Today in class, we practised stacking to demonstrate the concept of hard labour and the necessity for downtime. I decided to speed up the clock for this particular project. As a result, the video is not 8 minutes in length, and I am well aware that time is of the essence. After seeing an 8-minute film of me stacking odd items, it occurred to me that most individuals don’t have much “Downtime” after school, work, or their hobbies. What is the point of making them watch an 8-minute video of my stacking? I decided to edit the video so that it appears to be outside of our world, even though it is. Does the illusion raise questions, such as What is labour? What is the difference between labour and downtime? How do we give others time when we are constantly rushing against the clock? No matter where we are or who we are with, the passage of time will always be a constant. The camera lens displays the stacking exercise so that it forces me to practise and directs me in the right direction. The lens is in command, observing me do my duties and evaluating the worker’s output.
In this video, we were given the authority to demolish the work in a manner we saw necessary or suitable. I decided to remove the fragile things first and then push the stack of unbreakable goods to the bottom of the floor in a forceful manner. I chose to display the zoom call in the video because, if it weren’t for the lockdown, we would all be working together to accomplish a task objective, as demonstrated by the instructor in a demonstration of collaboration. They were associated with hard labour, a person who works tirelessly for their employer to accomplish their goal, expecting to be rewarded with enough money to provide for themselves and their family. I observed that it was challenging to build up the stack yet easy to demolish the work, which I found exciting and interested in seeing that idea further developed. However, I chose to stick with the concept of making the video seem as if it is not a part of this reality, even though it is filmed today. I’d want to play around with the concept of black and white shooting. Even though the video has two colours, it seems to display dimensions. The way the book opens in the video is effective. This video is intended for everyone. Everyone must perform the task over which the higher-ups have complete authority; we have had no say in whether or not they keep the hard work or rip it apart.
The tutor instructed us to place the minor items at the bottom of the stack and the most significant objects at the top. I found this assignment to be difficult since I was unable to achieve a satisfactory balance between the items. As a result, I violated a few restrictions, which allowed me to stack various objects. In this video, the lens records me continuously attempting the job until I succeeded, but I had to think outside the box in order to get the desired outcome. The high class assigned me a job that seemed to be straightforward but turned out to be very tough; it’s a sort of display today that the labour of the work appears to be simple but is more complex than you believe. What exactly are they withholding from us? What happens if their tells are interpreted as the negative aspect of a task? Will the bad outweigh the positive? You can see me giving up at the end of the film and just piling everything I had on top of the stack. I enjoy the sound of the work, the zoom call that shows everyone chatting simultaneously, and the way that is conversing while performing a task provides the impression of not being alone. The sound is played at a higher speed to suggest that interacting with others makes the work go faster.Â
In this piece, we got told to destroy it. I’ve decided to include the lens as an element of the work. I was interested in seeing what the object would see if the piece were to fall apart. I chose to stick with my original plan of removing the work severely. I decided to retain the film, i.e., keep the video at the same speed as before and the lens since I was curious to see what the item would see if it were to have eyes. When the work broke apart, there was a huge mess left behind, which I was responsible for cleaning up. Looking at the big picture, I was assigned a task to complete for the course and hopefully, in the end, receive my diploma, “a reward,” just as in the workforce, people are assigned a task to earn money for themselves, “a reward.” The task opened my eyes to the arduous nature of the workforce and whether the rewards are worth it in the grand scheme of things? What is our prize? What are we willing to give up to be rewarded at the end of the day. Is that sacrifice worthwhile? I want to keep developing in this idea of time and its worth.