EDITING ROOM — Kjersti Valland

Role
Strategy
Visual Identity
Concept Developer
Social Media
Disk Jockey

Collaborator
Konsept X

Year
2022

Women in technical artistry

EDITING ROOM is a nightclub event with a purpose to create an audiovisual experience that explores women`s global involvement at all levels of film production during the silent film era. This project challenges the established idea of film being solely the product of “cinema’s great fathers” and to repurpose the forgotten technical artistry of the past. It is a space where creative women of the past inspire the creative women of the present. EDITING ROOM is a nightclub event that puts old and forgotten art into a new form and space; it is a reformulation of history to reintroduce artistic women to a modern public.

I have a background as a communication strategist, marketeer, project leader and Disk Jockey. EDITING ROOM became a golden opportunity for me to fuse my competencies in an intersectional manner and network to create an experience that was as enthralling and informative for the contributor as for the audience. Together with my network of creative women, DJs and VJs, artists and musicians, we set out to merge multiple art forms to reinvigorate our artistic ancestry and pay homage to those, often unknown, that came before.

THE INSPIRATION

The Muse - Yelizaveta Svilova

In both film and music women have often been at the forefront of artistic discoveries through new technology, but in the background of the publicity these discoveries received. Labour in film laboratories, such as cleaning, sorting and selecting film and negatives was seen as akin to domestic chores like sewing, weaving, and other “feminine activities”. Although a significant portion of the artistic labour that shouldered cinema in its earliest days was considered the domain of women, this work was to remain “behind the scenes” and their artistry were often not recognized until much later times.

One of them was Yelizaveta Svilova, a Soviet film editor and cinematic genius. Svilova edited “Man with a Movie Camera '' together with her husband, Dziga Vertov – an experimental 1929 Soviet silent documentary film.

The pair famously became involved after Vertov left a basket of one-frame shots in the editing room, only to become dejected when the editors discarded the shots in the garbage thinking they were scraps.Svilova reportedly took pity on Vertov’s disappointment and edited a short film together with the segments.

The fact that Vertov’s film theory and practice focused on montage as the fundamental guiding force of cinema confirms the crucial role Svilova’s groundbreaking experimentation played in early Soviet film and global film history.

Svilova took a leading role in Vertov’s Kinoki group. They sought a form of film that would capture the reality of everyday life in the nascent Soviet Union. She consistently worked on site at the group’s film shoots, as Vertov relied on her editorial eye to choose locations and subjects to be filmed. Kinoki considered every portion of the filming process to be part of a montage, and Svilova’s work and decisions went far beyond the cutting together of film fragments.

Her career, which spanned far beyond her collaborations with her husband, significantly advanced the early principles of cinematic montage.

NAMING & VISUAL IDENTITY

Creating the Identity

With the inspiration and foundation in place, the next step was to craft a name and the visual identity.

The name EDITING ROOM serves as a symbolic doorway into the past, a space where the intricate artistry of women in film editing comes to life. It's not merely a term associated with film processing but a metaphor for the transformative act of revisiting history, akin to stepping into a room where narratives are reshaped and retold. The project seeks to dismantle the conventional notion that cinema's evolution is solely attributed to its "great fathers," urging us to recognize the brilliance of creative women who were pioneers in their own right.

The visual identity of EDITING ROOM draws inspiration from "Man with a Movie Camera." Echoing the film's dynamic cinematography and rhythmic editing, the design pays homage to the collaborative brilliance of women in silent film editing. The color palette, inspired by vintage movie posters, features sepia tones, and rich reds—immersing attendees in the nostalgic aesthetics of early cinema. As you step into EDITING ROOM, the visual identity serves as a bridge between past and present, visually narrating the untold stories of creative women who shaped cinematic history. It's a living canvas, a celebration of forgotten heroines, and a testament to the enduring influence of their artistry.