Ethan's Experiments

    My approach to the project arose out of this idea from a shot I already had (it's not in the video) involving light and a person interacting with it. From there I just filmed shots that I found interesting relating to that. As in all my work, the structure changed almost completely during editing, and the video you're seeing is not what I set out to make. But I am happy (sort of) with what happened.      I have to admit that a lot of what McLuhan says in this book goes over my head. But I do relate a lot personally to his idea that life is moving too fast for us to comprehend or society to get a handle on. This idea of going backwards while we simultaneously go forward is something that I tried to incorporate into this video. I tried to mess with time a bit by using slow motion and jump cuts. The last shot of this video tries to tie the rest of it together and comment on the artificiality of our world. Sometimes life feels completely meaningless because of this saturation o

Justice MMIWG, Valaria Tatera, 2019-2021     I found Valaria Tatera's talk incredibly moving and informative. I had absolutely no idea Enbridge pipeline 5 existed or that Wisconsin even had residential schools. I think growing up in Wisconsin gave me the impression that most of the injustices meted out against native peoples were in other places, it was worrying to find out the same happened here. Although sadly it's not that surprising.      My complete ignorance on the topic shows just how deficient the school system is in the US, where the majority population can just choose to leave out the more unpleasant parts of history that make them look bad. This is why Tatera's art is so necessary, not only is it a healing process for herself, which would be important enough by itself, it makes people focus on what  they'd rather ignore.   "Whence did the wond'rous mystic art arise, of painting SPEECH and speaking to the eyes? That we by tracing magic lines are taugh

    My name is Ethan Swanson (He/Him) and I'm a second year Film Studies and Art History double major. I work primarily in experimental film but I'm currently writing a screenplay because I want to make some narrative short films. Eventually, I'd like to be a director and make feature length movies. Summer Evening, Edward Hopper, 1947      I tend to like art that is on the darker side of things, so lately I've been really interested in Edward Hopper. There is something melancholic/pessimistic about his version of Americana that I really like. This particular painting really effects me because the people in it seem to be trapped in a conversation even though the background is so open and undefined. I also think about this piece a lot because I envy how well he uses light here (there's not a great image of this painting online so I'd recommend looking at a print, the colors are a little off here), and I hope to be able to have lighting that good in my films someda