "chaos" images, creating a collection of randomly collected images, or "aleatoria."

I mounted a Super 8 camera into a 35mm film reel and rigged it to a handwinder. With this "chaos jib", I could spin the camera vertically and horizontally, creating a "swishing" effect as images flew by, eventually stopping in a random position.

In creating a live-action element to personify my creative approach, I shot a scene in which actor Misha Horacek becomes Aleatoria, a personification of chaos. There were no rehearsals and every decision was as spontaneous and automatic as possible.
Although I did create a general map of the film, I used the rolling of dice and other approaches to determine the specifics of editing.