Anna FC Smith
UK video artist
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Interview:10 questions


1. Tell me something about your life and the educational background.
I come from the North West of England, from Wigan Borough to be precise. I went to Brighton to study Critical Fine Art Practice and graduated in 2007. I am now living in Manchester. Alongside my art practice I organize North by North Western Arts Festival with a number of other creatives in Wigan.

2. When, how and why started you filming?
I began making film at university in 2005. Adding time and movement, within a controlled frame created a more rounded manifestation of the ideas I was attempting to illustrate.

3. What kind of subjects have your films?
My films are generally concerned with creating an experience. I am interested in the ideas surrounding medieval carnival and transgression, so my films draw upon distorted imagery to create new spaces for the mind to transgress. Carnality and the visceral are key ingredients in my works, and they are meant to evoke an ultimately more physical than intellectual response from the viewer.

4. How do you develop your films, do you follow certain principles, styles etc?
My films are often completed in my head before I even pick up a camera. They are sparked through reading, dreams and from waking mind wanders. Most of the films I have made are with one set, or have a complete lack of set and are based on one activity or image. Colour is very important to me. I have plans for other films that take my ideas into more complicated scenarios but these are completely reliant on funding that i do not have as of yet.

5. Tell me something about the technical equipment you use.
I don’t use anything particularly special, just final cut pro and a sony handy cam really.

6. What are the chances of new media for the genre film/video in general
and you personally?
I don’t fully understand what this question is asking but i will attempt to answer!
Though in the grand scheme of time film/video is a comparatively new media, newer technologies are developing and filtering into art at such a rate that film feels as fresh to me as painting. Art film is a thoroughly established genre and the amount of artists using it will continue to grow. With this in mind the genre itself is almost no longer a subject, though as a medium it can still be played with, the most important thing for the artist using film is just to make good work.


7. How do you finance your films?
So far my films have cost very little indeed so I can finance them myself, the most expensive was probably about 10 pounds!

8. Do you work individually as a video artist/film maker or do you work in a team?
if you have experience in both, what is the difference, what do you prefer?
I often have to use other people in my films, be it to hold the camera, or for a skill i do not have such as animation or sound design. I know what i want but often have to work with others to make it happen. I find this is generally an enjoyable experience as i have talented, open minded friends who are a pleasure to work with to realize my visions.

9. Who or what has a lasting influence on your film/video making?
16th and 17th century Dutch paintings; Hieronymus Bosch; Svankmeyer; Sarah Lucas: Traditional Carnival imagery: Georges Bataille.

10. What are your future plans or dreams as a film/video maker?
I want to make my more ambitious 4 part works that i have been planning, and to show in galleries where i can make film installations. 


Can works of yours viewed online besides on VideoChannel? Where?
List some links & resources
Some of my films can be seen on youtube, my channel is http://www.youtube.com/user/AnnaFCSmith, though i have had one taken off for indecency!
My website will be up and running soon, www.annafcsmith.co.uk