In this week, we discussed an new emerged audiovisual form called “desktop documentary”, it is an interdisciplinary computer-based variant of essay film(Bešlagić, L. 2019). I have never seen any film like this, before watch this kind of film, I was skeptical about this new form. The whole story and true emotions can really expressed by a computer desktop screen recording? However, I watched the example film “My Cruch was a Superstar”(2017), it was an excellent film, I felt the emotions and passion of the main character and got to know the things happening step by step, which made me excited. Desktop documentary subvert my stubborn understanding of traditional movies. In order to explore this kind of film in more depth, I searched for some popular desktop documentaries that have been shown in movie theaters. Interestingly, I found that some suspenseful movies filmed with desktop form are very popular, such as “Searching(2018)” and “Unfriended: Dark Web(2018)”. I watched these two movies in my spare time, and after watching them, I couldn’t think any of a better way to express these twisty and bizarre stories than desktop documentaries. As a post-media practice, desktop movies no longer rely solely on film medium. It represents a mixed audio-visual type that takes place entirely in the digital environment(Bešlagić, L. 2019). It makes extensive use of materials on our computers, Internet software and tools to form new stories. For my first desktop documentary attempt, I discussed the most popular topic coronavirus. Our lives have changed dramatically in recent months. When it comes to this virus, people all sigh for it. In the past three months, I was quarantined in China then fly to Thailand for a transfer of 14 days and finally returned to Melbourne, however we are here still experiencing “Stay Home”. This was a very bumpy experience for me. I used a desktop documentary to show this process, It will definitely be my unforgettable experience.
Reference:
Bešlagić, L. (2019). Computer Interface as Film: Post-Media Aesthetics of Desktop Documentary. AM Časopis za studije umetnosti i medija, (20), 51-60
My Crush was a Superstar. 2017. Vimeo, Directed by Chloé Galibert-Laîné.
Searching. 2018. IMDB, directed by Aneesh Chaganty
Unfriended: Dark Web. 2018. IMDB, Directed by Stepheri Susco