Digiscan to St. Olaf College

Phil Morton and Dan Sandin introduce video equipment and editing techniques to St. Olaf College students—a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota. They display constant playful interactions, from deliberately making audio feedback to mimicking the feedback sounds with voice. The workshop is very laid-back and carefree which is typical of the '70s counterculture and DIY Video communities.

Following a discussion on editing techniques, the video shows a group of students in a park centering on an inflatable structure for the Videopolis of Midwest (the first national-scale video tape festival according to Dan Sandin). A group of people set up the inflatable and then proceed to interact with each other on the grass lawn.

Upon pausing the footage, the flow is interrupted. We then hear Phil’s voice reciting “I love you” repeatedly. Soon after it cuts back to the studio where the television displays the footage in the park. Phil demonstrates various dubbing techniques on the audio. Using the “I love you” fragment, he speeds up and slows down the audio to manipulate the sound quality.

The video—cutting back to the park scene—concludes with a lively and uplifting staged choreography and casual conversations between Phil, Dan, and students.

–Gordon Dic-Lun Fung

For more information, visit the Phil Morton Memorial Research Archive page.