I was born in Kansas City in 1985. 

My mother is a neurologist and my father was a neurologist. He died when I was 17, I never met him.

When I was a child, I wasn't allowed to play outside because I might get kidnapped. I would draw and paint and read and write stories. I liked to read books about the American Civil War, World War I, or World War II. I also liked reading fairy tales. I also subscribed to Nickelodeon Magazine. My favorite TV show was Ren & Stimpy. My favorite video games were Super Mario Bros. 3 and Donkey Kong Country.

When I was a teenager, I watched a lot of AMC, TCM, and MTV. I listened to Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday and anything that was put out by Decca records in the 30's and '40s. My favorite movie was Rebel Without a Cause, and my favorite books were written by Colette. I was the Editor-in-Chief of the literary magazine and school newspaper. I studied opera, and played the saxophone and piano. I took myself very seriously. I lived in Racine, Wisconsin. I spent a lot of time on The Internet.

I went to college at The University of Chicago. I studied history, philosophy, and aesthetics. I thought I wanted to become an actor. I studied Greek Drama and Chekhov. I discovered clown and what Americans call "physical theatre," but what the rest of the world just calls theatre. 

I finished school early to train professionally with Double Edge Theatre, a small ensemble theatre company located on a 105-acre farm in rural Massachusetts, where I learned to do things like walk on 6-foot wooden spools and run barefoot through the snow singing Medieval Spanish Madrigals. Then I went to Italy to train in mask and mime with Teatro Punto. Then I went to South Africa to teach at an international theatre conference.

I came back to Chicago and won some awards. I started curating little art exhibits in my apartment. Then I curated a big public festival. I performed in other people's dance and theatre pieces. I studied Butoh and Tae Kwon Do. I produced a play, it got horrible reviews. But I didn't care. I only wished it had premiered in Cracow or Paris or somewhere where the local theatre critics had some fucking respect for avant garde performance! I was maybe a little bit sour about it. I decided to stop making theatre and do something else.

I started teaching myself how to make websites and videos. I made only animated videos at first because I couldn't afford a camera. I became good at making websites, people started paying me money to do it. I made a business out of it. I had a lot of clients. It was better than working at a bakery, or maybe not but it paid better. I started watching a LOT of Vimeo. I started studying Muay Thai (kickboxing) because I wanted to KICK ASS. I incorporated my website business into a real company - an LLC.

I bought a nice camera, the same one everyone else on Vimeo was using. I was so intimidated, it took me 6 months before I finally found the courage to start using it, because I didn't know how. 

I taught myself how to use the camera by watching tutorials on the Internet. I'm still not very good at it, but that's OK because I am good at collaborating. Once people started noticing I can execute ideas, they started hiring me to make videos for them, even though I didn't go to film school. Then they started giving me a little bit of money to hire other people to help me execute my ideas. I moved to LA to make movies. I learned how to make a movie on a professional cinema camera. I learn fast. 

I don't need very much money to make art, to be happy, or to provide for myself. I live in a small house in Harvard Heights with a man named Johnny and a dog named Coco. I budget $50 a week on organic groceries and make every meal from scratch, including mayonnaise, which everyone should learn to make from scratch because it's so easy. I share a big loft office downtown with 7 other digital media creatives; my rent costs $150/month. I enjoy being thrifty, it's like a game. Especially in Los Angeles, where waste and conspicuous consumption are omnipresent. But that doesn't mean I can't appreciate fine design or good craftsmanship. And I'm not ashamed to admit I have entrepreneurial aspirations alongside my creative ones. But I prefer to live simply and honestly. I enjoy cooking, gardening, reading, making Internet, and playing chess. I try to go hiking every weekend. I try to see everything as an adventure. I try to be more patient and understanding with the universe.

Everyone has their own story, and so everyone should have the chance to lend their voice, to leave a sparkling little slime trail in our history. If you have something you want to say, but can't quite find a way of saying it, or if nobody else wants to help you because you're just a simple Midwestern girl who never touched a camera in her life, I would be happy to work with you to help you tell your story. There's a lot we can learn about THE FUTURE just by listening to each other. 

Sincerely yours,
Angeline

NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS
September 21, 2011

Selected live action and animated narrative and documentary shorts, commercials, and music videos. I directed all of these videos, and in most cases, shot, edited, and colored them, and in many cases perform in them as well. Enjoy!

A series of staged fauxtographs reenacting the History of the American Funeral Industry. The second in a series of videos documenting the life of mortician Caitlin Doughty as she sets out to revolutionize the death industry one corpse at a time. VISIT SITE

The Players: Mara Zehler, Caitlin Doughty, Jonathon Anthony, Jean Luc Dushime, Matthew Montgomery, Alex MacKenzie, Gray Chu, Lisa and Kelly Royere.

