They Get Around

This is my strategy for distributing video zines: make as many as you can and give them away. I wouldn't recommend this for everyone but I think it's been an effective way for me to create an audience. More importantly, managing my own distribution has taught me how to stand up to indifference. And boy, do I hate rejection.

I make short videos using basic consumer equipment: a VHS camcorder, 2 VCRs and my home stereo. It's a mickey-mouse system that works, with many technical limitations. Without getting into messy details... I try not to obsess over videos that require a great degree of effort, expertise or equipment I don't have. Instead, I try to come up with ways to make things simpler and do-able. I work within constraints; but the constraints often generate creative responses.

I made my first video, Hair Fantasy, at the end of a long period of unemployment. It was the perfect cure for boredom and apathy. At the time, I didn't have plans to keep making more videos or eventually produce a video zine. I just felt good to make something, to have something I could watch over again and show other people. The good feelings eventually fade away but I was definitely hooked. I had discovered that creative work was critical to my sense of well-being. Making copies of the videos, so that they could circulate informally among friends, or friends of friends, seemed like a logical extension of what I was already doing and what I needed to do in order to keep going.

I make all the dubs at home, two at a time (with my old VHS camcorder and 2 VCRs linked in series). The covers are designed to wrap around the box. They are photocopied onto cardstock, cut out and scored with a ballpoint pen along the "fold" lines and glued into place. Cutting out and glueing on the covers is mechanical and very time-consuming but I like simple, repetitive tasks. I have to keep the tapes pressed flat and wrapped in a sheet of paper, which absorbs moisture from the glue. They take overnight to dry... So I put a lot of effort into making an attractive package but it's as much for me as for other people. I want it to be something that I can look at and feel good about. It's nice to have something you can hold. I think posters ultimately serve the same purpose. They don't really boost sales, but they're a nice reminder of what you've accomplished and I need all the positive reinforcement I can get.

I sell the videos on consignment in stores around town which carry paper zines. They're also available for rent in a few neighbourhood video stores. But I mostly give them away... Everyone who appears in a video or helps out in some way gets one. I will also (compulsively) give videos to people I meet, and sometimes to people that I want to meet. For each video I've sold, I've probably given away four. At this point, I've probably made upwards of 450 tapes... I lost count a long time ago.

At the root of my "distribution strategy" is the need for approval and the fear of rejection. I want people to see my work, and I want people to like it. But I don't expect people are going to like my work (or like it as much or in exactly the same way that I do). A lot of people also have negative associations with "video art" or "student films". I don't feel my work belongs in either category, but somewhere between art and entertainment. I've been very fortunate to have people write about the videos, with reviews ranging from lukewarm to glowing, but I don't want to feel so dependent on compliments or vulnerable to criticism. Giving the videos away, allows me to maintain a positive self-illusion -- that I am in control.

So call me crazy, but it works. The videos get around and I keep making them.

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Meesoo Lee's latest videozine (which includes Jim Munroe's "Interactive") can be purchased online. He welcomes comments and questions at meesoo@direct.ca.