Genealogical Artifact

I remember as it were yesterday when my dad took me to the store to electronics, and asked, will this camera work for the movie you are intending to make? I could not believed that finally I was getting a video camera. I was laughing alone picturing the magical things I would do with my little new gadget. By that time I knew almost nothing about cameras, I just had the idea of filming, directing, acting and writing. Although, technology was not my strong area, I needed that gadget so bad, and my family was providing it. Happiness was a small word to describe my real feelings in that exact moment in my life.  

The camera that my father bought was a Canon ES75 and it will use 8mm to record on tape. I was fourteen years old, and it was almost ending my first year in high school. My friends and I had the idea about making a horror film due to the popular films, Scream and, I know what you did last summer. Those films were exiting and entertaining, I really wanted to do something like that, and according to me something much better!  Before having my camera, I borrow one of the three cameras available for the whole school. It was almost impossible to get one. Now, I had my own camera, and I felt that making a film was a reality instead of a teenage dream. Because my idea of making a film was so popular in my class, I made all my class to act on the movie, even my teacher and the principal were part of this film.  It took me a year to shot and then edited the whole film.

Post-production was a pain, rapidly my camera became an old gadget and with 8mm there was no way to export images to a computer, at least nothing that I knew. I had to edit everything with VCR system; I really don’t remember how did do it, all the slow motion scenes (were far too many), also the insertion of the music, and other details. I cursed my camera, and at the end of the process I loved it again.

I was regularly carrying my “Canon,” it accompanied me on my trips with my friends to the beach and other places, mostly in every single year until I graduated. I have tapes of long and deep conversations, some silly moments with friends, and many shots of my first love.

During high school, I shot the horror film called “Almost Real,” a romantic comedy “Six Grades of Separation” that was fairly an excuse to kiss a bunch of girls (I was also part of the cast). My friends and I also recorded a yearbook in a documentary style, the main goal was to create a catharsis of nostalgia while watching us saying good wishes and expectations for the years to come-we totally succeed, even the bad boy in the class was wiping his tears away. My camera was a faithful asset that makes my high school experience unforgettable. I have countless tapes, full of secrets, laughs, tears, confessions, and many memorable moments that are a proof that what I had lived during my teenage journey was real. My camera is not only a way to record my history, but it is a legacy in itself. I still have that “Canon,” I didn’t have the heart to sell it… it is priceless for me anyway. 

Artist Statement:

With this chronological artifact I felt very connected to my teenage times, in which I had so much time hung out with my friends. Through my selection of my artifact portrait how I found my way to keep those fond memories to myself and also a way to get to introduce myself to my class during high school. By that time cameras were neither cheap nor popular in Chile, and the fact that my dad invest on that camera due to my interest on film was a great demonstration of care for myself.  Even though I got many experience with this artifact, I felt that 500ish words to describe this was a little short, I might have taken some more time to make some more specific details maybe about my experience with the camera. With my writing style I’m trying to give a quick picture to the reader about the value of this object that got old pretty fast. Although the fact that by the first year the camera was not the ultimate gadget, I still wanted to kept because it became part of my journey on my high school life, and I felt that changing this, it would draw another cycle that was not ready to close, at least until I graduated from school. 

Process Piece

Audio Recording on Tuesday morning

The Process Piece assignment gave us various ideas on how to express a concept in a narrative story. What caught my attention was the concept of laughter, and how it changes throughout different stages of life. I wanted to show to the listener the age of a person by only hearing his/her laugh. In addition, I also wanted to experience the difficulties that might or might not get a laugh of a person. This Process Piece is basically a chronological analysis of the evolution of laughter through age.

Something remarkable with this project is that at the beginning as a group we make some guesses on differentiating different ages and maybe some different nationalities or cultural background.  Although we came up with things that I didn’t expected, the idea of laugh came as a universal concept.

Laughter transcends cultural background, and also nationality. The chronological order that we gave to laughter tells a story in itself going from the process of a from baby to an elder person.  The process was very interesting and fun, while it was very easy to get a laugh from a kid; it took a while to make laugh a teenager. We decided to include the LOL laugh instead of a real laugh because I believe that the expression says a lot about this new generation that mostly laugh through the phone via text.

Following our search of laugh on different ages, after the teenager stage, the older they were the easiest was to get a laugh from people.  Elder people and babies or kids, have a lot in common and no matter where they come from I’m very sure that the results are going to be very similar.

The definition of universal make the perfect fit for the concept of laugh in the world.  According to the dictionary is affecting, or done by all people or things in the world or in a particular group; applicable to all cases. This is what laugh can bring to all people, it makes no segregation.

Thick Description: From a Grocery Store to a Movie Theater

It’s been over a month since I haven't visited this place, and now my refrigerator is completely empty. My stomach is sick of getting food from restaurants. I make my mind after a week of struggle, I finally get into my car, and drive to the grocery store. 

I believed I’m a very peaceful and easygoing person most of the time, I almost can be under the category of being a people pleaser, but in my defense, I just like and tolerate people, I said people not grocery stores, at least not now! I pulled my car as close of the store as it can be. At the entrance of Maceys my eyes automatically lower the saturation of my sight and everything looks opaque, even though there are plenty of colours, the composition in itself is not visually appealing for me. Is there something about this place that it just doesn’t suit me, probably the tacky font choice of the advertisements, or maybe the simplicity of it. Everything on this place fulfills the mission of commercializing in the best way the products that the store is selling it.

