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Interview with Laurie Meeker

Recent Teaching History
Alternative Calendars; 1999-2000
Mediaworks: Experiments with Light and Sound; 1998-99; 1995-96
Art Media Praxis; Fall 1997 - Winter 1998
SOS in film and video; Spring 1997
Spirit of Creativity: Women Film and Performance; Fall 1996 - Winter 1997
Advanced level work in Film; Spring 1995
Power, Politics and Media; Fall 1994 - Winter 1995
Individual Contracts

Recent and Current Areas of Interest

I am interested in the way documentary film production can become an organizing tool and can impact peoples consciousness about issues and thus can work toward social change. This is something I have been interested in for a long time and it is still very relevant for me. There is an intricate relationship between attitudes, consciousness and policy. I think that media especially corporate media has huge influence on the way people think. Madison Avenue wouldn’t spend billions if that wasn't true. I am really interested in the way people see movies as just a representation. People will see a movie and say its just a movie: it doesn't have any effect. I don't think that is true at all. I think there is a great responsibility in creating images and putting them out there in society. This responsibility become immediately apparent as one begins to make images and putting them out there for people to see. The understanding that the work goes beyond you as an individual out into society and has a live of its own is a critical recognition. The class room becomes a way to start learning about how there is a difference between your intentions in making a work and the perceptions that and responses to the work that others have. This is what students have to be responsive to and take seriously.
I am currently in production on a film about the Mid-Columbia River basin. I am working with a tribal member Lavina Washines a member of the Rock Creek band of the Yakama Nation. We have been working on this since about 1989, the film deals with the uses of the river from a tribal perspective. The relationship between indigenous people, the river, the salmon, and the environment is what the film really covers. The film is made in contemporary terms: we want to show what people are doing today. We want to stay away from the idea that the treaty rights were in the past, but we want to show contemporary uses and politics like salmon scam. A central issue is that contemporary food gathering practices bring indigenous people into direct conflict with the dominant cultures vision for the river and laws about fishing seasons and so forth. The film both shows the conflicts and documents how even in the late 1990's people are still maintaining the relationship between the people, resources, and the river. We are trying to show how uses like berry gathering, gathering roots, fishing have bee impacted by property lines by farming, dams and so forth.

Are there particular authors/artists/thinkers whose work you interested and which you often ask students to examine?

Along with my colleagues in media studies I share an interest in the politics of representation. It is important that students see that with a film or video, like a book, somebody wrote it for a purpose. It isn't just an accident that the series of images are constructed in a particular way. Understanding this deliberately created purposeful nature of media is even more critical than with books. There is a romantic notion that says art is a creative intuitive expression that is just put out there. So people will see a film without thinking about the author behind it. It is critical in my teaching that students understand that the images have been created on purpose by some one. This is a very general thread in contemporary film theory, but it is covered well in Boardwell and Thompson's Film Art: An Introduction. They stress the idea of film form and that there is meaning created through the juxtaposition of images. This goes all the way back to Eisenstein. More contemporary people Pratibha Parmar and Issac Julien both english Film makers who are going to be here in the 1997/8 school year, Sue Friedrich, and Marlin Riggs are all people I am interested in because they really push the boundaries of film form. They blend experimental with documentary work in very interesting ways and use narrative elements which really give them impact. There is this blending of documentary, experimental and narrative elements which I think can be really effective in service of a substantive point or theme.

Are there specific areas of interest or issues you want to work with students on in the current year?

I am interested in working with anyone who wants to do experimental work with film or video. They need to have demonstrated competency in the medium. Especially if they have developed a writing component and are trying to deal with theory and practice together, then I am really interested in talking with them.

Specific Skills, Competence, Techniques:

My strengths are in teaching film production. I can work specifically with students who are trying to get control of the process of making a film. I can really help with proposal development, script outlines and treatments. I am also interested in critical thinking around images, how to critically analyze visual material. Students often simply don't have the language or practice with this question.

What are key qualities you look for in student work? What techniques do you use to assess their work? How do you help students assess their work?

When I think about a student getting into a program like Mediaworks I am interested in whether the students have any idea about the concept of the politics of representation. Do they have any foundation to begin a critical analysis of visual material. Do they have an interest in this kind of analysis. I am interested in students who are conscious about making images. For me it is important that students have at least developed a basic way of talking about why it is important to be conscious about making images. In more advanced programs we look at portfolio work looking both for competency in basic skills necessary for the program, and also formal competence and development within the material.
We attempt to assess this and help students access these dimensions through a shared critique process. Students show works in progress to each other. Students need to learn to value critical feedback as a work is taking shape. This is done in groups because students need to hear a variety of points of view. This is critical because students get so involved with their own work that they can't bring a critical eye to it.

Teaching Style:How would you characterize yourself as a teacher?

I have come to be fairly low key as a teacher. I work cooperatively with people and rely on participation. In seminars, I try to co-facilitate with student facilitators because I see the seminar as their responsibility. In that respect I try to be a co-learner. I try to be collaborative with students as much as possible. Yet I have high standards and high expectations. I really expect students to adhere to agreed upon schedule, series of assignments, and deadlines.

What types of students tend to do well with you?

Self directed, responsible students, who get their work done. Students who can describe what they are doing and are really interested in it. Students who are open to the learning process especially during the critique process.

What types of students have a hard time with you?

I have a hard time with students who have a hard time defining what they want to do. I really insist that students can articulate what they are doing thematically. Even if that is an abstract concept like light quality.
People who think they already know everything about the topic have a hard time as I always insist there is something more to learn about a topic. People who have a predefined agenda that doesn't allow for multiple perspectives becomes hard. I get in trouble with students who won't listen to other people during critiques; who say "this what I've done, this what what it is about and I don't care what other people say about it." Because I believe an image maker needs to be responsive and responsible to various other readings of their work.

What do your student evaluations say about the way you come across to students?

In more recent years they have commented on my being responsive to student needs and really considering each individual student's work. They comment on my attending to their work and giving them specific suggestions about how to improve it. I don't impose them or require them to do this.
Sometimes students say I am intimidating. Sometimes that may be a gender thing. Sometimes when you’re a woman and you’re up there competently doing your work you come off as intimidating. ...I guess if you’re not attentive to really individual needs - which I tend not to be. I tend not to baby students. I tend not to give more attention to one student than to others and the students who need that attention tend to say that I am not very personable. Which is ok, because by the end of the quarter I know everybody and they change their mind and see that they did get the attention they needed.

Expectations about Contracts, Internships, and Evaluations
What qualities do you look for in a student who comes to you for work in a contract?

I look for a specific idea that is well developed. We require in media arts that they have demonstrated skills in the area. There has to be an idea that is described thematically and conceptually.

Interviewer: Matt Smith

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Last Updated: March 15, 2007