Fruits: Here is a rough draft of the video and the final photograph.
Idea:
Create a retro-looking profile picture of a mugshot. Look disheveled. Maybe have a bloody nose. Have the board say New Orleans, Louisiana or maybe Thibodaux. Have it say Autodidact. with logo. And then date be my birthday or something. This will become my profile picture for Autodidact. I like the vibe and look of it. I want Autodidact to have a classical feel. But I also want it to be punk-rock because the best form of rebellion is personal excellence. Also I want it to have a much more worldly feel. I don’t want it to feel inaccessible. Self-education is happening in every moment and by any one who is pure of heart. It does not have to be something that is reserved for academics. Also, I want Autodidact to be one of many steps in the movement towards decentralization in education.
I am entering a new season.
Camera on gimbal. Me walking towards camera, delivering the lines as camera walks backwards. UNSHAVED HEAD.
It is a season of disciplined work.
MATCH CUT. Camera on gimbal. Me walking towards camera, delivering the lines as camera walks backwards. SHAVED HEAD.
This work requires difficult changes of self.
MATCH CUT. Camera on gimbal. Me walking towards camera, delivering the lines as camera walks backwards. UNSHAVED HEAD.
The work is that of building my vision.
At desk. Working at computer. SHAVED HEAD. Maybe shoot this in the same setting I shot my last video in. Shot at an angle from the right.
I am trying to take it all one project at a time, but its normally many at once.
Now, shot from behind the computer. and I peak around the monitor to look into the camera and deliver the lines.
For example, this week, in addition to making a video, I wanted to make a profile picture for my newly created social media accounts.
Show all of my social media accounts that don’t really have a profile picture yet.
But how can I capture Autodidact’s and my own essence in a single picture?
Now digital zoom into one of the empty profile pictures.
The answer came to me one day while I was doing graffiti with Fugazi on my headphones.
Have a collage of all the graffiti I have done on campus. Then cut to a shot of me looking at my phone after I just graffiti something.
I am far from a true punk rocker but I have always liked punk music.
Then, it will cut to me holding my phone and it will see my screen, which will have the Fugazi album 13 songs on it.
Only the music though, I never really liked the punk image. It seemed to destructive and violent to me.
Now just cut to some documentary style footage of punk rock shows.
Because of this, I was surprised when I learned it had such a strong and virtuous ethos.
Have a recording of me searching for what the punk rock ethos is on google.
For example:
“Punk political ideologies are mostly concerned with individual freedom and anti-establishment views. Common punk viewpoints include individual liberty, anti-authoritarianism, a DIY ethic, non-conformity, anti-corporatism, anti-government, direct action, and not "selling out".”
Now show google’s answer. More zoomed in.
individual liberty, anti-authoritarianism, a DIY ethic, non-conformity, anti-corporatism, anti-government, direct action, and not "selling out".”
Now show each of these words very zoomed in. As I say each one scroll on computer to the next one.
That is a powerful and thoughtful philosophical point-of-view.
Have this on screen again zoomed out.
But to me this ethos did not seem to align with punk’s image.
Then, have the punk footage fad in again. Maybe have it in the layer beneath and have the opacity of have the screen go out on the definition. Or use the linear wipe feature.
This seeming contradiction intrigued me. It reminded me of this clip I had heard of Robert Greene on the Modern Wisdom podcast.
Show the clip. Maybe show the clip in a cute 4:3 aspect ratio.
Reality is often exactly this. A whole formed of seeming contradictions.
Maybe for this scene I should try my first stop motion. And I do it with the yin and yang symbol.
Two parts that once seemed opposed often come together as a single whole.
Stop motion continued. But hear the two sides come swirling together.
I think this is why I have always found myself attracted to people or things that embodied opposites.
Begin applying shaving cream directly to my face.
I like people who are vast. I like people who contain multitudes.
Zoomed in of highlight of these lines in Leaves of Grass.
Autodidact is about the highest things. It is about the development of character and the cultivation of virtue. It is about the greatest art that’s been made.
Shaving and talking.
It’s about knowledge, creativity, growth, and excellence.
Shaving and talking.
These are the best things. And yet somehow they have become unappealing to most.
Shaving and talking.
I think its because they are often presented in a way that feels false.
Shaving and talking.
And it feels false because it does not feel whole. People preach a certain virtue becuase they are to weak to do its opposite.
Shaving and talking.
Politeness taught by those who live for the approval of others is not a virtue.
Shaving and talking.
Patience taught by the hesitant is not a virtue.
Shaving and talking.
