Channel: Impakt 2010 Favourites

Sissiaen Lahio (The Suburb Within)

A film about communication, narration and presence. 'Yesterday is history, tomorrow is mystery, but today is a gift'. That's why it's called present.'

Interview with Pekka Sassi

Description/ summary of the work, thoughts on the work:

I think The Suburb Within is a tragic comedy with a happy ending.

Could you please tell us something about yourself and your artistic background?

I am a visual artist, got my MA from Academy of Fine Arts Helsinki in 2000. I'm working with sound, music, image and drawings.

Tell us something about the initial idea and the work process.

I work with sound and music every day: making sounds, noises, riffs, beats or songs. Those are the ground of my working. After a while I start to collect them into one piece and the story or script starts to come to my mind. After I have sketched the story, I begin to think the image. At this point everything can change, so the process sort of starts all over again. 

How did you make your choices concerning cutting, music etc?

I have preferred to have as less video material as possible. I don’t want to spend hours in selecting the right take. I also try to use just the basic effects : cut, dissolve, brightness, contrast. The lastest digital effects look great now, but funny after few years.

For me sound is half of the film/video or maybe even more.

Looking back – would you have done something different if known before?

There is a part in the video, where I wonder if there should be some reverb on the sound track, but changing that won’t make it better, just a bit different

On what new project are you working at the moment?

Right now I am drawing a storyboard for my next film, which feels a little weird. I haven ’t been using pen and paper for drawing for fifteen years. I’m also learning to play acoustic guitar.