Swan Song is a video installation discussing the experience of interaction and independence, and the feeling of being rejected. The principal characters are played by two swans setting up a family. In the end one of their fledglings is left behind. How will it get along, all alone in the big world? Swan Song is a prologue to the fairy tale The Ugly Duckling.
Director, producer, D.O.P: Maarit Suomi
Editing: Sami Laitinen, Maarit Suomi
Sound, music: Pirkko Tiitinen
Funding: Promotion Centre for Audiovisual Culture AVEK / Veli Granö,
Project Grant for Media Art
Thanks to Toast Post
Data:
Length: 6min 20sec
Year of production: May 2004
Master format: Digital Betacam
Image: colour
Shoot ratio: 4:3
Sound: Stereo (ch1, ch2)
Themes
Swan Song is a nature drama in three acts. It starts with the mating dance of swans then shows their copulation, and finally the idyllic family scene, which is about to break up. This is the film’s way to demonstrate the power struggle and the violent sexual desire between woman and man. Even procreation is a part of this power struggle.
Swan Song is a comment on natural selection. It suggests that reproduction cannot be taken for granted. Man cannot control the nature. Swan Song discusses the dependence between parents and children, which lies in their fear of being rejected.
Swan Song plays with antropomorphism by reflecting human qualities to other living creatures. Swan plays an important role in Finnish mythology. It is the symbol of fidelity, eternal happiness, fertility, and death. In worldwide traditions swan is seen as man. That makes swan a totem animal.
Image and sound
Swan Song is visually stylised. It uses effects in order to alienate the outcome from its documentary character. Images are softened, and a lot of repetition is seen until a point, where repetition becomes compulsive. This enforces the emotional strength of the film. On the contrary, variable slow motion allures the spectator to the meditative world created by the film.
The sounds heard in Swan Song are simplified and abstract. They vary from effects to sounds of nature and organic elements. Less and less instruments are heard while the stereo sound also gradually narrows down towards the end. Finally the fledgling has been absorbed to the nature. There is no spoken word in the film.
Shortly about the director
Maarit Suomi has worked within media art and cinema as director of photography, producer, and individual artist. In her previous works, which deal with social, political and bodily issues, she has applied moving image, installation, and photographs. Maarit Suomi lives and works in Helsinki.
