Reykjavík Grapevine - 17.06.2011, Blaðsíða 28

28
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 8 — 2011
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Art | Film
First-time filmmaker Svavar Jóna-
tansson rode his motorcycle
around Iceland in 2004. Awe-in-
spired by the landscape, he began
photographing the scenery on his
lone journey. Svavar recounts, “I
wanted to try a different approach
than stopping the motorcycle all
the time. I wanted to put the camera
on the handlebars, and have a trig-
ger and just shoot single frames.
The idea was in my mind, but never
got done.”
Then, in 2007 while travelling around
the country again, Svavar saw a freight
truck and thought of shooting still
frames out the side windows. He called
several freight truck and bus compa-
nies, explaining his idea. With help
from several of them, as well as some
friends and their private vehicles, Sva-
var’s project of capturing landscape in
motion evolved into ‘Inland/Outland
Iceland’.
Puzzled together through various
forms of transportation, the three-year
project produced around 200.000 pho-
tographs, 40.000 of which were used in
the final product, Inland/Outland Ice-
land. The DVD contains two forty-three
minute films showing landscape on
both sides of the Ring Road—a stretch
of highway that spans roughly 1.400
km around the entirety of Iceland, con-
necting the main habitable parts of the
country. An original score by Icelan-
dic musician Daníel Ágúst Haraldsson
(GusGus, Nýdönsk, Esja) accompanies
the films.
Along with the films, Inland/Out-
land contains a sizeable amount of
bonus material. ‘Detail Views’ shows
specific location on a map before pro-
pelling the viewer through the scenery
in that particular area. The ‘Slideshow’
section focuses on traditional stills. ‘In-
land/Outland’ also contains ‘Volcanic
Drive’, showcasing the landscape near
Eyjafjallajökull during the eruption, and
a ‘Making Of’ video explaining the pro-
duction involved with a voice over by
Svavar.
Svavar spent roughly four months
editing through the pictures he collect-
ed. He describes the editing process as
“a big puzzle,” and admits that “it’s not
edited together with any kind of formu-
la. It was a very chaotic approach, but
it all came together in the end.” When
Svavar realised he was missing footage
of a particular area, he would take to
the road again, making sure the entire
Ring Road, both sides, was fully docu-
mented. When asked about his inspira-
tion for making the film, Svavar replies:
“In the beginning it was simply fulfilling
an idea.”
ARTIST IN THE PASSEN-
GER’S SEAT
We sat down with Svavar to ask him
more about the ins and outs of Inland/
Outland Iceland.
How would you suggest people
watch the videos?
I have no idea, that’s really up to each
individual. The only thing I could say is
that, hopefully, people will keep their
mind and whole sensory system open.
How did you determine the speed of
the videos?
It wasn’t done in such a systematic way
that I could say that there are so many
seconds between each photo. I tried to
keep the same visual line. If there was
a bump in the road, I had to level the
camera. I had to hold my body rigid to
fight the shaking. It made the human
touch so important.
Why still frames and not a video
camera?
The video camera approach, looking
straight ahead, has been widely done.
It was pioneered in Iceland by Friðrik
Þór Friðriksson in 1985 and has been
repeated by others.
With a still frame, you can minimise
the number of frames and reduce the
speed between images. The landscape
is then not going by so fast that you
don’t get it.
How would you characterise the
mood of the whole project?
People have said that Iceland seems to
be a no-man’s land. Large parts of the
country are uninhabited. That’s what
I like in the film—you feel like you’re
alone and then, poof, you go through
a town. It’s only for three seconds be-
cause the towns aren’t very large. And
then seconds later, poof, you regain
freedom because you are out in nature
again. Whether there is a certain mood,
overall, I couldn’t say. The music takes
you through different emotions.
How did you choose the composer
for the music and what direction
did you give him?
Daníel Ágúst Haraldsson is a very good
friend of mine and I really trusted him
as an artist. He really sensed how to
give life to the images, but still let them
stand on their own. The music helps
you to go along. It gets you into this
hypnotic mood of just letting the im-
ages flow.
What was your mindset while tak-
ing photos?
If I was on the bus, I would keep to
myself when I was shooting, listening
to music. But with the truck drivers, I
didn’t want to sit there for hours and
say nothing. I went between taking the
photos to putting the camera down and
having a conversation. There was much
more to this project than just taking
photographs.
What did you talk about while on
the road?
Some drivers talked about country mu-
sic and Kris Kristoferson for hours. Oth-
ers talked about how fucked up society
has become and who’s to blame. There
was a whole spectrum of conversation.
One guy just didn’t say a word. He said
one sentence to me and then we drove
in darkness down the East fjords.
Any other interesting stories?
Once in November, I went to the East
fjords to try and finish what I had start-
ed there. I ended up arriving at four
in the morning, and I looked around
and saw this old, abandoned jeep. It
became my campsite for the next two
nights. I just crawled into it and slept in
a sleeping bag. It was a multi-faceted
adventure. That’s what really makes me
feel content; having all of these differ-
ent experiences.
Do you have a favourite photo-
graph/scene/season?
No, they are just so varied. My favourite
could be early January morning where
you can’t see anything but a blue light
above the mountains, or it could be a
really pure, crisp sunny day driving
past a glacier. Each place that I came
to had completely different weather or
light depending on the time of day or
season. That’s why I added the bonus
material, because I thought I couldn’t
be completely accurate with just doing
Moving Mountains:
Iceland’s Landscape
Travelling Through Time
Go view some very special INLAND/OUTLAND exhibits at the Vat-
najökull National Park guest house in Skaftafell and Snæfellsjökull
National Park guest house in Hellnar (both exhibits are open 'til fall).
More info at www.inlandoutland.com