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For cinephiles, December is filled with year-end best lists of films and more specifically, overlooked moving image content. As the video essay form continues to grow in popularity, more and more online media outlets continue to highlight and engage with the high volume of video works churned out by cine-essayists. Over the last couple of weeks both Film School Rejects and the British Film Institute 's Sight & Sound International Film Magazine revealed their picks for the best video essays of 2017. In regards to Sight & Sound , I was honored to be included among the video essay practitioners and scholars who submitted their favorite video essays from this last year; I was even more honored to learn that my fellow peers in that same poll picked some of my own video works on their personal lists. In addition, two other video works of mine were included in the Film School Rejects list as well. With the enthusiasm behind video essays today, I can't help but acknowl...

  In an interview discussing his freewheeling and challenging film Goodbye to Language , Jean-Luc Godard made some comments on our current dependency to smartphones and, more specifically, text messaging. He questioned if anyone actually knew what the "SMS" in the phrase 'SMS text messaging' actually stood for. Godard insisted it meant "Save My Soul." It's that very idea, that notion of being alone in the universe, that drives the dramatic weight of Ridley Scott 's latest film The Martian . Much of the film involves the protagonist Mark Watney ( Matt Damon ) sending video selfies to NASA--and in parallel fashion to the audience in the movie auditorium. While watching the film (which is fairly conventional in regards to its plot) I was provoked by its accidental (or maybe intentional) role as a "selfie space opera." Stimulated by this idea, I went ahead and created this video that re-imagines the film (which runs around two and...

Radical French New Wave filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard is still one of the leading figures in the movement to challenge and transform traditional forms of so-called Hollywood filmmaking. Last year, as an exercise in two parts, I created these two video mash ups (essays?) on Godard's own work. [Beneath each video is the original description that was published on its Vimeo page.] SOURCE: Pierrot Le Fou dist. Pathé Contemporary Films MUSIC: "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye (MAKING MIRRORS Album)   Unquestionably one of the most audacious and simultaneously problematic tracking shots in cinematic history, this sequence from Jean-Luc Godard's Week End (1967) succeeds in visually demonstrating a chaotic cross section of human existence. The downside is that we have to (annoyingly) hear cars honking on the soundtrack for nearly eight minutes. In reaction to this, I have manipulated this portion of the film by way of arranging the visuals to ...

One of the special features on the DVD of Jean-Luc Godard's Week End (New Yorker Video label) is a short interview with director Mike Figgis (Leaving Las Vegas). Halfway through the interview, after pointing out the iconic and technical significance of Godard's body of work, Figgis makes a fascinating aside: Godard's recent reaffirmation as a "modern" filmmaker is a direct result of his singular commitment to expressing a cavalcade of ideas without ever giving his audience a shred of attention or consideration. In short, Godard was the uber-artist for employing tunnel vision in his approach to the medium. Yes, he was a philosopher and a technical wizard in the art of filmmaking. But audience engagement was the last thing on his mind. Godard never aimed to capitalize on a single idea or selling point--he wanted to avoid making industries of such things. So you can see why I sat up and panicked. It's December of 2011. The new year is days away. Furthe...

This past weekend I wrote of the newly revitalized underground cinema as being a palpable gateway to the "New Cinema" (Regardless, the New Cinema is organic, ever-changing). That said, I still think it's essential for us independent filmmakers and content creators to start addressing the void in our immediate industry, our immediate culture. That void comes in the misguided collective mindset that ours is a failing or unfulfilled industry . Anyone who entered in the independent cinema game should NOT be surprised when they soon realize that overnight financial gains aren't a realistic feat. We become independent filmmakers because we are first artists. Those who think otherwise should read Ted Hope 's powerful post, "A 'Career' In Indie Film? Better Have That Second Job Lined Up..." In times of struggle and uncertainty--key words for our independent film realm--there lies great potential for reinvention, risk and (hopefully) reward. Wh...