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Rent A Family/
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2002
instructors: Linda van Deursen
actors: Kevin Rich, Gabrielle Castellini, Marnye Young
The project can be traced back to last summer, when I was taking English courses at Yale. During one of the classes, Professor Andrew Ehrgood asked us to watch a video called "Work Time, Free Time" (Bush). It was in the video that I first heard about the idea of "Rent-A-Family."
"Time for anything but work seems to be extremely limited. So much so that young families don't even have time to visit their elders. An ingenious business has developed to meet this need. 'Rent-A-Family' sends out actors to visit lonely parents." (Bush)
Linda van Deursen came in late October to work with us. She hosted a keyword project similar to the assignment from Irma Boom. During the first meeting, Linda presented the book Keywords by Raymond Williams and asked each of us to pick a keyword from the book. Since the book was first published in 1976, Linda asked us to start with the keyword and focus on how the meaning of the word had evolved during a quarter of century.
I picked the word "work" (334).
Linda liked the idea of "Rent-A-Family" after I explained several initial thoughts on the choice of the word "work." But then I thought it would be hard to generate a design project out of that idea. Linda said she wouldn't worry about the form of the project. We discussed the possibilities of doing an interview with "rented actors," and she even recommended a book called GIG: Americans Talk about Their Jobs. (Bowe)
But where can I find "rented actors"? Linda persuaded me to look for professionals. Yeah, we have some professionals next door to us--people who go to Yale School of Drama. They should be good enough--America's finest actress, Meryl Streep, went there. Fortunately, my classmate Chisa Yagi has a friend called Alec Tok, who is a directing major at Yale School of Drama.
It took me some time to explain the project to Alec. He then promised me he would bring three actors the next Monday night.
I was nervous because there was little I could do before shooting the video. Everything was so unpredictable. I knew those actors could come and go because I neither knew them nor paid them. Usually a director can ask actors to improvise as many times as needed, but I would probably only have one take. All I could do was refine the questionnaire, set up the two cameras and prepare some snacks.
So everything turned out smooth that night except that the film was a little overexposed for one of the two cameras. I briefly explained the idea to the three actors, Kevin, Brie and Marnye, and then asked Alec to be the interviewer. During the interview, my effort was minimum.
+works cited+
Bush, Kim. "Work Time, Free Time." In Context. 1 April 2003
<http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC37/Bush2.htm/>.
Williams, Raymond. Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society. London: Fontana Press, 1988.
Bowe, John, et al., eds. GIG: Americans Talk about Their Jobs. New York: Crown Publishers, 2000.
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