Prologue to Credo - PIP Review : audiovisual Documentary and Composition

Abstract

This thesis is part of a professional integration project reflecting on the preparation, process and outcomes of an audio-visual documentary and project entitled Prologue to Credo, which aims to innovatively create and execute a documentary film with an authentic narrative of a witness of the events of the First World War and the Second World War, (narrated by) Dr. Vladimír Valta, and a musical composition as equal artistic, expressive and communicative means, where this authentic narrative is an integral part of the musical composition and none of the parts or layers of the work is superior to the others in this respect, be it video or audio material. The work and the project also highlight lesser-known details and topics of these historical events, bringing an unconventional presentation of them. Authentic archival footage and photographs are used, and with regard to musical composition, excerpts from the own and original composition of the Credo from the Latin Mass (from the Requiem) are used; the Latin text is applied here using reconstructed Latin with regard to pronunciation. The subjective authentic narrative and testimony and the actual musical composition used for this project and work thus creates an unconventional whole using conventional technical approaches and yet unconventional editing and compositional techniques. The project and work are characterised by the use of non-linearities as a compositional component. Elements such as distortion, noise, hum (present in the original recordings) are thus integral to the composition and compositional intent, as are deformations on the time grid and displacements with respect to the musical composition. The asymmetrical use of parts of the audio and video material is also characteristic of this work and project. The narrative is reduced to a fragment of the original length of the recording while maintaining maximum coherence and informational value, the musical material and recording is expanded through axioms and their iterations, and operations and manipulations within the editing work. Furthermore, the visual and audio material is layered and re-edited. The work also presents a translation of the narrative used into English, offering for the first time the opportunity for international and Icelandic audiences to become familiar with this authentic and subjective narrative.