I was inspired to create this for a competition for faux teaser-trailers and it went on to become one of three finalists. It was shot over one day as a no-budget guerilla style film. Hopefully this story will dig its way out of my brain and become a full feature someday.
To round out a solid year of one-woman filmmaking in 2022, I decided to make one as a little present to myself, and anyone else who needed an unexpected surprise for Christmas. Enjoy!
As a way to maintain my sanity during lockdown, I decided to start documenting moments from my day to day life. I wanted to capture what I was experiencing whenever I felt compelled to, without any planning or curating, without attempting to craft a picture of perfection, as we too often do these days. I wanted to discover a story rather than tell it. Looking back on the footage, what I found were unexpected parallels among the details we often glance past, because they are simply a regular part of our everyday lives. I found the true relativity of time among the moments from mere weeks ago, that already felt months old. The story I discovered was about the continually changing nature of all things, and the drama we can find within the everyday, if we take the time to observe it.
I ended up telling this story to Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 II Allegretto, a piece of music I thought I would never use until I had something cinematic enough to be worthy of it. But as I lived through this month in stasis, I often found this music playing in my head, because it matched the rhythm of my experiences; steady and melodic, sometimes kissed by grace or peppered with lightness, occasionally boiling with despondence, but ultimately hopeful. Perhaps you felt the same way.
I decided to remake one of my “video art” pieces from college. What I ended up with was a 1 minute meditation on the importance of seeing life from a new perspective. It was also much easier to make than the Betacam version. Ruminate and enjoy!