Leighton Pierce is an American experimental filmmaker who uses sound design and hypnotic images to explore themes of surrealism, dreams, and hypnotic states. The theme of water and its hypnotic rhythm are present in many of his shorts and feature films. Outside film, Pierce experiments a great deal with sound and installation. His artistic style is similar to impressionism, an art style represented by fluid motion and obvious brushstrokes. Music is a large influence in his work, along with other art forms such as poetry and dance. In one interview he stated that his work has been influenced most by teaching moments he’s gained from experiences with these art forms. Pierce captures a moment and makes it timeless through its connected environment
…show more content…
His path into film has been self-manifested, as he has experimented and grown into his unique film style. A lot of his experience has also been gained through educating others. As he has contributed to the film curriculum at several universities, his own work has evolved from teaching others. His work can be traced back to 1980 with the production of “He Likes To Chop Down Trees,” a three minute short that quickly characterises a man chopping down trees through the abstraction of rhythmic sound and a collage of cuts, resulting in a disruption of the viewer’s concept of time and space. To public knowledge, the last film he produced was “White Ash”, in 2014, which presents the same themes of temporal disruption and rhythm of images and sound in a slower, meditative pace. A technique used a lot by Pierce is the blurred focus of a subject or scene, similar to the visual haze experienced by tired eyes looking at street lights at night. This visual technique produces a sense of not knowing when and where you are. He also matches sound to what’s going on screen. For example, in “He Likes to Chop Down Trees,” the swift movements of the swinging of the ax is matched by even-paced, heavy thuds. White noise fills the …show more content…
I shoot because I feel like shooting and then I look around to see what is happening and engage in that event with a camera. this case, on several different days, my children were playing with various things in the backyard. It is in the editing that associations are made that create meaning. At the time, I simply thought I was articulating shared cinematic space between my daughter and son. They were not together in the same space when I shot, but in editing, I worked to create a sense of space in the yard that had a boy with sticks and fire and the girl with water.Years later, I realized this was a piece reflecting on my children in the light of a near death (temporally clinically dead) experience I
His path into film has been self-manifested, as he has experimented and grown into his unique film style. A lot of his experience has also been gained through educating others. As he has contributed to the film curriculum at several universities, his own work has evolved from teaching others. His work can be traced back to 1980 with the production of “He Likes To Chop Down Trees,” a three minute short that quickly characterises a man chopping down trees through the abstraction of rhythmic sound and a collage of cuts, resulting in a disruption of the viewer’s concept of time and space. To public knowledge, the last film he produced was “White Ash”, in 2014, which presents the same themes of temporal disruption and rhythm of images and sound in a slower, meditative pace. A technique used a lot by Pierce is the blurred focus of a subject or scene, similar to the visual haze experienced by tired eyes looking at street lights at night. This visual technique produces a sense of not knowing when and where you are. He also matches sound to what’s going on screen. For example, in “He Likes to Chop Down Trees,” the swift movements of the swinging of the ax is matched by even-paced, heavy thuds. White noise fills the …show more content…
I shoot because I feel like shooting and then I look around to see what is happening and engage in that event with a camera. this case, on several different days, my children were playing with various things in the backyard. It is in the editing that associations are made that create meaning. At the time, I simply thought I was articulating shared cinematic space between my daughter and son. They were not together in the same space when I shot, but in editing, I worked to create a sense of space in the yard that had a boy with sticks and fire and the girl with water.Years later, I realized this was a piece reflecting on my children in the light of a near death (temporally clinically dead) experience I