Amatorial Craftsmanship - from the rooftop
Craftsmanship, when analysed, is surrounded by controversy. Two are the main visions regarding this world. Some people see in a craftsman a simple worker who is creating objects that are usually mechanically produced. The worker is asked by his clients to design and produce a product in order to assure specific needs and standards that are not able to be respected during a mass production. On the other hand, other clients see in the craftsman an artist, someone able to create something beautiful and unique. Uniqueness is the peculiarity that brings together the two visions. Both, the artist and the worker, use this aspect as their piece de resistance, distinguishing themselves from the ordinary, monotonous industries.
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An amateur craftsman has to do with improvisation. It was my intension to emphasise this provocative aspect of spontaneity. There are four actors in this play: the craftsman, the object, the tools, the environment. There is no hierarchy between these players. All are equally representatives of the amateur craftsman. The artisan is a non-professional, his tools are few and perhaps not adequate while the surroundings and the working station are improvised and not comparable with the one that are usually sight in an artisan’s atelier. Finally, the object worked by the craftsman, is the translation of his actions. However, during his work, the amateur craftsman, is indeed an artisan, because of the awareness he has of the work he is doing, not caring about the limits imposed by equipment and tools.
Treatment
This video was realised through the use of a single camera, the actions within the video can almost be considered as a “performance” continuously interrupted by the manual change of each shot. Nevertheless, this choice did not affect the quality of the craftsman's work, only impacting the timing of the realisation.
The video is divided into 4 parts: filing a blade, shaping a handle, carving a handle, engraving a blade. The 4 parts are easily recognisable thanks to the interlude shots of the surroundings. It is essential in this work the interplay between more open shots and close-ups, in order to accentuate to the fullest, the 4 actors in the video described in the abstract above.
Finally, the sounds act as a soundtrack for the entire duration of the filming, so as to set the viewer's attention on the hustle and bustle of the surrounding city merging with the tool’s noises, not a conventional workplace for a craftsman.
