Background

In 2000 – 2001 I was a student at the BCIT New Media Design Program. I entered the program to give me better access the latest self publishing digital tools available. This was all very new stuff.

YouTube would not exist for another half decade, the Dot Coms were about to experience their first financial collapse since the investment boom of the late 90′s, and I just wanted to feel relevant making art.

It was a very interesting time to be in that program, we were learning CDROM programs, while DVD’s were starting to take over the VHS realm. Up to 10% of Blockbuster was converted to this new technology.

In other words, the latest technology was already becoming old.

During this time, the Dot Coms poped. Most of the students in my class were set up for jobs the moment they graduated (one year program). They were terrified to watch this futuristic industry crumble as they reached the doorstep.

I was a bit annoyed, but it didn’t really bother me much. I was there for my own reasons. This video is one of them.

It started as an experiment with the tools in After Effects, where I took a single take from the Skytrain, matted myself out, then had some fun with layering and effecting the timing in it.

It eventually captured a strange transitional period of my life in an abstract and ambient way.