1 post tagged “tree cristina process wabi sabi film class”

Here I am with a blank page in front of me not knowing how to express the good things I’ve experienced doing this project that, for now, it is called “The tree”.
First of all, apart from the film being a little boring and maybe sad (if you do not laugh at it) I had fun in the process of making it. And this is a novelty for me. I am always very worried about how things are going to come out and afraid of playing or letting strange things happen. That means, afraid of letting ideas out.

“The tree” is made of coincidences. The first and more determinant of them was my encounter with Cristina, who came to NY to spend just one week, the week #6…
I had told her: “come later, come when I will have time, in my spring break” but for many reasons she decided to come earlier… Now, I am grateful.

We met for lunch on that Saturday and I told her we were going to make a movie, or something, or anything. I told her I’ve seen Marina Abramovic’s “Balkan Baroque” and told her about the piece where she combs her hair incessantly saying “art must be beautiful, artist must be beautiful”. She told me about Ana Mendieta, whose work I’ve never seen.  These histories were mixed with histories of our lives “ how was I liking to live in NY? How’s life? How was she doing in Rio? Blah blah blah.” Some wine and some pasta mixed. I remembered a text my mom wrote and called her to ask if she could send it to me. She did. That night I had to make the storyboard so I began…well… drawing…I do not have any talent but I made some outlines of a woman with a very long hair seating still, standing still, laying still… the next day I asked Cristina what was her favorite spot in NY and the answer was “Broadway and Houston”.

After shooting –it took us two afternoons– I let the project rest (in fact, I was afraid of looking at it) before editing. I realize that in other projects this is the place where I stop and stuck. I think editing is difficult, I do not trust my choices and so on. But in this class something happens otherwise, I feel comfortable with the way the class is conducted (yes, the way Virgil conducts it).
We have done lots of projects since week#1 and I discovered a pleasure in taking photographs and in completing the assignments that I think is “liberating”.
I feel good about my work and about everyone else’s work.  I have to confess that I read Wabi Sabi during the photography assignment and that helped me a lot to understand the idea of process Virgil mentioned in the first day of class.

I am writing about the process only now, I wish I had written before…but anyway…
Now I have to write the post-mortem.

Just to mention other coincidences: the color of the wall and of the chair matching her clothes, the overcast weather in the garden as opposed to the sunny day in the park, other people dressing mostly dark colors in the street, the text matching (I have to translate so you can understand), an outdoor sign saying “their hair tell their story”, my conversation about cutting my hair with Carrie during the Saturday class…