history of a day

Simon Carroll & Martin Friedel, Australia, 2004
35mm / DVD, 5 screens, colour, stereo sound, 20:00 mins
Courtesy: the artists and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image

History of a Day comprises five parallel, four-minute 'days' created from the time-lapse cinematography of Simon Carroll.

In this world of compressed time, normally observed events disappear while slow processes become dramatically visible.clouds swirl into storms that rage for seconds, tides become rapids, and stars spin dizzily around the night sky.

The sun arcs between the horizons, bathing forests, deserts, cities and beaches in a constant play of light and shadow. We become time travellers through gently surreal landscapes, catching glimpses of the world's beauty, turbulence and harmony normally hidden from us. - Simon Carroll and Martin Friedel

Simon Carroll, b. 1952, Adelaide, Australia
Simon Carroll is a cinematographer who specialises in time-lapse imagery. Over the last twenty years his spectacular footage has been incorporated into many feature and documentary films, including The Matrix (1999) and the series Walking with Dinosaurs (1999).

Carroll has applied techniques developed in the field of astronomy, such as gas sensitisation of film, to record the extremely faint night sky, and landscapes lit by the moon and lightning. Carroll adds about one hour of footage per year to his archive, and films at diverse locations around the world.

Martin Friedel, b. 1945, Wartaweil, West Germany
Martin Friedel turned to music after studying physics and mathematics and completing a PhD in chemistry. His compositional output covers a wide range of forms and genres using both new and traditional media. He has composed six operas, three cantatas, chamber music, scores for many theatre productions and more than fifty soundtracks for television, including soundtracks for ABC, SBS, BBC and French and US television.

Major awards include the Australian One Act Opera Award, the Ian Potter Music Commission and an Emmy®.

Friedel lives and works as a freelance composer in Melbourne. He is currently a Creative Fellow at the State Library of Victoria.

Editor: Uri Mizrahi
Sound Design: Craig Carter