“A mosaic can be broadly defined as a unified composition created by assembling separate pieces of material … that form a meaningful whole” (Unger, 1968)
“There is no doubt that one of the reasons for the special appeal of the mosaic is that the viewer unconsciously takes an active part in the creation of the unified picture.” (Unger, 1968)
The roots of this artistic technique are possibly in the evolved pattern-seeking human brain. But, the technical expression starts with the first mosaicist. Who knows who was first, but excellent mosaics have been recovered from as early as 4,000 BCE (Unger).
Steve – Our film mosaics depict where we are and the time we are there. For us they are documentary short films. Our impression of that experience. They are a document of how we feel, sense, view and hear that space and the people in that space.
Mary – We came to the process through trial and error. We were striving to depict a specific place over time, like a tidepool or a rocky coastline, using moving images from different perspectives to more accurately represent our experiences of places as they constantly shift and change. We felt that single perspective cinematography wasn’t enough. It could not capture the different viewpoints that a person experiences simply by looking around them.
Steve – Each of the sometimes more than 72 film segments is unique. They are designed to form a coherent depiction that is unique to each viewer, since each viewer will make their own decision about what segment to watch and for how long. The eye scans, the brain or subconscious brain chooses and the frontal cortex puts it all together. No experience is the same since no two viewers are the same.
Mary – Each mosaic is constructed of multiple moving images, filmed separately over time (from a day or a week or more). Arranged in a rough grid, together they make up an image of a landscape or seascape or cityscape or portrait, but each individual piece of the mosaic — each square — tells its own story.
Steve – We work to film simply what is there (this from our natural history filmmaking experience). How we place the camera, the length of the shot and so many things are taken into account and can only be described as our hunch of what is necessary. We never really know what we have filmed until we begin putting it together.
Mary – While the running time of one of our film mosaics is usually about three minutes, the total duration of the multiple images, shown simultaneously, is over two hours. It is up to the viewer to focus on individual squares, in the order they choose, or to take in the whole screen (or multiple screens in the case of Clement Street). Each viewing is different, as it is impossible to see everything at once.
reference
Practical Mosaics by Hans Unger, Viking Press, NY 1968