meaning over aesthetic

Something has fascinated me recently. It's been fermenting for some time, but I'm coming to full realization of it. I want to create art that can be done by all. That we can all achieve if willing. As a cineaste, I've always had an affinity for aesthetics -- for production design, for costume design, for filmic texture. Cultivated in the post-MTV hyperreality, we all have a keenness for aesthetics and spectacle.

Since the emergence of digital video, my reservations about it have been consistently stubborn. It seemed so cold and unflattering compared to the warmness and romanticism of film, of which I'd prefer. But, if we're to embody the true romance of our lives, is not the ability to celebrate such through the least flattering visual medium a necessary step in our transition? We have reached a point where nearly everyone can construct great-looking aesthetics in cinema. With the influx of film-school grads and music-video directors, it's become commonplace. Yet, broadly, most lack narrative understanding -- many works stemming from this emotionally hollow and contrived. Furthermore, to achieve this look takes an amount of money and expertise many of us do not have access to, which promotes the privatization of art. If we are all to embody our artistry this can't be. I believe Cloverfield -in its cell phone/mini-cam reportage style- is a promising signification into this transition away from artistic segregation.

The accessibility of digital equipment has opened the possibility for us to all become artists. A thin line, to be sure, but we all have stories to tell. It's a matter of finding sincerity to tell them. As I mentioned, I strive to create art that any person has the capacity to achieve. The New will be my first foray into this. Pointing and shooting. Letting the expressive voice speak without aesthetic cloth, naked. Returning and elaborating on the French New Wave credo. Pop New Wave. Conscientious of aesthetics, but emphasizing and accentuating the story's dynamics. Instrumenting stylistic editing and music video sequencing because these are part of the next progression, but not relying on them. But most concisely, enabling all of us to embody the art that is us.

Here are a few quotes guiding me in the creation of The New:

"People who claim to pursue 'art for art's sake' are unable to make good their claim. There is a place for art in life, apart from the question - What is art? But art can only be a means to the end which we must all of us achieve. If however it becomes an end in itself, it enslaves and degrades humanity."

Gandhi

"Man is a tiny replica of the universe. If two things are naturally associated together in the human mind, which is an image of the 'mind' of the universe, this is evidence of a real connection between the two things in the universe."

Richard Cavendish