Don't Sweat It
Found footage , 1.5 minute, 2008
In my Film 400 class in 2008 I assigned the students to create what I called a "take a penny, leave a penny" project utilizing the video site www.archives.org What I wanted them to do was to create a collage film from footage existing on that site, which is public domain, but give something back to the world by leaving a piece of their own video on that site for others to use as public domain footage. I also told them that I would create a piece the same way. All of the videos would be posted on a youtube site created for this purpose. The work I made, which I called "Don't Sweat It", featured money being printed and images of Richard Nixon. Through some chance event, my video was linked to some Nixon related site and has attracted tens of thousands of hits. I don't consider it a significant piece of video (I put it together in one evening) but the attention it received is part of the curious Youtube phenomenon.