Résumé

This paper explores the intellectual background and production methodology behind the video Standing Ground (2019), a practice as research work that brings analogue and digital images into juxtaposition in a portrait of a derelict farmhouse. The accounts of three key theorists centred on the definition of photochemical photography and/or film through the indexical sign are discussed: André Bazin, Peter Wollen, and Roland Barthes. The paper then considers the work of scholars who have considered the implications of the transition to digital imaging for the indexicality of the image, including Lev Manovich and William Brown. In the light of this theoretical context, the paper reflects on the creative decisions made in the conception and production of Standing Ground, and considers the outcome of these decisions in the finished work. The paper concludes with an assessment of the methodology of the work in attaining the research aims of the project.