Date of Submission

Spring 2016

Academic Programs and Concentrations

Film and Electronic Arts

Project Advisor 1

Peter Hutton

Abstract/Artist's Statement

In my film, I strayed entirely away from the idea of the unbiased lens. These two portraits are as much about my sisters, as they are about my own perceptions and feelings towards them. This film is deeply personal in its approach to my subjects and the spaces they inhabit, acting as a documentation of my own impressions, sentiments, and reactions.

This film is about the profundity of the ordinary. The footage I shot is of fairly vernacular moments, captured in a way that attempts to bring more significance to the idea of the ‘unremarkable’. People are conditioned to overlook the ordinary. I wanted to undermine this by bringing careful attention to the subtle depth of the rituals of everyday life. Within this framework, I attempt to bring out a deeper understanding of my subjects as they move through the customary routines of the everyday. The strong disparity between sound and image became a tool for me to bring the viewer into a more internal space. Given this escape from typical viewing modes, it was my goal to show my subjects in a more intimate and subjective light, as well as to allow the rituals of everyday life to take on a more profound nature in relation to the two girls. The distance between sound and image serves to depict a sense of mystery about these girls that is essential to the subjective nature of the film. In order to depict something as ephemeral as a person, I felt that a subtle sense of ambiguity in my presentation was necessary.

My goal in this film was to depict the realm of feeling, outside of the solid constrains of realism. Throughout both of these portraits I attempt to slowly pull away from a straightforward portrayal of time through my use of sound, still frames, and the repetition of shots. Through undermining the viewer’s sense of linear time I hoped to ultimately, provide a means of escaping established modes of viewing in order to provide a more intimate sense of my subjects.

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