Awakening – Short web video, created by Lisa Santonato. 5:27 mins. (1999)
A young woman relates the experience of having cancer through recorded journal entries and using home movie footage.
An experiment in digital storytelling using Apple's first release of Final Cut Pro. Produced by Lisa Santonato during residency at the Canadian Film Centre's CFC Media Lab ('99).
In 1999 I was a resident at the Canadian Film Centre (now CFC)'s New Media Lab (formerly called H@bitat). At that time Apple Inc. previewed a hot new digital video editing program called Final Cut Pro. I was very excited about working with this new program and quickly jumped into editing action.
My process creating "Awakening" involved a few stages and some experimentation. I wanted to create a digital experience that would be personal and meaningful. Having had prior experience working in film and theatre I was excited to play with these new tools and tell a story that would be completely my own, so I drew from some old diary entries to relate my experience with cancer in 1993.
The second step was to collect my media. I digitally captured some old VHS transfers of my Dad's Super 8 movies and then used FCP to cut them together with some random video samples supplied with QuickTime. I then recorded an audio narration and edited that into the mix. (I have since digitized the old Super 8's via telecine, achieving a much better quality transfer).
This is digital storytelling, circa '99. Enjoy. :)
