video open calls: i recently posted about finding an audience for my video work related to my current landscape work, coming to the realisation that, like my print work, there are opportunities available but perhaps video open calls are more prescriptive. seeking an audience, i have now been looking into a range of opportunities for my recent and emerging video work that could be developed along these open call briefs or specifications. i feel that this approach could add new and interesting elements to my work but i am also mindful of needing to keep the core of my work and making intact and in focus.
possible opportunities: i have done a lot of online research and am now selecting some of the most suitable open calls in terms of relevance to my work, audience and time frame. when i say audience, how can i be sure who they are exactly – perhaps this might be one way to find out and test how i might engage others with my work and where i think this work could belong. below is an outline of my first step in the process of finding an audience for my video work and testing the boundaries of who and where my work might belong in the public domain.
video submission 1: ‘real to reel, the craft film festival’: brief: open call for works dedicated to craft making and moving image, films celebrating and exploring making, skills and material. location: to be exhibited during London Craft Week at Picturehouse Central London in May, followed by an international tour. cost: £20. deadline: 4th February. links: https://www.craftscouncil.org.uk/opportunities/real-to-reel-the-craft-film-festival/ https://www.craftscouncil.org.uk/what-we-do/real-to-reel-the-craft-film-festival/
process: before submitting for consideration i had to join the craft council. they outlined that any ratio would be considered but film work had to be of the high quality (ProRes 422 HQ, 1920 x 1080, 24 fps) if selected as they would be converting accepted works to DCP. immediately while reading this open call brief, my landscape video work ‘i shiver and i shit’ seemed to suggest itself as very appropriate for this submission brief and as this work has never found an external audience so i was excited by the possibility of sharing it with an audience. however, although i had already made the work (2018), the technical specification that they asked for meant that i had to reedit the titles away from the frame edges for projection. i re-edited the video to include credits to the 4 women who contributed to it. if selected, the work will also require re-exporting to higher res. but i was unable to do this as ProRes specifications is a paid add on for premier pro. however if selected, i will certainly invest in this. of course there is no guarantee that it will be but perhaps this is very much part of testing boundaries for where i think my work might considered or belong. while not strictly adhering to traditional notions of craft, the work references and came out of ceramic making processes and suits the brief in terms of craft, material and making. relating to my exploration of landscape through 3d making processes, i also think it looks at craft from a sideways position and raises questions about craft & material, material & landscape, craft & gender and ideology. the application also involved a short bio, a link to the video (via my website or youtube) and a brief description/statement about the work.
submitted work:
statement for submission: The film ‘I shiver and I shit’ is part of Elaine Crowe’s series of work ‘Landscape and I’ (2018) which looks at the landscape from a gendered perspective. Combining elements of the domestic sphere with the physical material of the outdoor landscape, Elaine questions real versus ideal notions of landscape, domesticity and femininity. The film shows Elaine in the process of physically making a teacup using the raw and natural material of clay. Set against this are vocal contributions from four women, describing what they consider to be an ideal teacup. Craft, rooted in the tradition of women’s art plays against the physical reality of making – messy and imperfect, and, as the title alludes, so too the reality of the female body.
elaine crowe 