Wisconsin Air (2005)
by Dan Senn
Director Statement
As an interdisciplinary
artist, I have interdisciplinary expertize, and this has both
advantages and disadvantages. As a composer, a sound technician
and editor, I know where to put the mic and how to engineer the
best sound. As a videographer and photographer, my films are as
much about what is seen as the subject at hand. As a video editor
with access to my own editing studio, I am able to work long hours,
to start and restart the piece until I get it right. Best of all,
there is little stress in the process of making a "film,"
except for the pressure I put on myself. I need not worry about
whether I can meet production costs.
These are just some
of the benefits of working alone and that so few people work this
way is the crux of the disadvantages. It is rare that one sees
in the credits a single name for a piece, as in "Wisconsin
Air," a piece which normally would take many others to realize,
and it has often crossed my mind to fake all sorts of assistants
just to get over the hump of being labeled "unprofessional."
The connection between working alone and the weekend hobbyist
is insurmountable in some.
Before I started to
make experimental and documentary film, I was, and continue to
be, a composer of classical experimental music and a sculptor
of kinetic-sound sculpture. Today, my moving picture pieces are
often integrated with this work, and sometimes a piece comes out
that stands alone, like "Wisconsin Air." Because I have
worked with photography for many years, the step from music composition
and kinetic sculpture, to experimental and documentary film is
a short and easy one, especially given that my Mac computer doesn't
seem to mind which software I run. Working alone is only natural
for me.
TOC | Introduction | Narrative | Clip | Dan
Senn