#zeneka

DO WHAT YOU WANT

A short film by Chris Auret Website: auret-art.com/ Instagram: @chris_auret (instagram.com/chris_auret/)

Sound (view with headphones for ultimate listening pleasure)

Excerpt from Zeneka's "Northern in 2012" Website: seneka.co.za/ Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/ze-ne-ka Instagram: @_zeneka (instagram.com/_zeneka/)

For Putter School Instagram: @putterschool (instagram.com/putterschool/)

The film, due to the nature of the square format and the content, lent itself to Instagram (a platform almost based on sharing WHAT PEOPLE SEE). To promote it, I released it through a 13 part series of short clips via my Instagram account (@chris_auret).

DESCRIPTION:

I think it is important to know how this film came into being.

My old high school design teacher, life mentor and artist, Andrew Putter, is starting a school. It will be an extramural program for creative, Southern Suburbs teenagers called Putter School, in Cape Town, starting 2016. I cannot express the value and influence this teacher had on my life. I owe almost all my creative thinking to the way he practiced his teaching. I highly recommend if you have the opportunity to be under his guidance, you should do so.

Recently, he asked a few "xputterites" to make a next-level work as part of the Putter School promotional campaign (anything from digital, to a model, hand-drawn, paint, video, animation – even sound or music). The only specification would be to make a SQUARE WORK that responds to the Putter School motto: “Do What You Want.”

My response came in the form of this film. I've been wanting to make a film for a while when this opportunity came up. Since obtaining a video camera for the first time in February of this year, I've been filming almost everything, with no real end goal of where or how it would be shown. Most of the footage itself comes from a solo trip up the West Coast of South Africa a few months ago. Some of the other locations include the Karoo, Mozambique, Hout Bay and the spaces in between. The writing came quite organically once I sat down and reflected on the visuals I had built up over the last 6 months. I've always loved to write. Once I started this process, the project surprisingly became a very personal expression of sharing my frustrations and solutions with the public.

The soundtrack is by my good friend and fellow maker, Zeneka (AKA Stuart Ziegler, an xputterite himself - seneka.co.za). I owe many thanks to him for adding to my vision. I could not have done it without him.

Thank you ultimately must go to Andrew Putter himself, for inspiring me and a large group of others through the years and for another inspiring brief. I hope you enjoyed it.

WORDS:

I’ve always wanted to make a film. A series of moving images, with some underlying meaning for the audience to absorb.

When it came to content, I suppose it was much the same as most camera owners:

To show the viewers what I see.

What do I see?

Physically, I see only light Because of the darkness. Shapes coated in over 10 million shades of colour.

I’ve been developing this sight as early as two weeks since my conception And with it, I perceive the world around me.

I see nature as the most profound and intelligent source of all beauty. Everything is alive and moving. To move with it is a wonderful thing. To move against it is to move backwards, to the edge of the beginning. A place of absolute nothingness.

I see death But I can only truly feel it once. So I know I am alive.

All around me I see poverty of what is meaningful in life And wealth in those who don’t even know they have it.

I often see loneliness in crowds And communion in solitude.

I see myself through your eyes, although I try my best not to.

I do see an optimistic future...

I see hate. But I give it love. It hates to love. So I love it more.

I want to see more.

Of course, I do have a blind spot. I can’t see everything. I also have to blink at least 10 times a minute.

But when I consciously close my eyes I have the power to see things in a whole new light.

And tomorrow, when I awake, I will see something else entirely.

Now I can see your heart.