Start Gate
An abstract examination of a young woman's involvement in elite sport.
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Sophie AshDirector
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Sophie AshWriter
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Paul FletcherProducer
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Robert StephensonProducer
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Sophia KaloMusic
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CJ WelshScreen Production Coordinator
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Andrew ConnellOnline Editor
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Dale WarrenSound Mixer
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Project Type:Animation, Short, Student
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Genres:Philosophical, Animation, Sport, Mental
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Runtime:2 minutes 23 seconds
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Completion Date:October 30, 2019
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Country of Origin:Australia
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Country of Filming:Australia
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:Apple QuickTime ProRes 422 HQ
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:Yes
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Student Project:Yes
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VCA Film & Television Graduate Screenings 2019Melbourne
Australia
December 6, 2019
Australia
Sophie Ash is a Melbourne-based Animator and illustrator who recently completed her BFA the Victorian College of the Arts. Ash represents Australia in Freestyle skiing at an elite level, and is on track to qualify for the Olympics in 2022. Much of her work is inspired by her strong emotional experiences training and competing as an elite athlete – both positive and negative – and how fear and stress distort perception. Through mediums such as animation, illustration and sculpture, she frames these experiences in her pursuit of athletic mastery – and performing in a ‘flow’ state.
The film Start Gate gives a first-person perspective of the emotions and sensations experienced by athletes at an elite sporting competition, in this case the Moguls World Championships. Although drawing from my own experience, this feeling is universal among elite athletes and performers, and perhaps other elite professionals where an expectation to preform comes from an entire year of work. This film explored how physical and mental fatigue alter perception, which becomes especially apparent at competition. Somehow, athletes are expected to be “organic machines”, without mind or emotions, and simply bodies preforming motions.
Humans are feeling creatures that think – and so ideally, for high performance outcomes, both elements of the self are balanced, the mind and body are both present. Through the contrast of colourful imagery and rapid movement I wanted to replicate the experience.