Diorio, Ron – VIP – VideoChannel Interview Project

Ron Diorio
New York based media artist

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Interview: 10 questions

1. Tell me something about your life and the educational background

I was born and raised in NYC (Manhattan). I am self taught film maker and photographer.

2. When, how and why started you filming?

In 2003 I started a “digital storytelling project” that quickly turned in a photo-based contemporary art project culminating in 2008 with two solo exhibitions at the Peter Hay Halpert Gallery in New York. In the summer of 2008 prior to the second exhibition I decided I to go back to finish what I started in 2003. I was able to produce 18 short (1-5 minute) pieces during late summer 2008 through spring 2009.

3. What kind of subjects have your films?

What I have been able to explore so far war, money, sex, art and the general unsettled worlds that my mind wonders to.

4. How do you develop your films, do you follow certain principles, styles etc?

I see these films as experimental documentary and they develop in an organic way.

5. Tell me something about the technical equipment you use.

A few low-fi video/slide show editing programs plus Audacity for audio capture and edit. An assortment of capture devices PDAs, mobile phones, point and shoot still and video cameras.

6. What are the chances of new media for the genre film/video in general
and you personally?

I think mew media is the most interesting part: the ability to produce and distribute at will and being able to develop a method of expressing oneself in a very public way. Engaging even a small audience over time with a body of work allows for intimacy and understanding that traditional outlets – i.e. festivals, screenings, TV – can’t scale to.

7. How do you finance your films?

Self-financed through the sale of my art work

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 work individually however that is more from convenience at this point in time.

9. Who or what has a lasting influence on your film/video making?

Albums like Nebraska (Springsteen) , Street Hassle (Lou Reed), John Dos Passos’ USA Trilogy, Bugs Bunny, Fellini, Pasolini, Scorsese and Chris Marker

10. What are your future plans or dreams as a film/video maker?

I am currently preparing for a new project which I plan to begin in September called “One thousand minutes” which will act as a notebook/sketchbook, assembling and re-assembling what I hope to be hundreds of short pieces about the battle to deconstruct America under Obama.

Can works of yours viewed online besides on VideoChannel? Where?