By frag_editorial I wanted to make a video essay contrasting two recent films with very different portraits of labour in contemporary Tokyo. Once I started playing around in the timeline, I decided to just try this very simple split-screen experiment. These are intact clips from the opening moments of each film, introducing the protagonists and their work. One is ruthless, cold, and seeks minimum effort for maximum gain. The other apparently gets fulfilment from his repetitive manual labour in public service. Both clips end with each character in a moment of ambivalent satisfaction or reprieve.
About the maker
Joel Blackledge is an AHRC-funded doctoral researcher at Birmingham City University. His research uses video practice to explore the formal and thematic links between cinema and internet memes. His work has appeared in [in]Transition, Vittles, the International Journal of Creative Multimedia, and won a BAFTSS Practice Research Award.
Contact
Vimeo: http://www.vimeo.com/joelblackledge