Wolves From Above: a short film and installation.
- Submitting institution
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Liverpool John Moores University
- Unit of assessment
- 34 - Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, Library and Information Management
- Output identifier
- KOOIJ2
- Type
- Q - Digital or visual media
- Publisher
- -
- Month
- March
- Year
- 2018
- URL
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https://vimeo.com/246597676/df4d6eec1b
- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- Depictions of wolves in wildlife films are preoccupied with hunting scenes, pack hierarchy, and other stereotypical subject matter. The short film and installation Wolves From Above (2018) breaks with such clichés and presents a different wolf. The main aim of the project was to find a film form that is able to establish an empathic connection between wolf and viewer.
Rather than focusing on spectacle, it presents a meditation on a pack on wolves filmed from above with a drone. It offers a new approach to documentary filmmaking, because it is a single long-take, filmed solely with a drone – a rarely used medium as drone footage use is usually accompanied by other film techniques. Sound design consists of atmos and Foley that highlight wolf behaviour and specific interactions between the wolves. Moreover, the wolves frequently break ‘the fourth wall’ prompting eye-contact between wolf and audience. Thanks to this original approach the animals appear nearby, quiet, while exposing wolf language, and therein seem unfamiliar yet intriguing. In this way the piece is shifts the paradigm of what is normally accepted as wildlife film and transforms existing knowledge of wolves.
The three forms of display (cinema projection, floor or ceiling installation) each encourage a unique way in which the viewer connects to the wolves. It was concluded that a floor or ceiling projection offered the most visceral interaction.
The piece is a form of post-humanist filmmaking as it promotes a more-than-human perspective and works against anthropocentrism.
It is displayed worldwide at festivals, galleries, and museums. Honourable achievements are winner of the Jury Prize Ann Arbor Film Festival 2019, AHRC film awards nominee 2019 (best early career film), exhibited at WRO Media Art Biennale Poland, FACT Liverpool, MMCA Seoul, and reviews e.g. The Guardian.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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