KEY FRAMES
'LOST GENERATION'
Cast: Ferghas Clavey, Henry, Morris, Niamh McBride. Charlie Nayler. Jon Wered Hope, Emma Holt
With Thanks To: Chisenhale Dance, Studios Flora. Grant Annie-Rose, Grantham Kim, Chi Le Focus24 Hire
‘Lost Generation’ is a short film with a lot of meaning. The Collision Dance Theatre; a collective of young artists from around the world, creating work focused on mental health issues and climate change, have teamed up with Sonder Films for this piece. Together they have created ‘Lost Generation’, a film which focuses on the basis of human connection. Through the accompaniment of original music and a narrated poem, an imagery has been created that explores the animalist habits of human care and affection. They have depicted this essence through portraying the last standing human life. Stripping humans of their materialistic ideals and highlighting the importance of natural wonders that are taken for granted; love from family and friends, human touch, along with many other true riches.
The symbolism behind this collaborative piece is signified greatly in the opening scene, with the quote “For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack” Rudyard Kipling (1895), which places emphasis on the human and animal need for unity. As the film ends the importance on the need for human connection, touch, belonging and subsequently unity is highlighted. This has been accomplished through the imagery of the dancers coming together in a final embrace. The final scene is supported by the final parts of the poem; “we are the people” followed by “we are the pack”, signifying that at the end of the day, once we have been stripped of everything around us, we are simply living beings, alike and in need of each other.
Words by Barbara Naz
KEY FRAME I
FRAME DESCRIPTION:
For me, this part fully represents the emotions we were trying to capture in this film. The idea that when you break down all of the barriers that humans build around them to defend their pride and status, once all that is gone we crave human contact and connection. During times like these, that idea seems more prominent than ever. – Joel Barney
KEY FRAME II
FRAME DESCRIPTION:
This keyframe represents the inward struggles we fight with ourselves. We filmed this scene for around ten minutes continuously wrestling one another in the sand. Performing the physical movement beforehand in the middle of Storm Dennis, allowed us to reach exhaustion which would represent the constant inner fight and need for human connection. Here you can really see through the tension built in Jon`s facial expression the need to release buried emotions. The moment between us was raw and real and by the end, we were exhausted. When we released the tight hold, the hug was organic and human. This then naturally fed into the need for stillness. – Emma Holt
KEY FRAME III
FRAME DESCRIPTION:
When choreographing we looked at the animalistic qualities of care and affection. We played with the importance of eye contact when communicating. We looked at identifying ways we allow others to know we care for them without vocalisation. Physical touch such as pressing weight into a body part came into the conversation. This moment you see became a motif. Each duet uses this moment differently. In moments it's used playfully looking at how we use humour to mask emotion. In other moments we see the motif develop into the manipulation of movement to try diverting the topic of conversation. Avoiding the conversation is something most of us do. Speaking about something we don’t quite understand is scary. These moments in the film are to highlight the need for conversation. The need for human connection. We are all guilty of turning an eye to issues we don’t quite understand because we feel the problem is so far from being solved. But it’s important to note that turning an eye to these topics doesn’t mean they are going away and that the accumulation of everyone’s voices and actions is a step forward in tackling the issues at hand. – Emma Holt
‘Lost Generation’ is a fitting reminder of the simple things around us that are taken for granted and only truly appreciated once we experience life without them, with an emphasis on human connection. This is a reminder, which is truly needed during the current global pandemic and the current societal disarray.