Bragging Rights 2007-08:

MICHELLE carpenter

Michelle Carpenter, Multimedia Lab Director CLAS/CAM Digital Video & Motion Graphics Instructor, and fellow videographer Vidie Lange's video piece Trinity, has it's world premeire at Taos Mountain Film Festival October 5th.

 

The Taos Mountain Film Festival, October 5-7, included the 2007 Premier of a film created by CAM instructor and lab manager Michelle Carpenter and Vidie Lange.

TRINITY
This haunting short juxtaposes footage of nuclear explosions with a surreal modern day look at New Mexico’s Trinity site, location of the world’s first atomic blast. Relying solely on its collage of images and evocative score, Trinity is an affecting meditation on the nuclear reality and humans’ astounding ability to forget.

A synopsis of Trinity:

Trinity, titled for the location of the first atomic explosion on July 16th, 1945 utilizes the techniques of collage and montage to combine original video footage with found footage. This collision of imagery addresses the birth of the atomic age, ground zero and its complex relationship with history. Trinity combines image metaphors, text and music that relate the apocalyptic nightmare, haunting military power and the twisted memories of the first atomic blast. Archival imagery juxtaposed with original footage shot at the Trinity Site in the White Sands Missile range in southern New Mexico display the fascination with the destructive power of the atomic bomb.

Trinity opens with a brief history of atomic age and the explosion of the first nuclear device. This moment transforms history and the viewer is thrust into the horrifying beauty and power of the blast. Red and orange flames fill the screen and the viewer is transported to the present day Trinity Site. We experience the Trinity Site through a tourist’s eyes. The present day transforms into footage from Bikini Atoll, Nevada, and Naval ships all sites testing the world’s greatest power. The viewer is returned to the present day Trinity Site to shop for memorabilia.

Trinity asks the viewer to critically examine the powers of war, its impact and our selective loss of memory.

Photo above of Michelle Carpenter: Clinton T. Sander, photographer and alumnus of UC Denver. Trinty photo provided by Michelle Carpenter.