Diligence by those who hate to change is not a virtue.
Shaving and talking.
Courage by the thoughtless is not a virtue.
Shaving and talking.
And Strength by those who lack sensitivity is not a virtue.
Shaving and talking.
And Prudence by those who fear the future is not a virtue.
Shaving and talking.
Only those who can perform a virtue but also its opposite when it is just, can claim to possess it.
Shaving and talking.
The virtuous must be rebels. They must have edge. They must be dangerous.
Shaving and talking.
For their virtue is only true once they are capable of its opposite.
Shaving and talking.
This is why the classical spirit must be joined in union with the rebellious spirit of punk.
Now maybe have classical painting on one side and then punk rock footage on the other.
individual liberty, anti-authoritarianism, a DIY ethic, non-conformity, anti-corporatism, anti-government, direct action, and not "selling out".”
Back to the definition on y monitor and zoom in.
Autodidact is after the highest things. It is after a classical self-education.
Shaving and talking. But now the tone and rhythm is becoming more classically oratorical. And maybe the camera angle has lowered. Maybe now it isn't straight on, but from below.
This requires that one take full responsibility for their past, present, and future.
Shaving and talking. But now the tone and rhythm is becoming more classically oratorical. And maybe the camera angle has lowered. Maybe now it isn't straight on, but from below.
There is no person or institution that can do a thing for you.
Shaving and talking. But now the tone and rhythm is becoming more classically oratorical. And maybe the camera angle has lowered. Maybe now it isn't straight on, but from below.
You must take full responsibility for your own development, for your own character, for you own education.
Shaving and talking. But now the tone and rhythm is becoming more classically oratorical. And maybe the camera angle has lowered. Maybe now it isn't straight on, but from below.
In your mind you must take all power from any institution you have once revered, and give it to yourself.
Shaving and talking. But now the tone and rhythm is becoming more classically oratorical. And maybe the camera angle has lowered. Maybe now it isn't straight on, but from below.
No longer does the truth or power belong to any government, university, or institution..
Shaving and talking. But now the tone and rhythm is becoming more classically oratorical. And maybe the camera angle has lowered. Maybe now it isn't straight on, but from below.
They have given up their right as spokesmen for these ideals through their lies and vice.
Shaving and talking. But now the tone and rhythm is becoming more classically oratorical. And maybe the camera angle has lowered. Maybe now it isn't straight on, but from below.
Each individual must become his or her own church, state, and university.
Shaving and talking. But now the tone and rhythm is becoming more classically oratorical. And maybe the camera angle has lowered. Maybe now it isn't straight on, but from below.
And this is why, Autodidact stands for the improvement of Self by any means necessary, even if it requires rebellious action.
Shaving and talking. But now the tone and rhythm is becoming more classically oratorical. And maybe the camera angle has lowered. Maybe now it isn't straight on, but from below.
Autodidact if after the spirit of the laws, and not merely keeping them.
Shaving and talking. But now the tone and rhythm is becoming more classically oratorical. And maybe the camera angle has lowered. Maybe now it isn't straight on, but from below.
It is for truth, beauty, and goodness.
Shaving and talking. But now the tone and rhythm is becoming more classically oratorical. And maybe the camera angle has lowered. Maybe now it isn't straight on, but from below.
But only a Truth that is eternal and not just the truth of the times.
Shaving and talking. But now the tone and rhythm is becoming more classically oratorical. And maybe the camera angle has lowered. Maybe now it isn't straight on, but from below.
But only for a Beauty that is obvious to every soul and that points to higher beauties, rather than a superficial beauty that has no effect on character.
Shaving and talking. But now the tone and rhythm is becoming more classically oratorical. And maybe the camera angle has lowered. Maybe now it isn't straight on, but from below.
But only for Goodness in the highest sense, and not for mere obedience or politeness to law or custom.
Shaving and talking. But now the tone and rhythm is becoming more classically oratorical. And maybe the camera angle has lowered. Maybe now it isn't straight on, but from below.
This is Autodidact and this is what needed to be conveyed in a single image.
Begin wiping face and cleaning up while talking. Maybe now it’s straight on again.
Like I said at the beginning. I am entering into a new season.
Walk from left to right into the center of the screen. I say the words facing the left.
A season of work. Work towards building a future vision.
And this … flash goes off.
A work that requires the death of an old self and the development of character through the acquisition of virtue.
Then I face the camera and the flash goes off again. After I deliver the lines.
(At the end fade out into the image of the mugshot, and into the texts of Christ being arrested for not keeping the law.)