I directed, filmed, and edited this piece on what a hip hop dance battle feels like. I went through several iterations of this piece for the class AFVS 264: Advanced Projects in Time-Based Media at Harvard University. The first few versions were a multi-channel installation piece focusing on the aesthetics of an outsider judging a dance battle. However, I pivoted to a single-channel projection depicting the internal unfolding of a battler's emotions throughout stages of a battle. This piece touches on space (both literal and mental), discomfort, anxiety, and voyeurism (yourself to yourself, the audience to yourself, you to the audience). This was my first time shooting raw 16mm film. This was filmed on a Bolex H16 and edited digitally on Adobe Premiere Pro. Certain parts were also filmed on a Canon EOS R6.

Featuring freestyle rounds by McKersin Previlus and Big Rip. Soundtrack partially credited to Ben Hogewood who generously let me use two of his mixes while we were both creatively stuck in studio post midnight.

Film is so beautiful. I kind of wanted to leave it fully unedited.