‘Ghost in The Machine’ sees an intricate mechanical fish sculpture come to life, undulating and shining in the light, only to be engulfed by a swarm of plastic bags. The film asks the audience to look again at the plight of our plastic filled oceans, through new eyes.
We are so used to seeing images from ecological organisations of decaying sea fish and birds on the beach with plastic in their stomachs. Whilst horrific, these images have become too ubiquitous to be impactful. In Ghost in The Machine, I wanted to present ocean pollution in a completely different way, with a completely new aesthetic.
The sculpture, the central protagonist in 'Ghost in The Machine' has a complex yet brutalist design. This speaks to the idea that for so long, mankind has seen nature and the oceans as their trash can that can absorb whatever they choose to throw in it. Only now in the 21st century we are truly seeing the full impact of our misdemeanours.
The start and end shots of Ghost In The Machine are framed from the same confronting front-on camera angle, this is no accident. At the beginning, the closed fish sculpture is a metaphor for a world before the genesis of nature, a world of darkness before nature has blossomed into the world we know today. The final shot shows the sculpture closing, plastic bags clogging up its entire form. It is as if nature has had enough and finally chooses to shut down until the next genesis, may millennia from now. I do hope my narrative is in fact too bleak, and that we find a way to save the oceans, all of nature and ourselves.
Please note: Ghost In The Machine is not quite finished. The version you are viewing is an almost complete work in progress. Some of the shots have only been rendered at a low sample rate (hence the noisy images) and need a full render. This, along with some compositing and colour grading work will be done before 4th May.