Fire Dancer

Artist Statement

In my video “Fire Dancer,” I aimed to capture the everyday feelings and experiences the sun evokes, while also touching upon the idea of what would happen if the Earth didn’t rotate around the sun. I chose to address this subject matter through a lyric essay, based off a freeform poem I had written about the sun earlier in the quarter. In my narrative, I weave in and out of talking about the sun in third person and directly addressing the sun, in order to create a more intimate experience with the subject matter, and draw the audience in. For my visual treatment I only loosely based my images around the narrative. I took pictures before completing my writing since I wanted to explore what kind of images I could capture of the sun within my own everyday life. In my sound design, I wanted a meditative feel within the narration, so there are frequent extended pauses, especially since I weave in and out of addressing the sun directly.  I knew I had to make those moments distinguishable to the listener’s ear. The most challenging part of this project was synching up the audio and visual treatment. The most rewarding part was going through the entire process from proposal to an actual tangible DVD. Overall I feel I accomplished my goal of capturing the beauty and warmth of the sun, and the feelings it evokes for me when both present and absent from my view within the everyday.

Artist Bio

Ariel Peake is from Shoreline, Washington. She is currently a sophomore at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. She has had prior experience in film with a previous class at Evergreen producing a short TV documentary on the Riot Grrrl Movement. After graduating from Evergreen, she hopes to work in sound design/production, as well as in communications.