The first half of a film 150,000 photographs in the making combining time lapse footage of riots and optical illusion paintings.

Please take a look at my Kickstarter campaign for the second half of Modern Ruin:
www.kickstarter.com/projects/1051873420/modern-ruin-white-hole

This is the first half of a film I have been working on for over a year and a half. It’s 150,000 photographs in the making (and counting). I am releasing it along with a Kickstarter campaign designed to fund the second half. If you’d like to see more from where this film came from you can view the video I created for the Kickstarter campaign. It features several exclusive time lapse clips that preview the second half of the film (I’ll leave it up to you to figure out which ones they are).

Modern Ruin is a contemplation of the idea that creation and destruction is the same thing (this half of the film focuses on destruction). The white hole from which our universe sprang, and the blackness into which it may disappear testify to as much, yet these bookends of existence are inadequate to address everything in between. For a better sense of what it is to exist we must speak to atoms, trees, whole collections of worlds, and of course, womankind*.

If a deity intervenes in the world of women it is only through the troublesome laws of nature and the coin toss of probability. When prayers are answered it is because the requested circumstance would have occurred naturally. Otherwise, prayer for impossible things such as moved mountains or the end of violence in the genetics of women could occasionally occur. I say this not as an assault on sacred beliefs, or advocacy for close-minded atheism, but as a realization that falls outside all personal belief.

As a species, our continued survival is subject to natural laws and our own decisions. An asteroid may one day burn the world and fulfill the apocalyptic prophecies of many sacred texts, but it will not be sent by a God; it will be sent by physics. Further, on the condition that we reverse the wretched trend of defunding the future, in the form of education, the arts, and exploratory science, we can see the apocalypse flying through space in our telescopes. And we can prevent it from happening. In other words, our fate as a species, and the fate of our beautiful blue home is more in our own hands than the hands of any divinity or natural occurrence.

As with all my films, every event depicted in Modern Ruin happened in naked reality, from the riots, to the optical-illusion paintings. In the same way that you, life itself and even the laws of the universe are deeply paradoxical, so too are the realities pieced together to form this non-reality.

NOTES:

All of my films are accompanied by still portfolios and outtakes culled from thousands of photographs shot for the film. They are designed not just to reflect the artwork in the film, but to add another dimension to it. They can be found on my website: www.jeff-frost.com

*All male pronouns referencing humanity have been changed to female in my description. This is not to elevate women above men, but to magnify the imbalance of gender norms in current society. Taking this approach for even one day is an eye opening experience.

CREDITS

Soundtrack & Sound Design: Jeff Frost
Additional Editing: Michael Tremaine
Assistance: Stephanie Alva

LINDA VISTA CREW
Camera 2: Paul Anthony
Camera 3: Michael Stern
Assistants: Stephanie Alva, Bree Walker
Special Thanks: Francis Kortekaas, Chelton Perry, Fredrick Faith

Linda Vista location secured with the support of
Capital K Pictures

THANK YOU
Sofian Kahn
Eileen Gittins
Daniel Milnor
Jeff Dunas
Patrick Kahn
Holly Kahn
Stephen Knapp
Phil Plait
Steve Anderson
Peter Brusso
Brooke Degraw
Bill Johnson
Stuart Palley
Clive Holloway


Sponsored in part by
Dynamic Perception

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