Special Thanks to Heather Gildroy, Carl Sondrol, Ross Conklin, Garen Tolkin, The Allied Crafts Coalition, and Eliot Rausch.

The first in a series of videos documenting the life of mortician Caitlin Doughty as she sets out to revolutionize the death industry one corpse at a time. VISIT SITE

Special Thanks to Will Slocombe, Film Independent, Isaac Arajo, Giga Shane, Daniel Postilnik, Mara Zehler, David Forrest, Ross Conklin and Jonathon Anthony.

I made this video for Rwandan photojournalist Jean Luc Dushime's Kickstarter campaign. He made his fundraising goal of $5000 in under 5 hours. Most of the footage was shot by Jean Luc himself, I edited the video and shot his "fauxtograph."

I visited OccupyLA on Saturday, October 15, not knowing what to expect. I was totally blown away by the spirit and diversity of thousands of human beings coming together to demonstrate peacefully and creatively against the systemic exploitation of the international public by corrupt corporations. I decided to participate in my own little way by documenting what I saw. LEARN MORE

Credit goes to friends and collaborators Rebecca Berdel and Carl Sondrol for the creation of an original OWS bumper at the end of the video. :)

Behind-the-Scenes footage on set of The Animals, a narrative short currently in postproduction. I made this little video to keep our Kickstarter backers updated on our progress. We successfully reached our funding goal of $6000 on July 10, 2011. VISIT SITE

Behind-the-Scenes footage on set of The Animals, a narrative short currently in postproduction. I made this little video to keep our Kickstarter backers updated on our progress. We successfully reached our funding goal of $6000 on July 10, 2011. VISIT SITE

Behind-the-Scenes footage on set of The Animals, a narrative short currently in postproduction. I made this little video to keep our Kickstarter backers updated on our progress. We successfully reached our funding goal of $6000 on July 10, 2011. VISIT SITE

The Animals is a short film that explores obsession, nature, and the doppelgänger through dark comedy and magical realism. The film will be shot on location on the streets of LA and in the forests of Topanga in June, 2011. The film is scheduled to be released in Fall, 2011. VISIT SITE

I visited my old friend Bela in NYC in March 2011. She is an incredibly talented poet and translator. Lately she has also been experimenting with drawings and collage.

My friend Stephen shot a ton of footage alongside me, but unfortunately the hard drive on which it was saved was stolen, and the master is forever lost as well. I pieced together what little I could of our time with Bela and set it to music. I thought, at the very least, I should share this very brief glimpse into Bela's je ne sais quoi. Whatever it is, it's very OF THE FUTURE. ♥

The first of many experiments in which I lead rigorous physical training and improvisation with an ensemble of actors while documenting at 60fps. Slow down to 24p and things get interesting.

The second of many experiments in which I lead rigorous physical training and improvisation with an ensemble of actors while documenting at 60fps. Slow down to 24p and things get interesting.

Harinezumi 2 footage shot on my trips to NYC and CHI in March 2011. Highlights include breakdancing in the subway, baking cookies with Reggie Watts, and grilling 24 lbs of sausage with Kenneth Morrison at The Whale.

My first video shot on the Digital Harinezumi 2. I absolutely love this camera as it is so tiny, inconspicuous, and wieldy! Footage I shot at an art opening at LACE and on set for a commercial in Santa Monica. Threw in some 8mm film stock to give it that extra Lo-Fi touch.

Thank you Philip Bloom for this thoughtful and wonderful gift. It's so awesome.

Faces from the Tolkins' sumptuous and elegant 2010 NYE party. Quite unlike anything I've ever experienced; I had just moved to LA a few weeks prior, and my new life continued to prove itself increasingly surreal... Also my first time shooting fauxtographs! More NYE action here: bit.ly/​fXhfXZ

Last year I spent Christmas with friends, old and new. David lives in a tree house in Topanga Canyon, which is just a short drive from LA. You don't have to go far to find exquisite nature in California!

We cooked and ate food, played games, and then Teddy decided to take a bath in David's outdoor bathtub--as well as play the piano in the nude. And why not? Left to ourselves, we were forced to reconsider tradition and get creative with it.

Accompanying blog post here, in which are reprinted a selection of the absurdly hilarious Exquisite Corpse poems we generated throughout the evening: bit.ly/​hyPdtz Read on if you dare!

