The Knife & Chair

The Knife

The video is so simple and still, but so beautiful at the same time. A singular knife is set in the center of the screen - positioned horizontally on a flat, blue-violet surface. Other than a few glints of white light refracting off its edges, the knife is devoid of any reflection. Everything is still. Then a red light suddenly appears - first reflected just off the edge of the knife, it then slides gradually over the entire utensil. Once the red light entirely covers the knife, it remains for a few seconds, and then disappears quickly as if it were wiped off. This process repeats again, but with a light green light, and then again with red, then blue, then yellow lights. The slow, delicate process of the light crawling up the side of the knife reminds me of the mercury of an old thermometer rising. The very slow build-up and quick release of light can be representative of so many things. Because the lights were different colors, I attributed them to different emotions. Emotions can gradually build up, very slowly, and they can dissipate very quickly - just like the lights. Specifically, I thought about anger. Many different little annoyances in life can snowball together and create a bubbling rage of anger that grows and grows until it is all-encompassing - like when the knife is entirely bathed in light - and there is nowhere else for it to go but be released; this may happen by lashing out or just letting go. In the case of the knife, I feel like the act of just "letting go" is expressed. The knife never moves, never flinches. It remains the same the entire time and is passive to the whole experience of the light build-up. But why was a knife chosen as the object to represent a human? The knife is an essential tool to human life; we use it to cut and eat. We can also use it as a weapon of defense, or a weapon of murder. The knife always has a connotation of violence and aggression to it. Even in its static state resting on the purple surface, it still has the potential to be used as an object of violence. As the light creeps up closer and closer to the top of the knife, the closer and closer the emotion gets to peaking and inspiring a reaction - one that could end in violence, or merely letting go and moving on.

The Chair

Like The Knife, The Chair sits in an area devoid of movement. The black chair blends in with its black backdrop, only distinguishable by its white highlights reflecting back at the viewer. After taking in the static scene for a little while, a yellow feather floats down from above, gracefully landing behind the chair. Soon after, a white feather drops, floating down and landing in the same delicate manner. Gradually, more feathers of different colors fall in the same fashion, landing on the seat, arms, and back of the chair as well as the floor. The feathers pile up randomly, more dense in some areas than others. This continues for the entirety of the video. Contrasting with the dark chair and backdrop, the brightly colored feathers lighten up the scene a lot. To me, they seem to represent little bits of happiness raining down on an otherwise sad situation. Individually, each feather brings just a tiny bit of color into the scene. But altogether, they really make a difference to the overall appearance. The video could be referencing a kind of "appreciate the little things" mantra. But there is definitely a sense of compilation and building up - but in a different way than in The Knife. I'm not sure why a chair was chosen to be the main subject of the video. Chairs are used for rest and usually cause a feeling of contentment when one can finally sit down. However, the chair used in this video is not cushioned or comfortable looking - it's rather basic and would not be the chair of choice when one yearns for a long, comfortable rest. The simplicity of the chair may be used to contribute to the bleak subject and backdrop in the scene - to contrast more with the "happy" feathers. Another thought is that feathers compiled together are used for comfort - such as to fill pillows and cushions, which greatly contrasts with the chair in the scene, which is stiff and uninviting.