Ethan Dorer

For this project I chose to expand on a previous video project I worked on because I felt the technique used in that video had potential to be used in a variety of different ways and on a plethora of subjects. The technique itself was inspired by McLuhan's notions of the intermingling of time and space which pushed me to question standard chronological time in film as well as usage of different spaces as different times in the frame. I feel my work successfully explored the concept I was after especially due to the final mirror shot which reveals the workings of the technique itself. I was generally happy with the way my shots turned out but if I could change one thing it would be the stabilization of the video. While I did a pretty good job capturing relatively smooth motion using just what I had access to, I would have preferred to use stabilization equipment to create even smoother shots.

While I have had artwork put on display, I have never had it displayed in a formal gallery setting. I liked seeing how the space came together as well as the thought that was put into the arrangement of the room. Everybody worked will to display the photographs in an arrangement that made visual sense. It was an interesting experience to see people look and talk about my art and I had fun talking with people about the background of specific shots such as the bike shot.

I am presenting on Godard and how McLuhan uses the example of Godard's film Breathless in his book. Before McLuhan's inclusion of a frame from Breathless in The Medium is the Massage , he talks about the idea of amateurism as being removed from the same environment as professionalism. This detachment from a need to stick to the conventions of the art allow the amateur to create in ways unknown to the professional. I found that this concept of amateurism connected quite well to the approach Godard and many other filmmakers had during the French New Wave. The movement itself was founded on creating an approach to creating film that resisted the traditional approach of French and Hollywood film. In this way it was an inherently amateur approach to film yet it provided a freedom to those who partook in it which allowed them to create great art.