Looks Good Enough To Eat

John Heinekey and Jeb Stuart

Nonfiction Media

October 23rd, 2012

Artist Statement

Our film, “Looks Good Enough to Eat”, is about the impact of food waste and food production on the human race’s efforts to be sustainable.  In developing this film Jeb and I borrowed ideas from one another’s independent works to create a truly collaborative project. Because of the similarity between our two works this was a very natural effort. Our intention was to shed light on the ways our food production and consumption harms the environment.  While it borrows aspects of absurdism our film is a fairly traditional and literal visual representation of the essay we wrote. Our mode of representation was highly expository but our deliberate appearances on screen were participatory. Stylistically, the film was dry and straightforward, although imaginative in parts of our participatory aspects.  The biggest issue for us in production was getting all of the footage we wanted. There were certain shots from our AV script that we simply weren’t able to get because of their impracticality. We wanted to get footage of a large scale industrial farm but our inability to get to one made that impossible. If such footage had been available it may have competed with, and outshined, our participatory role in the film. Regardless, for the resources at our disposal we made the best possible film we could and had a great time doing so.

 

 

Untitled

Untitled By Ynez Mahoney, Naima Noguera, Lex Gavin 

As a group of light-skinned mixed race people of color, we confront the foundations and current realities of shadeism. Though we are affected by this structure daily, our light skin awards us the privilege of ignorance. It is a contradictory existence.

We wrote independently about our experiences of privilege and oppression, and synthesized our writings with research that provides them historical context. We struggled with how to best address our culpability in shadeism as people who live at the intersection of such fragmented identities.

       Factual information from our video can be found verbatim in our essay, but personal writings were distilled to angular, repetitive lines to evoke emotion in our audience, encouraging connections to be made constantly during our piece. A distinct, personal voice juxtaposes clinical facts. Our piece is both poetic and reflexive. We explore ourselves in fragmented performances- like our identities. Focus is constantly redirected to the camera or filmmaker, a reminder that what audiences see is merely what we wanted them to see. Image-makers shape reality.

We grappled with the overall tone of Untitled how to address systems that colonizers created while acknowledging our own complicity in shadeism. How to galvanize people to consciously observe racism and keep our unjustly elevated status as light-skinned people the piece’s primary focus. Our ultimate intent is to present our realities as proof that racial binaries dissolve under the weight of mixed identities. Shadeism violently shapes collective history. Decolonizing our communities and hearts requires dedication from all of us.

Living LIVE

http://vimeo.com/51990076

Beau Cardall and Alex Olson-Bick

10/22/12

S&J Collaborative Artists’ Statement

Live LIVE

For our S&J Collaborations Project, we chose to focus on building/strengthening ourselves and our community through public media. Instead of being silent while governments and corporations create our reality through mass advertising and media manipulation, we aim to change social norms towards more sustainable thinking and disintegrate fearful ideologies, thus creating a new , community reality.

The two of us shared an interest in media manipulation and how we fall victims to their advertising. The most challenging aspect of this production has been learning how to mix abstractions with narrative. One way we’ve achieved this is by overcoming fears of filming the public by being comfortable with our artistic endeavors.

Our mode of filming is highly inspired by an observational mode mixed with reflexive moments. It was difficult to be completely cinema verite, but we got around this. Instead of using actors and scripts, we included our own participation and exploration of poetic expression.

“Das So Corny”

http://vimeo.com/51976079

Our collaborative project focuses on the struggles of working within a tight food budget while being acutely aware of the negative effects of genetically modified organisms and other unhealthy ingredients that are so common in inexpensive food.  Our voiceover is completely faithful to our collaborative essay, which gives us both a unique voice in the personal effects the food industry has on us, and a combined telling of the history of this mess of a food industry. This faithful voiceover is paired with a visually radical adaptation that uses abstract imagery that doesn’t cause a fight for the viewers’ attention. The juxtaposition between the poetically abstract visuals and our argumentative, expository voiceover mirrors both the physical and psychological effects of the problems within our food industry.

Carrion

Taylor Good, Lisa Hurwitz, & Rhys Stevenson

http://vimeo.com/51975125

Our piece sets out to examine the collective anxieties of our group members on the issue of homelessness and the discomfort it evokes in each of us, respectively. What is our relationship to the problem? What unique feelings could a meditation unearth? Rhys explores his visceral reaction when walking past a homeless person, Lisa makes connections between experiences with her first girlfriend and the impact they had on her views regarding homelessness specifically in LGBT populations, and Taylor examines her guilt over the pure fear of seeing a homeless person. Rhys concluded that he doesn’t know enough about a person to judge so he should just help, Lisa concluded that she should strive to look at homeless populations more equally, and Taylor settled upon getting over her fear of seeing someone homeless.

Primarily poetic, our piece plays with 3 timelines and both their similarities and dissimilarities. We attempt to recreate the mundane everyday experiences where our paths cross with homelessness. Symbolically, the subsequent result is that our paths as individual group members cross as well. Though written separately we quickly realize commonalities in our different experiences and portrayals of them.

Our adaptation, a literal one, explores a mode mostly untouched by group members in the first video project. Additionally the group will push itself to explore weaknesses from the first assignment. Lisa is exploring the long take, Taylor the short take, and Rhys on more fluid narrative. By playing with these techniques we hope to wield tension, hold viewer interest, and remain true to the stories we convey as filmmakers.

Equal

Mariah Gerth and Emma Loftis

Artist Statement

The purpose of this project was to explore the misrepresentation of the LGBTQ community in mass media, and the religious influence surrounding the debate for LGBTQ rights.  Our adaptation was traditional, surprisingly so, considering how candid our audio and visuals were.

We used google image search to display how the simplest method of getting information only adds fuel to the fire of the LGBTQ community’s misrepresentation. We juxtaposed these fast paced images with distanced lockdown shots of real people who all identify with a different sexuality sitting down and having fun as equals.

Our process was very organic and casual to prevent any stilted or heavy-handed expression of the issues at hand. We simply sat down and recorded ourselves having a conversation about this subject. Then we set up a camera while making dinner to capture the truest reality of us interacting as equals.

The editing process was nerve racking at first, but our dedication combined with our great chemistry as collaborators made for a good work environment and ultimately, a good video.