At a round table in Java, Olivia Graziano furrowed her brow quizzically and said, “Am I an artist? Hm. That’s a good question.” She sat back and thought for a minute, “Yeah, I guess I am.”
When she talks about her work, Olivia has the exuberant physicality of an active artist. Her films offer glimpses of vivid passing images. They take the audience for a ride from frenetic snapshots to slow, breathy moments. She refers to her technique as a conversation between the characters and objects in the frame with the perspective of the camera itself. This is apparent when watching her work. The camera is always hand-held and moving. If the camera isn’t moving, a character is moving softly across the frame or a landscape of grass is lilting in the wind.
Artists from whom she takes inspiration include Terence Malik, Leonardo Dalessandri, and Ludovico Einaudi. While the former two are also directors, the third is a musician. Olivia believes music is “60 to 70 percent” of what makes a short film great. For her, the editing process is centered around pushing and shaving the film to achieve an exact rhythmic interaction between sound and image.
She began her work very recently. This past year she wanted to take a photography class, but couldn’t fit it into her schedule. She took Digital Video I instead and enjoyed it more than she expected. This past Spring semester, she submitted one of her earlier pieces “Wasting My Young Years”, a music video, to the Houghton College Film Festival.
This year, she is a finalist in the VideoBlocks Student Film Competition. Her film “Interim” is one of six pieces selected from undergraduate and graduate level submissions from all over the world. The finalists were judged to select an official winner. The judge, director of photography Arthur Albert, has worked on ER, Breaking Bad, and Better Call Saul. All six finalists received a cash prize. Olivia used hers to buy a camera.
Looking forward, Olivia wants to explore work in film after graduation. Her focus is more on creativity than money making alone. She prefers the world of indie film to more corporate enterprises. Her adventurous attitude is perfectly suited for self-employment. Among her future projects is a “Humans of New York”-styled interview series featuring videos of Icelanders she meets on her upcoming trip.
“I think I look at everything as though through a ‘camera lens’. I’m always thinking ‘that would be a good shot’,” she said, making a frame with her thumbs and index fingers. Her intent is to capture in simple images, ideas that are important to her. Her films are a reflection of her personal growth, observations of her friends, and her own personal philosophies.
Her film “Be Here Now”, is a meditation on being mindful. The work is made to have a surface meaning that is clear through the narration, but allow each person to understand it in a unique way. The piece is a mirror, held up to the audience. It is a poetic reminder to pay attention to the present.