EXTENDED: Statement of Intent

The Atrocity Exhibition, written by J.G Ballard, and first published in 1970, is an experimental novel which deals with a wide array of 20th Century subject matter. Many of the book's themes, including media-saturation, political propaganda, and consumerism, are subjects that we have discussed in COP sessions throughout the last three years, and much of the language used in the book is rich in visual metaphor. Because of this we were drawn to the novel as a starting point for our film and our intention is to mimic the post-modern narrative structure of the story by focusing on the themes and concepts within the story, rather than depicting specific scenes or attempting to tell a single coherent storyline. We intend to take an abstract and experimental approach to the visuals, blending archive imagery and footage with our own animation to build up a layered montage of scenes related to key themes from the book. The themes we have identified, which will be broken up into loose "movements" within the film are:

1. Landscapes/Geometries/AnatomiesAs the main character in the book, Travis, slips slowly into psychosis he begins to mix mathematical or scientific language into his descriptions of his daily activities and the people he interacts with. This is a rich vein of visual metaphor which we would like to tap into.

2. Media Saturation
Travis has an obsession with the pop culture icons of the mid 20th Century, and the increase in consumerism and celebrity culture. Much of Ballard's work touches on the power of advertising and mass media which came about during the mid-20th Century.

3. Automobile Fetish
Parts of The Atrocity Exhibition foreshadow Ballard's most famous book, Crash, in which people feel sexual gratification whilst viewing images of car crashes and car crash victims.


4. Apocalypse/World War III
Travis' psychosis eventually becomes a fixation upon war and disaster, reflecting the paranoia of the Cold War during which the book was written. He begins conducting mass re-enactments of public disasters such as the kennedy assassination, remodelling them through his own personal experience of the events.

The finished article may not necessarily be recognisable as an interpretation of Ballard's text, but considering the abstract, montage writing style of the book it seems appropriate that the messages and content of the film will only be revealed to the viewer as part of a whole contiguous piece.

I am looking forward to working with Brenda again, after last year's success working with Rosie on Noelline's Flood for Applied. Brenda and I have very similar views on politics, philosophy and art - many of which are reflected in The Atrocity Exhibition. On top of this Brenda has a drive to experiment and try new methods and techniques, which is not only in line with the experimental mode of the novel, but will also push me to produce more interesting work.