MOR AV I A N CO L L E G E

f o r d o M I n I C n I g I T o ’ 0 7 A n d r Y A n S h e L L e Y
’09, Nightmare was a high point of collaboration that brought
their distinct talents and styles together. They had met in a video
art course taught by krista Steinke finch, assistant professor of
art, and based a loose partnership on a common enthusiasm for
learning more about the craft.
dominic, who was authorized by ryan to speak for the two
of them, said their differing aptitudes and preferences resulted
in both expanding their fields of vision. dominic sees himself
as relatively free-wheeling and spontaneous, whereas, he said,
ryan tended toward fixing a story line and showed particular
proficiency in technical details. In choosing content, dominic
said, he mostly drew from his own experiences, and ryan liked
to play off stereotypes.
“In terms of editing, we had different styles,” dominic said,
“and I welcomed ryan’s strengths. I had a knack for main ideas
and how it would look; he’d put it together. I’d do more of the
directing; he’d do the tech stuff. he’d concentrate more on
theme and continuity; I went more with the flow. he had more
of a plan. I started work and the plan would come out as the
piece developed.”
In their explorations into the art, these styles often intertwine.
Nightmare, for example, has both the stark reality of a video art
class’s worst fear that their semester’s work will vanish—an anxiety
dominic probably shared as a class member—and the feel of a
joke, an amused, detached look at the frenzy of students at the
end of a term.
Another video called a poem is right out of dominic’s life. It
is about the breakup of a rock group, much like one that dominic
went through himself. but as it develops on the screen, the
darkness and foreboding take on the exaggerated qualities that
border on parody.
Though their instincts ran in different directions, dominic
said he and ryan worked together with remarkable harmony. “It’s
surprising how fight-less it was,” he said. All of their productions
are brief—no more than five minutes or so—befitting the age of
YouTube, where brief is not just better but nearly always necessary
to attract viewers. At the gallery showing of 15 videos at the end
of the spring semester, many of the entries were as short as a
minute. “If it’s too long,” dominic said, “you run the risk of
students losing interest.”
11.
At the same time, he finds feature films that hold his attention.
Among his favorites have been three edgy movies: Confessions of a
Dangerous Mind, Moulin rouge, and The Transformers.
When dominic and ryan became friends, they discovered an
intriguing Moravian connection. Their fathers had attended the
College at the same time. both had played on the greyhound
football team and belonged to the same fraternity. dominic’s
mother also graduated from the school.
Though their instincts ran in different
directions, dominic said he and ryan
worked together with remarkable harmony.
“It’s surprising how fight-less it was,” he
said. All of their productions are brief—no
more than five minutes or so—befitting
the age of YouTube, where brief is not just
better but nearly always necessary to attract
viewers. At the gallery showing of 15 videos
at the end of the spring semester, many
of the entries were as short as a minute. “If
it’s too long,” dominic said, “you run the
risk of students losing interest.”
dominic played a lot of high school and college football
before he ever became involved with art. he was a stalwart on
the Central Catholic high School team and held down a
defensive back position at Moravian until he was hobbled by
injuries. This fall he became an assistant coach at notre
dame high School in green Pond. The notion of designing
another piece of video art is never far away.