Video Project Review: Michael

A glimpse into the life of my brother

For the last two years, I have taken upon the duty of taking every VHS tape my father recorded, and transferring them into digital files. This has been a really great experience, and I have gotten the opportunity to relive my entire life through these recordings.

I got the idea of making this video about a couple of weeks ago. For the last 6 weeks, I have dedicated 4 hours a week into making this project. The amount of time spent on this 4 minute video has amounted to 24 hours. The main challenge was scrubbing through every piece of footage I have amounted (Special thanks to my father Milton Dorta, who recorded every moment of our lives). I went through all 177 tapes, and got the edit down to 48 hours. I wanted to focus in on moments that centered on Michael, with glimmers of those that meant the most to him.

I decided to loop a piano track that I heard 10 years ago at Universal Studios. I knew one day that I'd use this song for something...

The edits are fast on purpose. They say that your life blinks before your eyes before you die. I am quite morbid and think of death often. I wanted to experience what my brother would see right before he kicks the bucket as an old man. The best moments of his life. I left the audio of the clips in as well. Can you tell what people are saying? It doesn't matter if you do or don't. These are secrets best left between my brother and the people he loved. Our lives are short, and one day we will all be memories, but I often think of how short lived the memory of our existence truly is. We are all destined to be forgotten, but I hope that one day, someone stumbled across this video, and thinks to themselves, "Wow my great grandfather Michael seemed like an amazing guy, who lived an amazing life".

I ended the video with a final clip of an 8 year old Michael, about to turn 9. Michael is quite upset about getting older. My mother assures him that "Every year brings something new". This is how I remember our family, and honestly we aren't all that different than we were back in 1993. My mother, ever the optimistic foil to my brother pessimistic nature, my father taking nothing seriously, and me talking about baseball. The clip ends with us singing happy birthday to my brother. One day the majority of us will be gone, but we will always be around in these haunting tapes to make sure we sing happy birthday to one another, until none of us are here any longer. Happy Birthday Michael, I love you a lot.