{"id":5953,"date":"2019-07-10T13:50:41","date_gmt":"2019-07-10T18:50:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/studio\/?p=5953"},"modified":"2019-07-10T13:50:41","modified_gmt":"2019-07-10T18:50:41","slug":"filmmaking-in-the-void","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/studio\/2019\/07\/10\/filmmaking-in-the-void\/","title":{"rendered":"Filmmaking In The Void"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Hi blog, Julianna here. This summer I\u2019m working on a documentary film about my home state of Texas, <\/span>hydraulic fracturing<\/span><\/a> (\u201cfracking\u201d), a pipeline headed for the border, and whatever happens when it reaches Mexico. I began production this spring and was going full steam ahead until, uh, real life intervened.<\/span><\/p>\n

It happens.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

One minute, you\u2019re in your routine, caught up in the stuff of everyday life. <\/span>Can I make it to the gym today? Why would a taco cost more than $3? What if I can\u2019t get the rights to this footage? <\/span><\/i>The next, you\u2019re on a plane to a hospital 1,000 miles away.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes, something bad happens and it fades with time.
\n<\/span>Sometimes, something bad happens and it draws a line through your life. <\/span><\/p>\n

There is before
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

and after.<\/span><\/p>\n

Before, I might have spent these 500 words on minutiae: a tough edit, playing phone tag with an activist, the self-imposed stress to achieve on a timeline. After? These things feel so small because they <\/span>are<\/span><\/em> small. (And, let\u2019s be honest: would you want to read that blog post?)<\/span><\/p>\n


\n\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a>  
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Stills, L to R: “Southwestern States” (1953), “The Army-Navy Screen Magazine 51: Report from Texas” (1945), “Home on the Range” (1942), courtesy of Prelinger Archives and Internet Archive.<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\n<\/span>I spent a week in an aging leather armchair in an East Coast STICU and then, adamant to stay on track, I left to film. In the fracking fields of West Texas, roiled by catcalls<\/a><\/span> and wilting in 110\u00b0F heat, I began to see that what I was doing – squeezing my new life into the void left by my old one – wasn\u2019t working out. <\/span><\/p>\n

As an aside: 110\u00b0F is <\/span>astonishingly<\/span><\/i> hot! It\u2019s so hot that I wasn\u2019t sure if my camera would work. (The operating temperature range of my Canon C100 is, roughly, 23\u00b0F to 113\u00b0F.)<\/span> While I hope to not feel it again soon, the fact of the matter is that it will get hotter. Surrounded by <\/span>pumpjacks<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>gas flares<\/span><\/a>, and tankers barreling down Farm-to-Market roads, the <\/span>Anthropocene<\/span><\/a> was undeniable. Here, I was a witness to why the world as we know it is changing, and… it pushed me over the edge. <\/span><\/p>\n

I got in my car and yelled <\/span>I DON\u2019T NEED THIS RIGHT NOW!  <\/i>Then I drove the 1,200 miles back to Iowa. 
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Stills, L to R: Boomtown traffic at the lone gas station in Coyanosa, Texas.<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The bad: I can’t edit my own footage this summer.
\nThe good: because of the flexible nature of digital work, there’s still a lot I can do!<\/span><\/p>\n

With the help of satellite imagery applications like Google Earth Pro, I\u2019ve been exploring remote areas in West Texas and restricted places like gas plants and shale plays<\/a>. To contrast past and present relationships with oil, I\u2019ve been combing through news archives and pulling from public domain films.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Stills, L to R:<\/span> Google Street View as featured in my film; <\/span>\u201cOur Texas Heritage\u201d <\/span>(1963), courtesy of Prelinger Archives. <\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Though my film isn\u2019t turning out how I thought, it\u2019s okay: it’s becoming something else. Films aren’t made in a vacuum, and I believe that crisis and chaos can be turned into meaningful work.<\/span><\/p>\n

More soon,
\nJulianna Villarosa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Hi blog, Julianna here. This summer I\u2019m working on a documentary film about my home state of Texas, hydraulic fracturing (\u201cfracking\u201d), a pipeline headed for the border, and whatever happens when it reaches Mexico. I began production this spring and was going full steam ahead until, uh, real life intervened. It happens. One minute,Continue reading “Filmmaking In The Void”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":266,"featured_media":5479,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,32],"tags":[],"syndication":[30,21],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5953"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/266"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5953"}],"version-history":[{"count":114,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6095,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5953\/revisions\/6095"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5953"},{"taxonomy":"syndication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/syndication?post=5953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}