www.lustyjuventus.co.uk The M(other) Project 'Imagery & Technology' by Russell Frampton My input towards the creation of M(other)3 involved developing the interconnections between pre-existent filmic images, a script used for live performance and a soundtrack to create an entirely new piece of work using the medium of digital video. Having produced the backing projection film for the live performances, I had established a stylistic flavour which involved the use of figures and faces filmed from television sets partially detuned; this produced an appearance of static interference which emphasized the confused 'edge of memory' feelings that can be present in people suffering with Alzheimer's disease. A sense of liminality was created, suggesting the sensation of being slightly removed or disturbed, existing on the edge of reality. The creation of the video images involved the use of these static figures and to this was added subsequent footage developed from personal responses to imagery suggested by the original script for M(other)1 which included the text of the Swinburne poem used in the performance. These were resourced from my current experimental footage adapted to thematically link to the project, and also the development of a series of new images made specifically for this project. The opportunity to work with the cast to produce the whispered voiceover of the poem also facilitated the development of the close up shots of the lips; this whispering and extreme proximity is meant to create an intimate and almost claustrophobic tension to emphasize the disturbing nature of the central relationship within the original script. My aim was to extend a piece of live performance into something more abstracted through a different medium. This enabled the fusing of visual skills developed from my background as a painter with an understanding of the power of sound to enhance mood and the creation of emotional and sensorial meanings. I was attempting to almost get under the skin of the central character in order to allow both myself and the viewer to experience through the eyes of the mother the disjointed and temporally confused state induced by the disease. The open-ended brief enabled me to pursue a wholly flexible creative approach where images of performers become fused within the context of visually metaphoric sequences such as the telephone lines signaling initially some form of confused or even demonic communication, finally to become resolved as hearts beating together. Establishing a first hand working relationship with the performers was crucial to enabling the development of the film, a mutual understanding of artistic integrity and an atmosphere of creativity and support and willingness to experiment all being key to the resolution of the project. This relationship has built up over a number of years through my collaborative involvement with the designing and building of sets for live performance with the company, added to a background working within a technological and artistic research context in the Theatre and Performance department at the University of Plymouth. The process of collaboration for me has expanded my personal artistic horizons, through taking on thematic ideas that perhaps would never have surfaced through my own practice and has underlined the validity of cross media collaboration as a productive direction in creative practice and research.