Forged in Chaos
Directed by Patricia Gloum
Forged in Chaos is a unique project directed by Patricia Gloum. At a crossroad between fashion, digital art, dance and music, this docu-poem-experimental short is a taste of what video content will look, feel and sound like in the near future.
We had the opportunity to speak to Gloum about her work, NFT’s and how she’s planning to collaborate with brands.
First of all congratulations on your well deserved Vimeo Staff Pick. We’d love to start off by asking how you got to know dancers Rob and Josiah, what led you to direct Forged in Chaos and how you made it happen.
Thank you! I got to know Rob by editing a video for another director where I saw him dancing and his presence spoke to me. I asked the director to introduce him to me because I had a story that I wanted to shoot in the subway - Do U for U - and thought he would be perfect for it. What led me to direct Forged in Chaos is that we wanted to colab again with Rob and one day he was hanging out at my house and told me his poem. It was so beautiful, so we made an experimental piece around it.
You define your film as “dance - digital art - experimental documentary”, which we love as the best content always meets at a crossroad of genres. Can you tell us more about all the different elements forming Forged in Chaos and how they all come together?
The “mixitude” comes from a desire to tell the story using different ways of communicating the emotion. I don’t want to just do one style, but then everything gets too much in my head and blocks me with what to choose. This time, instead of overthinking, I thought why not include everything, intertwining and then threading it all together. It made me feel good. So if it makes me feel good, it means I met an inner desire and I was able to put it out there through a video. Perhaps it comes from being a hyperactive adult with ADHD and lots of interests that I channel every day. It also comes from desire because I find each part fascinating: from their relationship, their dance move syncing and the process of creating the music with musicians Hans & Binxi (starting at 01:19 secs) which is too delightful to ignore to wanting to make it more of a music video and then creating the digital art with Jonas Ersland. Because for me video is art and each part has a celebration and a process.
“This time, instead of overthinking, I thought why not include everything”
We are particularly interested in all the wonderful digital techniques you’ve used. Can you tell us more about the creative process behind them and then how you managed to bring them to life?
I managed to bring them to life by making a collaboration with digital artist Jonas Ersland, who I'm fond of. I filmed the dancers and gave him the green screen footage so he could have fun and place them in never ending circle cubes. I was already a fan of his work and knew he could make something amazing out of it - he made me some creative propositions, we chose and voila! Beautiful moving pieces came out! I can't wait to do more of these!! That's the power of collaboration - when you trust the other creative and your artistic minds collides. In terms of techniques there was not much we did, I filmed them in a green screen background that was getting blown away by the wind (super DIY in the middle of the street) no lights, just natural. And after Jonas used effects to play with it :)
“Video is art and each part has a celebration and a process”
You co-founded Brawhaus, a digital art curation studio focusing on the digital aspect of filmmaking. Can you tell us more about the work that you and the type of projects you take on?
We focus on elevating digital artists and expose what we think is super relevant, but not "in vogue" like big names like Beeple or Refik Anadol.
We organize big exhibitions around them and events for people to meet. Now we focus more and more on education to teach people about web3 and digital artists. We are asked to give talks and participate in panels. We are also a digital creative studio so we partner with the artists and link them to brands to create experimental commercials, NFT’s and 360 campaigns. We have as a mission to put the artist first and the brand second. And we focus on not white labeling the artist, but having brands do collabs with them instead of trying to appropriate them with their artistic vision. Our latest campaign was for Hogan, an Italian fashion show (click on the image below to watch).
“We have as a mission to put the artist first and the brand second”
You’ve also mentioned that this work is complemented by 5 NFTs displayed in a holographic form allowing the viewer to have a 360 experience. Why did you decide to include a series of NFTs? And do you think this is something that will become more common, for example for brands?
Yes, I totally believe 100% in the power of NFT's. It's super fascinating. I could go on talking for hours about it. But i'll keep it short and sweet. I believe NFT's are the next economical system that can empower projects and distribute funds to everyone involved in the project. It is also a way to imprint a digital file in time and history, as well as creating value. Before a digital creation would never be able to have value attached to it and now thanks to NFT's it does! it's amazing!
Think of all these creators that create digital creations - now all their work has value! I've been into NFT's without consciously knowing since circa 2018. I co-created Braw Haus, a web3 digital creative studio with a mission to empower digital artists by exhibiting their work to the world in order get inspired and educated (see here our latest one on a Unesco world heritage monument). But also to collaborate with them as well as be an advocate for the "digital art movement" - yet not fully recognized, but that the NFT technology has made possible. Slowly slowly more people will be using it and understand its value. And yes more brands will be using this new technology - we are entering the web3 area and brands will be exploring it to create within these new parameters.
We are very early on, so there is still much to discover. I'm excited to enter this new area where the power will be more distributed and not just owned by big names owning all our data like Google, Facebook, Amazon etc... Web3 is about decentralizing the power, owning your own data and a WAGMI mentality which stands for WE ARE ALL GOING TO MAKE IT. I'm too fan of this and excited to participate in this new revolution that will be part of us all and hopefully benefit us all. Besides other reasons, that's why I made these NFT’s. They are divided between the 15 of us who worked on it, so when one NFT gets sold we all get a little share. Even if it's symbolic.
NTFs available on sale below:
I am where I need to be
Do not bother searching for me
I think you saved me
Forged in Chaos
Recently there seems to be an increase in content focused on dance. Why do you think that is and what other trends are we moving towards?
I don't personally follow trends, I follow what my heart feels like doing. Dance and music have been part of me since I was a kid. My father is a musician, a Jazz Pianist, and dance is an extension of communication but with movement instead of words. In terms of trends I see it going more and more experimental and with crazier filming techniques to mindblow the viewer. In terms of narration style I am not sure.
What’s next for you?
Make Braw Haus mission successful, create more amazing projects, continue advocating for the causes we defend, continue to inspire creatives and empower them, be an example for women entrepreneurs and filmmakers. :)
Director: Patricia Gloum
Producer: Anais Ohresser
Key Cast: Robert Jamie Mason
Key Cast: Josiah Martinez-Wade
Director of Photography: Frank Apollonio
Editor: Dean Lenoir
Digital Artist: Jonas Ersland
Sound Mixer: Matt Leibowitz
Color Grading: Adam Clarke