Can you beat the timer?
Where is the artistic merit when one duct tapes an iPhone to their forehead?! Long before Ant & Dec merged hidden cameras and The Duke together, I was interested in exploring the performative aspect of the documentary filmmaker. Rather than holding the camera I strapped it onto my head to recreate my point of view which would enable me to perform with no constraints.
The positive of video camera’s shrinking over time is that the filmmaker can create an objective document by having their subject matter double up as the camera operator. It is not the view of the film maker but one of it’s subject. Films like Jimmy and Lethivan use this technique by attaching the camera onto the films characters, therefore I wanted to see practically how this idea could be executed. The negative to this advancement in technology is that the village idiot can walk into an antique shop disguised as David Dickinson and ask for a part time saturday job whilst recording hands free.
I enjoyed playing the fool too much. It only takes one day to film and edit. I best not make a habit of it but playing a chain smoking Dot Cotton around Edinburgh has always been a dream of mine. Please pay attention to the selfy photograph below. We can clearly see the hole in Dots forehead which is where the iPhone records through. For me, it’s this shoddy workmanship that is the films charm, the idea is juvenile and my impression of the celebrities is dreadful – but I like it.