Some fragments put together in time and space. Some of it taken at the Sandia Mountains in New Mexico. Bien Mur means "big mountain" in Tiwa, the language of the Pueblo Native Americans. Points if you can guess what the audio is from.

A psychedlic, sci-fi, animated video. Set in the year 2137, "Man V. Candy Machine" is the story of MAN's supermarket encounter and ensuing battle with an all-consumering omni-bot. Does MAN give in to defeat at the hands of the immortal machine? Shot on 5DmkII; MoGFx in AfterEffects CS4 and Max 3DS; sound in SONAR Producer 8 and REASON 4. VISIT SITE

WILD TRAITS IN TAME SPECIES is a video created in collaboration with collage artist Shanti Evans, featuring original music by Jeremiah Chrome (Clique Talk, Valis).

SKINEMAX is a series of videos created around the concept “Digital Fitness.” SKINEMAX combines footage of original movement choreography with original animation and found footage to express different ideas of Fitness, and propose new ways of portraying and promoting Fitness on screen.

15-second bumper for a BAMMO, a new YouTube channel featuring shows by MikeDiva, MysteryGuitarMan, CorridorDigital, and DeStorm. Produced and directed with Rebecca Berdel. VISIT SITE

Writer Amelia Gray reads from her forthcoming novel THREATS (2012 Farrar, Strauss & Giroux) while riding on a moped in downtown Los Angeles for noperch.org, an experimental reading series set in unexpected locations. VISIT SITE

Writer Mary Hamilton reads while riding on a moped in downtown Los Angeles for noperch.org, an experimental reading series set in unexpected locations. VISIT SITE

I was hired by photojournalist Dan Chung to direct a series of tutorial-style web commercials for Sennheiser's mini shotgun, pro shotgun, and radio lavalier microphones. I conceived of three mini-docs in which Dan would demonstrate the microphones in a variety of sonically rich real-world environments. The original idea was to create something that was informative without being too much like an infomercial. We visited a farm, a Bengali festival, and my old friend (and 2011 MasterChef UK Champion) Tim Anderson's home kitchen to capture sounds and footage. Unfortunately, the final product is much more bland than I would have liked. I've included both the final Sennheiser edit (which I did not edit) and my own rough cut for comparison. VISIT SITE

See above for description.

Shot for Team BLOOM 'TACHE in support of MOVEMBER, a monthlong mustache growing celebration to raise money and awareness for prostate cancer.

I am happy to have contributed creatively to raising awareness and funds for such a good cause! I raised a total of £1,014 last year and was rated the top MoSpace in the world - having been rated over 800K+ times WTF?!

Shot for Team BLOOM 'TACHE in support of MOVEMBER, a monthlong mustache growing celebration to raise money and awareness for prostate cancer.

I am happy to have contributed creatively to raising awareness and funds for such a good cause! I raised a total of £1,014 last year and was rated the top MoSpace in the world - having been rated over 800K+ times WTF?!

Shot for Team BLOOM 'TACHE in support of MOVEMBER, a monthlong mustache growing celebration to raise money and awareness for prostate cancer.

I am happy to have contributed creatively to raising awareness and funds for such a good cause! I raised a total of £1,014 last year and was rated the top MoSpace in the world - having been rated over 800K+ times WTF?!

WITHOUT WAX was Derek Erdman’s final solo exhibition in Chicago before relocating permanently to Seattle, Washington on September 1, 2010. Erdman has lived in Chicago for 14 years. Over the course of the past decade he’s made more than 4,000 paintings, and sold more than 3,000 of them. In addition to painting, Erdman has successfully earned his living making and selling all manner of media, such as illustrations for web and print magazines, custom raps delivered via telephone, prank call CDs, self-published booklets and mail-order hamburgers. Without Wax celebrated the breadth and scope of his creative endeavors by packing High Concept Laboratories’ 3500 sq-ft first-floor space with what can accurately be called an Extravaganza of Erdman Ephemera. VISIT SITE

Nearly all of the 250 paintings for sale were sold within the first 2 hours on opening night.

My friend Will is in a band called The Riveters. He asked me to shoot them at a live gig and make a video out of it. He said I could do whatever I want. And so I did!

Thanks Daniel Postilnik for help with sound mixing.

My first Kickstarter campaign, for my first narrative short, currently in postproduction, to be released online in Fall 2011. A nice mix of styles, and a quick introduction to my work (quicker than my reel!). VISIT SITE

A video I made a long, long time ago to promote a crazy underground music show in Chicago. Really weird and super lo-fi. But if you watch to about halfway through, you get to see me dancing around in hotpants at the six corners in Wicker Park, à la Gene Lee!