Academics

For this assignment, you will be creating an experimental portrait of either yourself (or someone you know) in the form of a 1- minute video montage.  Piecing together video, audio (and even some still images and/or animation if you choose) edit together a 1-minute video self/portrait.

Edit your self/portrait in a way that offers your audience a good sense of who you (or your subject) is as a person: your values, likes, environment, and anything else that “matters” to you, and makes up “who you are” (or the person you choose to do a portrait of). This story can be told in many different ways (abstract, narrative, linear, non-linear, a combination of techniques, etc.).

Video Description

For my self-portrait video, I decided to capture one of the most critical and foundational characteristics of myself: dance.

I grew up as a dancer from the age of three, and from a very young age I was always performing. Whether it was putting on little shows for my family, dancing around the house, or finding any excuse to be on a stage, I was constantly drawn to movement and expression. So when I made the difficult decision not to pursue dance academically and professionally, it came as a shock to everyone around me. Although I may not identify as a dancer today, dance is something that still deeply encapsulates who I am.

Dance gave me the discipline I carry with me in everyday life, the artistry I admire in the world around me, and the creativity I bring to every project I pursue. It also gave me the friends and mentors who helped shape the person I am today, and a lifelong love for movement.

Even now, dance finds its way into my life in quiet and unexpected moments, whether that’s subconsciously shuffling my feet while standing in line at the grocery store or being the one on the dance floor at a party, moving freely to the music without hesitation. In this way, dance never really left me. Instead, it transformed into something more subtle but just as present, living within the rhythm of my everyday life