5x5 video project-- Home

While I was deciding how to do my project, I happened to be home for the day. This semester I've been really intrigued by the concept of home-- and how home is something I've always chased. I tend to run home when things go wrong, but lately I've realized that running home isn't really an answer (though it is nice). In "On the Road with Saint Augustine", Smith writes about how our home isn't earthly, and so we spend our lives chasing this concepts of the end of the road--home-- that can't be attained. I've realized how my longing for home isn't necessarily for my hometown, rather, it's a longing for my eternal home. I wanted to convey this feeling of nostalgia and longing for what we haven't really seen yet, something we don't quite know. I wanted to cut the music abruptly-- but then play it again, to show that home has not been reached--yet. I did, however, want the video to start and end at my home- with wandering in between to show this restlessness for home, even if at the end of the day we end up at out house. This is comforting thing, getting home after a long day, but we are still journeying. I used one of my favorite songs, Ripple by the Grateful Dead, as the lyrics have always spoken to my longing for a home that I can't reach yet. The lyrics also pair so well with images of sparkling water, so as soon as I shot my third clip I knew I needed to incorporate it. The clips I used came out of many different videos I took throughout the day. I went through and decided which ones made me the most nostalgic for home and the concept of traveling home. I wanted the piece to be more universal than just my experience, so I focused on the ones taken driving around and walking on a path. Driving around, listening to music, going to our favorite places-- I think that these are all common experiences that the viewer will be able to feel in this piece, even if they don't recognize my hometown.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/b4198a_4fbaa7c0b8ea45b0aee865d46f57ac03/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Ripple Lyrics

If my words did glow with the gold of sunshine

And my tunes were played on the harp unstrung,

Would you hear my voice come through the music?

Would you hold it near as it were your own?

It's a hand-me-down, the thoughts are broken,

Perhaps they're better left unsung.

I don't know, don't really care

Let there be songs to fill the air.

Ripple in still water,

When there is no pebble tossed,

Nor wind to blow.

Reach out your hand if your cup be empty,

If your cup is full may it be again,

Let it be known there is a fountain,

That was not made by the hands of men.

There is a road, no simple highway,

Between the dawn and the dark of night,

And if you go no one may follow,

That path is for your steps alone.

Ripple in still water,

When there is no pebble tossed,

Nor wind to blow.

You, who choose to lead, must follow

But if you fall you fall alone.

If you should stand then who's to guide you?

If I knew the way I would take you home.