Lotte - Draft proposal

Draft Project Proposal'

What do you want to make?

I would like to make a short film where the main subject is; how we view and shape (our) sexuality through mediated forms of bodily representation. or mediated forms of corporeality.
My work will [maybe] take the form of a love story. A fictional short film. A man falls in love with a webcam performer but this love is not a reality in itself, as it is a projection of his needs and wants onto a paid performer. The movie deals with how we shape our sexuality and love through mediated forms of [bodily] representation and the power structure within these relationships.

How do you plan to make it?

During the coming months I will write a script along side with my research for my thesis. This script will partly derive from interviews I do with men and woman using digital platforms like chaturbate.com, I will talk to both viewer and performer and focus on the ‘reality’ in which they live online and the relationship they have with each-other. I’m also very interested in the power that these performers/sex-workers have over their viewers and vice versa, how the viewers have economical power over the performers.

I might use these interviews on screen and in audio, as part of the film, but could also interpret them and use them in a more fictional setting. At the same time I will use these conversations to further explore my personal voice and interests within these subjects.

For now I plan to make short films leading up to my graduation work; for example I’m thinking about making a documentation of the spaces where webcam performers work from, the ones they rent, as a VO I would use the interviews with moderators or viewers of these websites; the projection and ideas of the viewers upon the performers.

I also want to turn it around and maybe visit the space of the viewers, from where do they look ‘gaze’.

All this material I will use as a starting point (or part of) towards my graduation work.

My background is in (documentary) filmmaking. In my practice als a filmmaker I always tried to create films that reflect upon a certain subject without it becoming pamphletistic. Everyone already walks around with their own idea’s and opinions, as a filmmaker I want to give them the possibility to view things from a different (or closer) perspective. This room for the viewer to reflect upon is very important to me. At the same time I don’t want my work to be vague. I hope that when people see my work it’s clear to them what questions resonate through the work.

What is your timetable?

T.B.A.
Why do you want to make it?

For a long time I’ve been intrigued by the world of sex-webcam websites like Chaturbate.com. On the one hand it’s an extremely personal space supported by a strong online community, on the other hand their body’s are viewed as objects and the woman ar asked to perform for tips in the form of ‘tokens’.

For me it is important to approach subjects like online sex and the obsession we have with it, without moral judgements. Personally I feel like part of the attraction and obsession for example online pornography is because it is at the same time deplorable. This duality has always existed in sexuality (dominance vs submissiveness) and is enlarged in the online I guess.

In this work my different fascinations and interest come together; sexuality, ownership of body, identity, online communities, privacy but also obsession and lust within this digital frame-work.

Who can help you and how?

Productional I have a big network in film, so I have people to help and work with me on this project (hopefully).

Theoretically I hope to talk to some researchers, online sex workers, journalists.
Relation to previous practice

One of my recent video works is BRB (2018). BRB is a poetic observation of online sex webcams where the absence of sexual acts is the focus of the work. In the form of subtitles we follow several online community chats, users talking amongst other users. In video images we see empty rooms, a poetic reflection of what is not there. The recordings are made when the girls are gone, just before they come back or go online. The chat that occurs when the girls are gone sometimes create funny situations where others have a darker context.  The girls working (or ‘playing’) behind the webcam’s objectify their body by displaying it. By viewing the body as an object through a digital lens, (sometimes even disconnecting the body completely from the self by not showing the face), the body can be seen as something different, something disembodied almost. This gives people participating in webcam-sex the opportunity to almost from a distance view their body and see their body being viewed and desired without the self intervening in this objectification. By taking this actor away, the objectification doesn’t distract you anymore and you are left to wonder who these persons are and what happend in the moments before, with only some clues to help you imagine.

Relation to a larger context
Research into online intimacy, the online gaze and embodiment through webcam based practices.

Although feminism in relation to pornography is an undeniable part of my work, my work is not intended to be a feminist statement. I am much more interested in the relationship we, as humans with sexual desires, have to this online and personal space. I don’t want to make much judgments with my work, mainly because I don’t feel like I am the person who is in the position to judge. Everyone has their fetishes and kinks and I also see the online as a space to free yourself. Off-course I can not and won’t ignore the part of sex-labour that the subject I have chosen entails, but like I said before, I rather provide insights and create a different context in which people can form their own opinion and views about the matter.

Meaning practices or ideas that go beyond the scope of your personal work. Write briefly about other projects or theoretical material which share an affinity with your project. For example, if you are researching urban interventions, you might want to research about Situationist approaches to psychogeography, urban tactical media and activist strategies of reclaiming the streets. Or, if you want to explore the way data is tracked, you might touch upon the politics of data mining by referencing concerns laid out by the Electronic Frontier or highlight theoretical questions raised by Wendy Chun or others. (Keep in mind that we are *not* expecting well formulated conclusions or persuasive arguments in the proposal phase. At this juncture, it's simply about showing an awareness of a broader context, which you will later build upon as your research progresses.)

References

-> RATE ME - FYZAL BOULIFA (2015)
Dragon Fly Eyes by Xu Bing

A list of references (Remember that dictionaries, encyclopedias and wikipedia are not references to be listed. These are starting points which should lead to more substantial texts and practices.) As with your previous essays, the references need to be formatted according to the Harvard method.)
Feel free to include any visual material to substantiate, illustrate or elucidate your proposal. For example use images to reference your work or that of others.

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