While I walk through the store, is inevitable for me to not observe people buying stuff and doing their thing, the slow pace of their steps make it the journey even more horrorific. Is like putting zombies around it, but even worse because sometimes those zombies may establish a small conversation with me. What  I mean is that  sometimes I know some of the people walking in the grocery store.  I cordially greet and after a couple of minutes of conversation there is an awkward moment when both parties have to say good-bye. This good-bye is because of the need to get stuffs done, and the part that bugs me is when I keep finding this same person over an over again in the grocery store. There are three options of things we can do in this situation. Number one, move your head as a sign of, Hey! Is like saying hi repeated times, and eventually follows another small conversation. Option number two, simply ignore the other person and keep shopping. Option number three, avoid that person.

Following this small  interaction, I would remembered talking to another friend that also didn’t like supermarkets,  “If I would have to go to hell, I bet living in a grocery store would be my worst punishment.” This means that for me, there is some kind of chaos in the boring organization of the products that are labeled in every rack and make the experience unpleasant. Furthermore, the music that is played kills any author, and as much as I enjoy jazzy music, this enormous wacky warehouse of consumerism is destroying all Michael Bubble CD’s and all Jack Johnson songs.

 I may confess that I have laugh of myself many times about this rear feelings that I have towards such a normal place.  And I haven’t even mentioned the funny smell of a grocery store…

Once upon a time this place was my hiding place, I guess my antagonist relationship with grocery stores is not out of nothing, but from a tight bond with this place during my childhood. I used to love going grocery shopping with my dad. I would enjoy helping him, going to the kids section and play a little, and later on, going to the bakery and eat lemon pie or crème brulee. Most of all, I would enjoy accommodating groceries in the car while my dad was driving home, I would play and create with toilet paper and cereal boxes, a house or a spaceship. The grocery store was the place in which my imagination would flow and would create an adventurous and unique universe. When I was about thirteen years old, I change this place for a movie theater, and all the experiences that I had in a grocery store would translate to a movie theatre.

“Because, going for grocery shopping is just like going to a movie theater.” The great difference is that in Maceys there is only place for horror and opaque themes. On the other hand, in a movie theater it depends of my own mood.

This assignment served me as a way to analyze an uncomfortable relationship with a grocery store. After a couple of years, my vision changed about doing grocery shopping. It may sound cranky and radical my description, but for me nothing is that terrible. Although there is still some tension and avoidance to this specific place in question. Trying to avoid going to this place is trying to avoid my basic needs, and let the idealize world that exists in my head make a stop for an hour. This place is a constant reminder that I’m a human and I have basic needs to cover. The bizarre relationship with this kind of buildings talks about a restrained of my own need of not being labeled and let myself walk trough life without restrained. The feelings that I had in my childhood are proof of a possible reconciliation with this place.

There is also a period of transition that without previous meditation I didn’t notice. This transition is when I replace the fantasy and the joy of doing grocery shopping for according to me, “a cooler place,” is going to the movie theater. This may indicate that there can be different stages of love, hate, and indifference to certain places in our life, but they are still being part of it. After all, I do have to make a list for the things that I need, because failing in doing so, would make me come back sooner than I expected to Maceys. 

MUSIC MOSAIC TMA 112

Le Jour d' Avant - Yann Tiersen

Le Jour d' Avant by Yann Tiersen  represents a huge flow of different feelings in a journey that starts in a little street in Santiago-Chile. This  is about emotions during my summer time. In the first part of the song there is a solitary accordion that later on is going to be accompanied by fairy sounds that enrich the song. On these first part on a slow tempo, mi mind goes into these world mixed with an urban scenery and some fantasy that transcends nature. These three first pictures are a reflection of  those uncertain feelings of finding a new journey that is connected with the past. As I already mention this is not a linear narrative, but more that a torrent of emotions that are a reminder of many memories throughout my life.  Following the in crescendo on the song  many instruments are exposed with  an upbeat melody, as an almost depiction of a circus, using brasses, accordions, violins,etc.

When the music is in its peak, the center piece of the photograph The kitchen, bring all the history and stories looking to a semi-open door that invites the viewer to come in and rejoice, even though now is only an abandon house. Colors in each picture are purposely orderer due to the relation with the music, mood, and  different emotions. This order is basically showing how life has so many tonalities, moods and  each one's journey has precious individuality. This reminds me part of my culture and my family history, music, food, and parties are all involved.  With that, the rhythm started decreasing and the mood is changing until getting to and almost horrific emotional outburst that rest on the last note of the song. 

The last picture is an overwhelming composition of a self portrait with everything that is going on my mind for this next step to come in my life. This may be crowded and a bit dark, but the little colors that are shown express some significance. There is a painting of a women, this is my mother and the painter of this is my father, the other colored is a symbol of my country. These two things make me go beyond any challenge or fear.  It may be and odd finale on the song of Yann Tiersen, but for me is like  being in a dream in which we are only waking up after a long lived life.