On the technical level the film is a formalist experiment involving ultra high-speed photography. A volleyball game shot at a speed of 1/40th of what is perceived as real-time becomes a boon for viewing the details of fast and emotionally charged human processes. Revealing what Walter Benjamin called the "optical unconscious", the film provides a study of facial expressions, hand gestures, and poses reminiscent of classical painterly iconography.
A mundane event deconstructed reveals symbolic dimensions inherited from ancient ballgames (e.g. Mesoamerican ballgame) where ritual and social practice intertwined. The impossible perspective of the ultra slow motion camera creates an eerie temporal mutation where time itself becomes dense and palpable taking an almost monumental quality.
At the same time, the video is a meditation on the power of technology to augment human senses and create new sensibilities. The slow and relentless pace is intended to draw attention to the medium's very mechanisms of operation and make one aware of the iron hand of technology at work behind the process of viewing.
The Shining Will Come Crashing Down
2019, 24 min, 2K video, no sound
Conceived, directed, and edited by
Dimitri Venkov
Director of photography
Pavel Filkov
High-speed camera operator
Margarita Kariuk
Camera Operators
Dmitri Pavlov
Alexei Neretin
Danila Goriunkov
First Assistant Director
Rodion Vereshaka
Second Assistant Director
Kirill Preobrazhensky
Art Director
Svetlana Hollis
Line Producer
Timophey Dorogoichenko
Hair And Makeup
Vera Baratova
Irina Kuzmenko
Elza Ayupova
Set Dressing
Natalia Sukhova
Maria Binatian
Albina Mokhriakova
Chief Lighting Technician
Yaroslav Kravets
Electricians
Vladimir Baranov
Maxim Timofeev
Ilya Chuvilev
Aleksandr Shiyan
Bogdan Povalotsky
Evgeny Beliayev
Camera Assistants
Maxim Gasanov
Bogdan Lukianov
Alexandr Belinsky
Andrei Komarov
Yan Zharskikh
Ekaterina Trubitsina
Logistics
Magomet Omarov
Oomat Begaliev
Evgeniy Beliaev
Sergei Yarygin
Evgeni Sherbakov
Shirdavs Oshurmamadov
Sound Mixer
Pavel Yaroshenko
Boom Operator
Valentin Lukianov
Photographer
Maxim Zmeev
Colorist
Evgeny Gvozdev
Special Effects
Pavel Khaidarov
Color Grading
Evgeny Gvozdev
Volleyball Players
Anna Makarova
Veronika Stasilevich
Mila Volodina
Ekaterina Kungurova
Ksenia Serova
Inna Kruk
Irina Artukhina
Ekaterina Skiba
Christina Boyko
Tatiana Prosvirina
Anna Palmova
Maria Alubina
Coaches
Petr Cobrin
Alexandr Gusev
Production supported by Gazprombank and "Art Finance" LLC, Moscow
2020©Dimitri Venkov