OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN

by Edwin ROSTRON
2010 / Video / color / sound / 1S / 3' 00




Inspired by the tape recordings of Raymond Cass, a hearing-aid specialist from Hull and one of the UK’s foremost researchers into ‘Electronic Voice Phenomenon’ or EVP.

EVP recordings present voices ‘of unknown origin’ buried in radio frequencies and background noise, and possess a distorted, unearthly quality. Many researchers into the EVP believe they are the voices of the dead. Through a series of fragmentary scenes rendered in pencil and watercolour animation we enter into an unsettling territory somewhere between the real and the abstract. We hear the strange sounds of the EVP, and Cass himself talking about his work. The film is not really ‘about’ Cass (fascinating though he was), instead it uses his recordings as a route to explore the hidden realms of the unconscious mind. The film mirrors the uncanny, inexplicable nature of the EVP, the mystery and poetry of the recordings, and challenges rational explanations.

"I was interested in the possible connections between Cass' paranormal researchs and the creative practice of an artist, between the world invisible spirit in which Cass believed, and the idea of unconscious or imagination as it guides the artistic process."

An Animate Projects commission.

1 PRINT IN DISTRIBUTION


distribution format Digital file on server (SD)
screen 4/3 (single screen)
speed 25 fps
sound sound
original language English
rental fee 25,00 €