"I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man's envy of his neighbor." - Ecclesiastes 4:4
Cultural guidelines and money always seem to go hand in hand. This film is very simply a comment on how culture puts forth the ideal of how you should look, and then capitalism sells you the thing you need in order to look that way. And it's our own fault! You know why? Because we have a thing fetish and we want to buy ALL the things.
Like, if the Kardashians are constantly showing their giant, perfectly round asses to everyone:
Then that means you'll want to do it too! Therefore, you should buy some Padded Panties™. Available at Walmart™ and other fine capitalist™ warehouses!
The bottom line (pun intended) is: When you buy a product, you become a product. Do you really need headphones shaped like cat ears? Do you need Snuggies™?, Shake-Weights™? Fake Hair in a Spray Can™?
You need them as much as this dog needs a duck-billed muzzle.
Cut it out. Seriously. Cut it out.
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This film gave me an opportunity to get back to some fine art roots. Up until now, my films have sometimes featured shittily drawn things. It was nice to sit with a drawing and spend a good chunk of time refining it instead of hurrying together a bunch of drawings.
Usually, I'd have gotten rid of the seams that result from scanning artwork in sections. But I really liked how these looked when roughly stitched together:
The film goes by so fast, it's hard to appreciate some of the combinations of this collage technique. Here are some of my favorite micro-moments in "Face Value":
