Video Art
Adobe Premiere
Picture your own life as a sum of your past, present and future, rather than just the past and present.
This Isn't my California: A Video Series
Adobe Premiere
A guest speaker for one of my classes referenced a book series titled “The Three Californias” which he described as dystopian future of California based off three separate outcomes. One of the three books is about the aftermath of a nuclear strike, the second, a sci fi like dystopian city and the third, an ecologically focused future. Having never read these books, I decided to take short descriptions of the books from online sources and recreate the theme and idea from the books in a video format.
California I
Pacific Edge (1990) :This book's Californian future is set in the El Modena neighborhood of Orange in 2065. It depicts a realistic utopia as it describes a possible transformation process from our present status, to a more ecologically-focused future.[clarification needed] The book does not assume a blank slate from which ecological utopia can be erected, but assumes the buildings, cities and infrastructures of our past and present. An important aspect of the book is the way these are changed to become "green".
California II
“The Wild Shore (1984) is the story of survivors of a nuclear war. The nuclear strike was 2,000 to 3,000 neutron bombs that were detonated in 2,000 of North America's biggest cities in 1987. Survivors have started over, forming little villages and living from agriculture and the sea.”
California III
“In The Gold Coast (1988) we learn about the Southern California of 2027, a dystopian extension of today's Los Angeles and car-oriented architecture, mobility and life-style: "an endless sprawl of condos, freeways and malls."
Bella Ciao (Goodbye Beautiful)
Adobe Suite, Mixed Media
This short film is based off of "Heat" (2019) which is a sculpture of wax plants that are casted from fake plants designed to look like real plants. This short film depicts the life of a sunflower from seed to flower and emphasizes the fragile life span of a real plant. Meanwhile the wax plants have experienced no change.
Glitch in Analog
Adobe Premiere
A short commentary on time as an abstract number that will continue to pass even when our time is done.
How I Lived My Life
Adobe Premiere
As a whole, our lives are the sum of our past, present, and future. While we are all uncertain about what the future holds, we have a meaningful recollection of good and bad past memories. When we are adolescents, time is perceived to pass very slowly. Each second can feel like an eternity. But as we age, time seems to irreversibly speed up only to wind itself in a chaotic tangle. This film follows my life from birth to a hypothetical death but spans through my past present and future. Because I don't know the events that will happen in the future, much of what represents the future is abstract with some sense of events that are taking place. Some of the future events are symbolic of what could be predicted of a future like a nuclear bomb going off, re-construction of buildings and land, robots, drug development, fantastical cities, and bright lights.
If You Could See Me Now
Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Premiere
Investigation into stem cell research and the negative stigma around growing meat cultures in a lab for consumption. At what point does this cluster of cells become an animal, when does it have “rights'', and how is that animal defined?
In American culture today, feminine topics such as abortion, feminine products, and mensural cycles have a negative stigma around them and we are taught that these topics should not be talked about, especially in public. As a result, when these topics are brought up in a conversation, a general feeling of unease and awkwardness arises. With this in mind, the purpose of this animation is to indirectly explore female sexuality through the recollection of “memories” in the moments before the subject passes away as a result of an unsafe abortion. These memories are a series of metaphors for female sexuality and clips of day to day actions that are awkward to watch. These clips consequently make the viewer feel extremely uncomfortable and leave the viewer with a general feeling of discomfort. The animation is filled with bright colors to create a dreamlike state and remove such pressing issues from the world of reality. The breaking of an egg throughout the film is a common metaphor for the destruction of “what could be” The phrases throughout the animation are meant to guide and provoke the viewer as the sequence progresses.
The phrase “Think About Your Sins” implies that some acts of femininity are considered “social sins” and by partaking in them you are consciously going against society's values. The phrase “Do You See Me Now?” suggest a final cry for help out to the rest of society in hopes that these actions made in desperation were seen. The final phrase “Nothing Scares Me Anymore” appears on the screen just after the subject is deceased and suggests that the subject is now “fearless” and through death is now cleansed and untouchable by society criticisms. The death of the subject suggests that the subject has possibly sacrificed herself in hopes her death will “mean something”.
The phrase “Think About Your Sins” implies that some acts of femininity are considered “social sins” and by partaking in them you are consciously going against society's values. The phrase “Do You See Me Now?” suggest a final cry for help out to the rest of society in hopes that these actions made in desperation were seen. The final phrase “Nothing Scares Me Anymore” appears on the screen just after the subject is deceased and suggests that the subject is now “fearless” and through death is now cleansed and untouchable by society criticisms. The death of the subject suggests that the subject has possibly sacrificed herself in hopes her death will “mean something”.