Human Machine I and Human Machine II / Interactive Dance Film, 2019
Choreographer / Director / Programmer / Sound Designer / Co-editor
Human Machine I and Human Machine II (or, Why Do For Ourselves What A Machine Can Do For Us?) are interactive dance films meant to be viewed as projections in a gallery setting. A sensor detects how close viewers are to the projected image, and that proximity determines the playback speed of the video. As viewers get closer, the speed increases. I use a Kinect V2 sensor and a MaxMSP patch to create the interactive element.
I recorded the same dancer doing the same choreography at three different tempi--40 bpm, 80 bpm, and 120 bpm. I put those clips next to each other and slowed them down or sped them up in my video editing software so that each dancer was in sync across the tryptic. When the video is playing without a viewer near by, the version of the dancer who performed the piece at 40 bpm is being played back in real time, while the other two versions are playing back at a slower-than-reality speed. As the viewer approaches the projection, the video playback speed increases and there is a slow shift across the tryptic for which dancer is now being played back at their real speed. But the dancers always stay in sync, or as close to in sync as they could manage when adjusting human mechanics to different tempi.
I recorded the same dancer doing the same choreography at three different tempi--40 bpm, 80 bpm, and 120 bpm. I put those clips next to each other and slowed them down or sped them up in my video editing software so that each dancer was in sync across the tryptic. When the video is playing without a viewer near by, the version of the dancer who performed the piece at 40 bpm is being played back in real time, while the other two versions are playing back at a slower-than-reality speed. As the viewer approaches the projection, the video playback speed increases and there is a slow shift across the tryptic for which dancer is now being played back at their real speed. But the dancers always stay in sync, or as close to in sync as they could manage when adjusting human mechanics to different tempi.
Excerpt from Human Machine I (Why do for ourselves what a machine can do for us?)
InAction / 11 minute interactive looping film, 2018
Writer / Director / Programmer / Designer / Editor
"There are times when I wonder if it wouldn’t be better for us to part."
~ Waiting for Godot ~
~ Waiting for Godot ~
InAction is a looped film meant to be approached in a gallery space. It includes a sensor that detects the action of viewers--when they are approaching the projected film and when they are walking away. The film is comprised of 93 discrete clips that are edited according to the sensed behavior of the viewer. There is a main loop that could run endlessly if no one approached the projection. In this main loop, six characters from famous plays inhabit the same black-box theater space, milling about, doing essentially nothing. Waiting. I chose these characters because they could have or should have taken action in their respective plays, but were unable to, either because they were scared, addicted, weak, or otherwise paralyzed. When a viewer approaches the projection, clips of the six characters responding to their arrival are inserted into the loop using a patch in the interactive software MaxMSP. When a viewer starts to leave the space, the characters in the film yell out for them to stop. They tell them they will soon take action. But then they slowly return to the same loop of passive indecision, until the next arrival or departure of viewers.
This is a project about free will and taking action in our own lives. It is about the nature of drama, how by definition something needs to happen for drama to come about. It is also an homage to some of my favorite plays and characters.
This is a project about free will and taking action in our own lives. It is about the nature of drama, how by definition something needs to happen for drama to come about. It is also an homage to some of my favorite plays and characters.
Conor Hall …................................………… Hamlet from Hamlet
PJ Max ………….........................… Ben from The Dumb Waiter
Randy Miller …….........……… Estragon from Waiting for Godot
Alan Niebuhr ……...............….....…… Vanya from Uncle Vanya
Angela Palladino ….. Rose from Long Day's Journey Into Night
Nastasha Strang …….…….....................… Mary from The Flick
PJ Max ………….........................… Ben from The Dumb Waiter
Randy Miller …….........……… Estragon from Waiting for Godot
Alan Niebuhr ……...............….....…… Vanya from Uncle Vanya
Angela Palladino ….. Rose from Long Day's Journey Into Night
Nastasha Strang …….…….....................… Mary from The Flick
InAction premiered at the Filmshop End-of-Season Film Festival, Rough Trade, Brooklyn, July 2018.
No Man's Land / 15 minute hybrid documentary film, 16mm, 2017
Producer / Director / Writer / Editor
Synopsis
A stubborn farmer moves his family into a new community, and decides he wants to farm in the sacred forest. Despite the chief's disapproval, he goes ahead. The forest does not take kindly to his rebellion--and fights back. This film enacts a Mende folktale from Sierra Leone, a story that speaks to all of us as stewards of the land.
Director’s Notes
My dissertation research to complete a PhD in economics took me to remote communities near the Gola Rainforest National Park in Sierra Leone in 2009-2013. I was working with the Government of Sierra Leone and other NGOs, trying to help people take better care of their forests and see the benefits of sustainable farming practices. I heard about professional performers who kept alive a long tradition of oral storytelling around fires at night, and began studying these folktales. One common story in their cannon was about a stubborn farmer who cut down a sacred forest. This story resonated with my research, as well as with my understanding of human nature in general and the critical environmental moment we are in right now. I thought it was a beautiful story, and applied for funding from the Arts | Science Initiative at the University of Chicago to make a film. In 2013 I approached a community to see if they would be willing to reenact this story with me. They were excited to share this part of their culture with the world. I wanted to mix the story reenactment with documentary footage showing the rhythms of the agricultural cycles that dominate the lives of these people on the forest’s edge. I finished editing the film in 2017.
Film Production Context
This film was made possible by a grant from the Arts | Science Initiative at the University of Chicago and by a grant from the Economic and Social Research Council. It was also made possible through the cooperation and support of the Gola Rainforest National Park staff and the people of Lalehun, Sierra Leone. It was shot on 16mm Kodak film.
