My usually cinematically sourced artistic practice took a diversion into the microscopic aquatic world this summer with my new film project Small Wonders funded by a Wellcome Trust Arts Award. It's a collaborative project with microbiologist Terry Preston centred around a 16mm black & white film of an experiment he did through a microscope in 1972. So this summer I have delved into Terry's more than half a century of tales and obsession into the behaviour of these single celled organisms and in particular how they move at the air-water interface. The resulting surprisingly funny 14 minute film follows Terry’s journey into discovering how amoebae move. The film is in stereo 3D and uses surround sound - both a first for me. It uses retro 8mm found footage of people interacting with water combined with the 1972 16mm footage and stop frame footage taken in Terry’s lab to make a meditative piece on time and scientific exploration.

My usually cinematically sourced artistic practice took a diversion into the microscopic aquatic world this summer with my new film project Small Wonders. Microbiologist Terry Preston gave me a 16mm black & white film of an experiment he did through a microscope in 1972. When I finally saw it, I was spellbound. It was reminiscent of a moving abstract painting. These were life in its simplest form. I could imagine them as a giant projected 3D animation piece. And I wanted to know more. So with a little help from the lovely people at the Wellcome Trust and a lot of patience and recorded conversations with Terry I delved into his more than half a century of tales and obsession into the behaviour of single celled organisms and in particular how they move at the air-water interface. The resulting surprisingly funny 14 minute film follows Terry’s journey into discovering how amoebae move. The film is in stereo 3D and uses surround sound - both a first for me. It uses retro 8mm found footage of people interacting with water combined with the 1972 16mm footage and stop frame footage taken in Terry’s lab to make a meditative piece on time and scientific exploration. Surround sound design by Wayne Urquhart. This project has been supported by a Wellcome Trust Arts Award. Film Production Blog : smallwondersfilm.tumblr.com