Director’s Statement:

My films and videos, usually shot outdoors, explore varying levels of experience. They may examine how visual perception of the landscape is mediated as it is reflected on a pond, “painted” by raindrops hitting a car window, or by where the camera focuses; or they may show how reality is filtered and changed in the human mind as it is observed, recorded, imagined, or recalled by individuals or through collective historical memory.   The soundtracks that accompany the images often reveal what is not seen: the occupants of a train from which we view the passing scenery, the man-made suburban setting that appears to be wilderness, or the modern city outside of the ancient structure shown on the screen.

I shot my earliest films with a Bolex and edited on a flatbed. Shooting on film with the Bolex, I was unable to record sync sound.  Flatbed editing permitted only simple effects.  This experience along with my previous training as a painter with a special interest in color, have influenced how I now make digital videos.

The transition to lightweight digital cameras has allowed greater spontaneity in how and where I can shoot and afforded the possibility of recording sync sound easily.  Even so, I often detach pieces of sync sound from their connected footage to move them around and treat them as independent elements.  Despite so many video effects that digital editing makes possible; I choose and use them sparingly and simply.

—Ann Deborah Levy

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