Moral dilemma in video-making
Using your family and friends as raw material in making videos is tricky. You walk a thin line between exploiting them or turning them into an "art video".
Bill Viola –http://www.billviola.com – never had any qualms in this area: he regarded his family as grist for his artistic mill and filmed his wife giving birth and his mother dying.
Well, the reason I bring this up is that my project is far less emotionally fraught but it crosses over cultural boundaries between East and West. Over Christmas I had two students staying (Shanghai and Hong Kong) and between us we made a short film – well 18 minutes. They have agreed I can put it up on YouTube. (After I cut it back to three mins max.) In fact they are quite looking forwrd to seeing it on YouTube…but I feel a bit squeamish turning what was an informal family occasion into a film for the world-wide web.
IPhone
Aren't we all longing to get our mitts on one?…y'know what I mean…and we have to wait until the end of the year! I'm talking about the most hyped gadget around: IPhone.
Come to think of it I am going to New York in March…maybe I can buy one then.
You Tube
Phone call 9a.m. yesterday. "Can we send a photographer around?" It's the local newspaper. They want to do a piece on my videos on You Tube –http://www.a-nunedited.co.uk/projects/youtube.com
Frantic panic to tidy the place up. The young photographer uses Audacity so we get to talking about podcasting. Some weeks ago I contacted them for help with tracing all the folk I filmed in The Changing Room gallery. The video piece is now several years old but the participants never got to see the finished result- until now thanks to You Tube. It would be good if I could put names to all the hands. ( My tutors at Glasgow School of Art used to nag me for not "finishing off" work properly and I guess this is another example, well I am trying…..)
Podcasting
OK this is reckoned to ultra cool , the most zeitgsty stuff around, and I was very nervous about moving into it.
I have still got too many memories of struggling with html and web design to view another "learning experience" as yet another battle with new technology .
But last night at the Electron club in Glasgow's CCA it was a possible experience and I am sold on podcasting. This is story-telling brought into the 21st century and yes I am going to take my laptop with me to Wales and start collecting some oral history there.
The whole evening kicked off to a good start, something I took as a very good omen,when I walked in and found people seated around a huge round table with Apple laptops ( mostly) .
I was in Apple country: intuitive, safe, arty,graphic , music.
At the end of the evening we had all made our first podcast and uploaded it to the net. No small achievement!…thanks to John Harris, Michelle Kasprzak and Simon Yuill.
So Apple are launching the iPhone! great news..it's not due on the European market until the end of the year but it will combine a mobile phone, internet access, IPod music and video playback features.
In 10 days time I am going to Wales to do some research for my online book and the thought of being without my computer for the best part of the week is making me nervous. Yes I could take my laptop but the places I am going to are remote with no internet access.
