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So Melisa loves video. Besides other enjoyably close relationships throughout
her life, the one with video is one that remains stable. I love its versatility. My intellectual interest lies on documentary
and experimental. Fiction is not something that seduces me as much, although my technical skills can be applied to anything
regardless of genre. Technically, my two strengths are camera and editing, but logistically I have worked in production and
as an AD, and love them just as much. Capturing and blending images while conceptualizing an idea is a process that I love,
and that I am happy to belong to at any stage of the line, so from producig to editing, my life will always gravitate around
video making.
My issue with fiction, is that we are overflodded with it. There is too much money put into ficticious
stories that are making 12 year old girls wish their love relationships were just like in the movies. They are creating consumer
needs and propagating ethnic stereotypes. It is disturbing for me to think that you can be isolated for two hours inside a
movie theater with some pink love film and cry at the end of it, but you don't cry when you pass in front of a hungry teenager,
instead, you keep walking straight hoping the kid is not going to talk to you.
Talk about family role models. I grew
up thinking my family was a messy one because it did not fit with the typical ideal of mom, dad, kids: cook, work, play. However
many years ago I figured that all of my friends' families were the same complex webs of relationships that were far from the
simplistic family model I was sold through...ok, ok, not only films, I know. media, advertising, etc. But hold it. I cannot
generalize about fiction and simply put a no-no label on it, just as I would not want want people to think of documentary
and have whales and British narrators be the first thing that comes to mind. There is good fiction being made, fiction that
ironically helps us get closer to reality. Independent film does great fiction and of course I recognize its entertainment
value, that's what film was intended for in the first place. However, film is probably the cultural media element that carries
more significant messages accross borders and I do believe that we are reaching a point where the line between fiction and
reality is becoming blurry for many. Government sponsored war films idealizing a solidiers life, intrusive product placement
techniques in most of mainstream film and ethnic misrepresentation are only some of the innumerable amount of negative elements
that are contaminating the film industry. I believe it is time to invest in documentary and to bring people back to stories
that represent the things that should really matter to them.
The stills below are from a self-portrait I did. I thought
it was appropirate for the "STORY" page. You can click on the link below the Quick Time window snapshot to see it.
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