People

I composed ’People’ for Nordic Voices and friends—a video piece. I spent a week recording hours of material with a single camera and a microphone. The piece is essentially monophonic, with a sense of polyphony created by quickly alternating clips. You only see one face and hear one voice at a time. There are no audio effects, only short sequenced clips. I fixed a chair to the floor and positioned a monitor with a grid in front of the singers, thinking it would be easy for them to sit still and align perfectly with the grid. Despite their efforts, we quickly realized that humans are unable to sit still. So, I ended up spending the whole week on my knees behind the singers, supporting their backs with a stretched-out hand to help them align with the grid as they sampled the material. Then I sat down with Final Cut Pro, sorted through terabytes, and edited the piece frame by frame, clip by clip, by hand. I recorded my footage in film quality, and at first, it seemed too much for any editor. However, I successfully edited it on my old MacBook using proxy media. Many thanks to Tone, Frank, Ingrid, Per Kristian, Ebba, Rolf Magne, Mats, Bjarne, Christian, Bjørg, Mariam, Balint, Hanna, Teodor, and Mariam M. Special thanks also to Det Norske Komponistfond and Notam.