Film Festivals
Adirondack Film Festival
Ithaca Fantastik
European Film Festival
Ethnografilm Paris
LDS Film Festival
Utah Film Festival
Cinema Planeta
A stubborn farmer moves his family into a new community, and decides he wants to farm in the sacred forest. Despite the chief's disapproval, he goes ahead. The forest does not take kindly to his rebellion--and fights back. This film enacts a Mende folktale from Sierra Leone, a story that speaks to all of us as stewards of the land.
Director’s Notes
My dissertation research to complete a PhD in economics took me to remote communities near the Gola Rainforest National Park in Sierra Leone in 2009-2013. I was working with the Government of Sierra Leone and other NGOs, trying to help people take better care of their forests and see the benefits of sustainable farming practices. I heard about professional performers who kept alive a long tradition of oral storytelling around fires at night, and began studying these folktales. One common story in their cannon was about a stubborn farmer who cut down a sacred forest. This story resonated with my research, as well as with my understanding of human nature in general and the critical environmental moment we are in right now. I thought it was a beautiful story, and applied for funding from the Arts | Science Initiative at the University of Chicago to make a film. In 2013 I approached a community to see if they would be willing to reenact this story with me. They were excited to share this part of their culture with the world. I wanted to mix the story reenactment with documentary footage showing the rhythms of the agricultural cycles that dominate the lives of these people on the forest’s edge. I finished editing the film in 2017.
Film Production Context
This film was made possible by a grant from the Arts | Science Initiative at the University of Chicago and by a grant from the Economic and Social Research Council. It was also made possible through the cooperation and support of the Gola Rainforest National Park staff and the people of Lalehun, Sierra Leone. It was shot on 16mm Kodak film.
Film Festivals
Adirondack Film Festival
Ithaca Fantastik
European Film Festival
Ethnografilm Paris
LDS Film Festival
Utah Film Festival
Cinema Planeta
Mother Duck / 3 minute interactive film, 2019
Writer / Actor / Editor / Sound Recordist / Sound Designer
This short film has an interactive soundtrack. You can select what soundtrack you want to listen to. I wrote and acted in the film, and designed the soundtrack. I programmed the interactivity on the Eko Studio website. Eko is a platform that allows you to make interactive films on the web.
Direction and Camera by Eric Adams
Direction and Camera by Eric Adams
Global Car / 60 minute documentary film, 2009 (PBS)
Assistant Producer / Camera
I worked as an assistant producer on this documentary film while working at Combat Films and Research.
I convinced the director of Combat Films that we should tell the story of global supply chains, and emphasize the human impact of sourcing parts from around the world. I did research and established the supply chain for the Dodge Ram truck. I contacted suppliers and set up interviews. I flew to England, India, Singapore, and Detroit to film production processes in factories. I went home with a worker at each factory, to see how they lived.
This film was produced as part of the Beyond the Border series at KBYU and aired on public television in 2009.
You can watch a short version of this film on Vimeo here.
I worked as an assistant producer on this documentary film while working at Combat Films and Research.
I convinced the director of Combat Films that we should tell the story of global supply chains, and emphasize the human impact of sourcing parts from around the world. I did research and established the supply chain for the Dodge Ram truck. I contacted suppliers and set up interviews. I flew to England, India, Singapore, and Detroit to film production processes in factories. I went home with a worker at each factory, to see how they lived.
This film was produced as part of the Beyond the Border series at KBYU and aired on public television in 2009.
You can watch a short version of this film on Vimeo here.
Chechnya: Separatism or Jihad? / 60 minute documentary film, 2006 (PBS)
Assistant Producer / Co-writer / Assistant Editor / Translator
I worked as an assistant producer, writer, translator and editor on this documentary film while working at Combat Films and Research.
I did a significant rewrite of the script. I corrected the translation of interviews from Russian to English. I reordered and inserted new interview clips, found more coherent b-roll, and made the storyline more dramatic. I directed the recording of the voiceover and supervised color and sound post-production.
This film was produced as part of the Beyond the Border series at KBYU and aired on public television in 2006.
You can watch a short version on Vimeo here.
I worked as an assistant producer, writer, translator and editor on this documentary film while working at Combat Films and Research.
I did a significant rewrite of the script. I corrected the translation of interviews from Russian to English. I reordered and inserted new interview clips, found more coherent b-roll, and made the storyline more dramatic. I directed the recording of the voiceover and supervised color and sound post-production.
This film was produced as part of the Beyond the Border series at KBYU and aired on public television in 2006.
You can watch a short version on Vimeo here.
Chechnya: Separatism Or Jihad? from CFR Media on Vimeo.
The Campaign of Fred DesPosario / 13 minute documentary film, 2004
Producer / Director / Writer / Camera / Editor
I made this documentary film for a class in college. It follows Fred DesPosario, in his campaign to win a seat in the Utah State Senate. Fred was a democrat in a heavily Republican district, and had no real chance of winning, but he believed in his cause and gave it his all. I was interested in exploring the idea of how people manage to try when they have no hope. You can watch the film in its entirety below.
I made this documentary film for a class in college. It follows Fred DesPosario, in his campaign to win a seat in the Utah State Senate. Fred was a democrat in a heavily Republican district, and had no real chance of winning, but he believed in his cause and gave it his all. I was interested in exploring the idea of how people manage to try when they have no hope. You can watch the film in its entirety below.