Rylie Blogs Rarely ／ blog.ryliejamesthomas.net

This video was made as a response to another on Youtube, and making responses to Youtube videos is something I want to keep doing. The idea of subverting the curate’s egg that Youtube may be is appealing right now.

In the original a boy, Stephen, is videoed—with a hidden camera set up by his brother—’freaking out’, as the typically vulgar Youtube title puts it. The whole channel is videos of the guy being treated disgustingly by his family. Being able to see moments of private frustration like this is fascinating.

While watching some shortish films by Artavazd Pelechian last night I began thinking about the length of films, and its relation to how we process them. In something short we don’t have time to think about it during its course, which is unusual for film, and it’s something I want to explore; perhaps making films even shorter than I have been recently. I’ve also set a goal of making a longer film, perhaps up to an hour, by the end of the year.

It turns out that these videos are staged.

If been wanting to try something else with my videos for a while now, and this is the first step. It’s a wobbley one, and I will make a revised version this week, and more in the same vein.

Each clip is taken from the Internet, each source a video I felt was exploitative. I want to strip that aspect out, leaving just a person. I find people difficult; their embellishments, haircuts, fashion, conversation… I need to cull all of this, and this is what the art I like does. It reminds me that they are okay.