Students in CIN320H1S - Odd Objects, Squiggly Shapes: Experimental Animation recently had the opportunity to try their hand at content creation in a workshop lead by guest speaker, Ej Nussbaum. Ej is a filmmaker who works with analogue and digital time machines.
The primary focus of the workshop was on film as a material, time-based medium that can have limitless uses. Under Ej's guidance, students worked on 16mm film discard donated by Media Commons with markers, hole punchers, stamps and sharp objects to "destroy" the strip. A splicer was used edit and reassemble with clear leder for projection. The resulting film was screened soon after (see below).
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At the end of the workshop, students discussed their individual experience of working with a craft-based approach. In addition to learning about working with film (key takeaways included distinguishing between the base and emulsion, and that it is not a good idea to punch a hole in a sprocket!), students reflected on the value of this approach in a digital world, and how material film can help film scholars ask and answer some meaningful questions.
"The workshop was a great success and so much fun," says course instructor, Srijita Banerjee. The unused portion of the reel was taken away by the students for further experimentation.