8/7/11: One of Our Final Video Shorts - Enjoy!

TO STAY OR TO GO?

5'20" Video Short
Part of a suite entitled You Think I Can Eat All That Chicken Here? this video tells story of a chicken restaurant employee who discovers through past life regression hypnotherapy that she was a runaway slave in a previous lifetime.

Music: Rainbows in the Dark - Tilly and the Wall (Bottoms of Barrels, 2006, Team Love Records).

Written and Directed by Rory Golden

Camera & editing: Jeff Laclede
Props: Ben Cobb
Backdrops: Rory Golden
Wardrobe: Susan Gray
Production Assistants: Brianna Carr, Samantha Lober, Jasmine Hill Robin Ann Herner, Olivia Howar, Ralph Alexander Winkler

ACTORS

Andie Barker
Val Hunt Beerbower
Brianna Carr
Ben Cobb
Robin Ann Herner
Serida Lowery
James Pate
Melissa Theis
Ralph Alexander Winkler

8/1/11: Glamour and Glitz

Recently we had a session with photographer Andy Snow, preparing the actors (dolls) for their final Hollywood premiere (and ours, as well). The installation will be a series of mixed media drawings, a video short and some of these photos as printed postcards. It's come down the last few days to work on the project, so we have to pour all our resources into finalizing the project and installing the work.

We'll see everybody at the exhibition in the old CVS building at 3rd and Main Street, downtown Dayton, August 3rd. There is a reception each night this week from Wednesday through Saturday. Bring your friends!

7/18/11: Twelve Buckets o' Chicken

The past two weeks we have been building sets, props and costuming our characters for a short video project. The project makes connections between our shared past of slavery and contemporary society. Community members have been invited in to do improvisational dialogues that we have recorded.

These videos are tests. The final video project will have painted sets/backdrops using Rory's artwork. The tricky part of this project is walking the razor's edge line of using humor to address challenging social issues.

http://www.youtube.com/user/rorynewyork#p/a/u/1/Sl-MImVmlnU

http://www.youtube.com/user/rorynewyork#p/a/u/0/m4zYfHBXOb0

Stay tuned!

7/8/11: Catching Up

The past two weeks have been very productive for our group, now that we have cleared the halfway point of the Blue Sky calendar. The second month will become much more hectic as pre-production ends and filming is underway. 

Planning is the most important process, because it lays the groundwork for everything else in the project.

These two weeks have included everything from research, to video review...

... to set design ...

... prop design ...

... and the production of baked goods.

This is the basic template for filming; various backdrops and props have already been used to shoot about two dozen practical scenes, both with our team members and with guest actors.

Special thanks goes to our guest artist James Pate for showing his work and contributing to the videos. Most importantly, we now have access to a Canon GL-1 camera and lighting kit, so we can go all-out on production. We are adopting an "assembly line" model of filmmakinging so we can get as many actors as possible to peform a short scene in dozens, if not hundreds of different ways.

6/21/11: Paper and Stuff

Today, we had our first try at making paste paper, a form of painting/printmaking that uses a mixture of methyl cellulose and pigments. There was also a deeper discussion of slavery and escapees to the border of Ohio and Kentucky. Future plans include a trip to the house of John Rankin in Ripley, OH.

Altogether a good day's product. Nice work everybody.

6/20/11: Start of Week 2

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

“You Think I Can Eat All That Chicken Here?” or “To Stay or To Go?” is about one composite, morphing character’s fantastic 200-year journey, an escape from slavery in mid-19^th Century South to putative freedom in 21^st Century America. Numerous artworks such as artist books, mixed media drawings, maps, reliquaries, diaries and other constructed ephemera expand from small, handmade boxes to comprise a large installation. Images and texts are informed by historical materials and inspired by contemporary stories and images of urban life. The artwork will evoke the movement of a dream (sometimes nightmarish) narrative spanning much of American history. The problem is, it’s got to be funny.

The intention is to make connections between past and present by asking if American Society can “move on from our past” without having acknowledged our foundation of stolen land, rape, murder, slavery. Can one create a good life here with our unresolved past of oppression and duplicitous declarations of freedom for all? Do chickens really come home to roost? To stay or to go?

The group, hard at work.

The group, hard at not-work.

Posting Rory's research and other proposed ideas to the wall for convenient reference.

The wall, filled with ideas.

Last week, the group started with exercises to get to know one another and we discussed the best ways to speak about about potentially challenging issues, and started to think about what the project will be. So far everyone seems to have a good foundation going into these first weeks of production.