Three Undulating Dots
I met Lauren at a poetry open mic night while on a six-month exchange in Sydney, Australia. The relationship we developed there was short yet charged. During our time together, we frequently wrote and shared poems inspired by one another and the frustrating anticipated reality that I would soon be returning home to Montreal - almost at polar opposite sides of the planet. Once apart, we continued to write as a therapeutic way to deal with the distance, externalize our introspection and stay connected. We exchanged our texts through social media, video chatting, phone calls, email and snail mail. Our selection of communication media were and continue to be based on the criteria of: practicality, immediacy, visual and aural connection, and physicality.
The visual progression of Three Undulating Dots’ is guided by voice-over readings of our poetic correspondence: a testament to our preoccupation with words. The imagery is composited of my original, arbitrarily filmed, archival footage of Australia, the Rockies and Montreal. These specific sources were lost due to a hard drive failure in fall 2015, and finally recovered after painstaking efforts in spring 2016. The incident reaffirmed my dependence on technology and, in this case, its crucial role in preserving memories and its authority on the matter of pursuing my desired means of self-expression (video works).
Beyond the obvious geographic schism, this film deals with the various dichotomies that present themselves in a long distance relationship: hot and cold climates, day and night, together and apart, before and after, experience and memory. These binaries indicate the emotional disconnect that arises from physical distance, as well as highlight the deficiencies of modern communication methods in truly keeping people in meaningful contact.
Three Undulating Dots essentially explores the contrast between being ‘with’ and being ‘without’. It is a reflection on the persistence it takes to stay involved and updated on the ever-changing state of our respective emotions and desires, and our perceptions of our past, present and future together.
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Wolfe Girardin JodoinDirector
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Wolfe Girardin JodoinWriter
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Lauren MeolaWriter
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Project Type:Experimental, Short, Student
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Genres:Romance, Poetry
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Runtime:13 minutes 40 seconds
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Completion Date:April 14, 2016
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Country of Origin:Canada
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:DSLR
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:Yes