DreamDoc or a Midsummer’s Night Film – workshops by Alexandra “Sasha” Lerman
August 25 – October 28, 2020, Uzhhorod
Online workshops u.s. artist Alexandra Lerman “DreamDoc or a Midsummer’s Night Film”
Cultural Capital Introspection Program
Residence Sorry No Rooms Available
Participants: Anastasia Kostiv, Victoria Dorr, Attila Hazhlinski, Lika Volkova, Danylo Kovach, Petro Ryaska, Kasha Potrogosh, Leo Trotsenko, Yevhen Korshunov, Oleksandra Liven, Raivis Kapilinskis, Daniil Kosinski.
The project unfolded throughout nine Zoom sessions, which consisted of Lerman’s presentations on the subjects including the history of film language, how the film is used by visual artists today, and discussions around the sourced dream footage collected for the project. Throughout this process, Lerman utilized the essay by Hito Steyerl “In Defense of the Poor Image” as an organizing principle and manifesto on mobile filmmaking, to think (and dream) through the contemporary phenomenon of the ubiquitous low-resolution image (and sound) as captured by the smartphone. Together with the participants, Lerman led discussions on techniques to implement the smartphones as a video camera, presented a range of accessible lighting techniques to optimize visual effects, and sketched out a history of different narrative compositional strategies that can be deployed to edit together a sourced collection of oral accounts, cutaways, and live sound – to construct what Roland Barthes once named the “third meaning” of cinema.
The first workshop, August 25, 2020.
Part one
The artist talks about the practices of Sasha Lerman.
Part two
During the first meeting, Alexander Lerman reread the lecture: Introduction to mobile filmmaking discussing Hito Steyril’s essay “In Defence of a Poor Image” and feature films shot on iPhone “Tangerine” by Sean Baker and “Unsane” by Steven Soderbergh
The second workshop, September 1, 2020.
Brief history of filmmaking and editing
Watching the footage shot
Third workshop, September 8, 2020
Part one
Montage.
Presentation on the early film history and demonstration of the principles of film editing using film and video art as examples: Arthur’s Jaffa’s video Love is the Message, the Message is Death, David Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation, Lev Kuleshov Effect, The Clock by Christian Marclay, The Thin Blue Line by Errol Morris.
Watching edited material
Third workshop, September 8, 2020
Part two
Watching the footage shot
Fourth workshop, September 15, 2020
Part one
Essay Filmmaking.
Presentation on essay filmmaking and a discussion of the films by Chris Marker, Harun Farocki, Hito Steyril, Camil Henro, Sara Cwynar.
Watching and discussing newly shot and edited work
Fourth workshop, September 15, 2020
Part two
View and discuss filmed and edited works
Fifth workshop, October 6, 2020
Radio cut
Sixth workshop, October 13, 2020
View and discuss filmed and edited works
Seventh workshop, October 20, 2020
View and discuss filmed and edited works