Already making the rounds on the Web (as well it must, if it is to accomplish its author’s aims), a YouTube video immortalizes roll of film found against all odds in a snow bank. Upright Citizens Brigade video producer Todd Bieber, who found the roll, has turned them into a charming narrative as he looks for the film’s owner.
It’s a reminder of the importance of physical artifact in a digital age. Film by necessity has clear physical form in a single object; digital media has to exist physically somewhere, encoded in storage media, but it hardly has the same sense of definition.
I wish I had something intelligent to say, but I can only smile, especially as lately I’ve been rediscovering film myself. (If only motion/movie film were as easy to work with as still.)
But the question remains compelling: how do you bring physical objects into digital work? Should you? Do you turn to media like film, or do you find a way to make your digital work physical? (Prints, handmade wooden flash drives… even the beam of light that projects your work onto a wall, all can take on new meaning.)
Via NPR: Lost Photos Of NYC Blizzard: Found! [the picture show]