the devastating beauty of your everyday life

Описание: THE AMERICAN STANZA | you can't generate real life. Shot on Arri SR + Kodak Vision 3 16mm motion picture film.
Instagram:   / shaffernickel  
Ashcroft CB:   / ashcroft.cb  
Title design by Zoe Marie Mender:   / zoemariemendler  

JOIN THE CHANNEL:
   / @shaffern  

Artists statement:

This film was shot in one of the coldest towns in the country. Last winter I started the annual daydream about every season other than winter. I had an idea to make a collection of settings and stories that relay the moments that make up a year in little towns like this.

I decided to shoot the American Stanza on film for a lot of reasons - not the least of which being because it mirrors the feelings I have towards my time here. It’s not perfect, it’s unpredictable, and it’s definitely excessive, but it feels so good.

I released this project in chapters with sponsored ‘behind the scenes’ videos because it seemed like a decent way to afford the ‘making it’ part of making it. (Did I mention it’s shot on film. It’s an 18 minute youtube video shot on film. I’ll never stop tooting that horn). All in all, I lost some money during the whole ordeal. Yet, (as expected), I feel rich on the back end of the time it took to make the pixels move the way they do. If you’ve been around here a while you have already seen the first three chapters, but I ask you to sit through them one more time before watching chapter 4. It was always meant to be one complete thought and I would ask that you consume it that way.

Admittedly, there’s a lot of stuff concerning death and ‘time unraveling’ in here. Sorry about that, my generation seems to default to niceties about “making the most of your life” and we rarely give any concrete reasoning on why you should do such a thing. I’ve attached a gaff-tape message to the side of each of my cameras that says “we’re all gonna die” (maybe you’ve seen it in the BTS videos). It seems like a bummer sentiment, but really it’s a very unifying phrase. It starts with the word “we” immediately challenging the idea that the time I have here is all about ‘my’ life and ‘my’ story. Maybe tragedy engulfs us all, and maybe that alone makes it less of a tragedy. Maybe my life being good has more to do with my relationship to others and less to do with what I ‘make’ it. If so, maybe there’s more to be gained from acknowledging the misfortune that stalks us rather than my personal brand all the time. It was also a reminder that there’s not a metric-ton riding on my getting everything perfect. Sometimes the lighting is bad, sometimes the VO mix is a bit off. I just don’t actually care because after all, we’re all gonna die.

I’d like to thank everyone that helped, and there are a lot of you. This video couldn’t have existed (musically and fungably speaking) without Musicbed sponsoring the bts videos. I am so grateful. To the channel members (AKA battery eaters) - I love you all as deeply as is possible in our strange parasocial setting. You’re all a bunch of freaks and that’s what I like most about you. To Zoe Marie Mendler - your title design is timeless and carries the tone of the whole film. Thanks for all the hard work. Above all this video leaned entirely on the schedules of my friends. Squad, I don’t take your free time for granted. You brought this to life and I owe you.

Now it is winter again. As I write this it is -23 degrees fahrenheit outside. I am daydreaming about all the other seasons. I have some ideas, I’ve been writing. I’ll have more to say soon. Thank you for being here. - Shaffer Nickel, January 2025

CHAPTERS:
0:00 Bikes
4:40 Front Porches and Rooftops
8:45 Houseplants and Rocks
14:08 Laundry

THE DEVASTATING BEAUTY OF YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE | YOU CAN'T GENERATE REAL LIFE | a short film by Shaffer Nickel