Elene Usdin – PROJECTION SILENCIO (2013)

Video portfolio are de rigueur, it seems.

They’re an interesting notion–at least in theory: complete control over how work is contextualized, viewing of extensive archives is streamlined and the resulting presentation has the potential to be far more dynamic than the customary webpage-as-ersatz-gallery motif.

They’re just as fraught, however; in fact,Usdin’s PROJECTION SILENCIO is the only example I can think of where the work benefits from the presentation.

The reason for this–I think–is that in addition to making still images, Usdin is an illustrator and videographer. There’s a good bit of overlap between still and moving images, but it is ridiculous to suggest that mastery of the former ensures success at the latter–something thoroughly proven beyond a shadow of a doubt by the vast majority of video profiles.

In other words: this is not a bunch of images thrown into a Slide Show or animated PowerPoint presentation; Usdin expertly intersperses still images with video footage that combine to create something that works both as an artful video and a personal portfolio.

The video portfolio also benefits the sheer volume of work. For all it’s ostentatious high-end design, her website is damn near impossible to navigate.

Unlike fuckwits who spray-and-pray with dSLRs, Usdin’s work is rigorously edited. (Measure twice; cut once. Always.)

I don’t necessarily get all of it; but it is of an exceptionally high quality and I do adore mahaut1, this and I’m over the moon about the scene where the hand mirror appears/disappears, shows/does not show a reflection in the mirror. Moreover, I think the video presentation enlivens the images in a way that the website does not. That is ultimately the thing that ties everything together: the presentation adds to the work instead of distracting from it.

Yes, ‘video portfolios probably can be a valuable tool IN THE RIGHT HANDS. My concern is that people with zero background are going to find it easier to demand an audience to the three-ring circus of fuckwitery..