Snapshots of Before
Compiling film footage my grandfather shot in the 1960s–70s, this experimental film uses sound design to bring his visual snapshots to life. These are moments of time seen through my grandfather’s eyes, eyes that passed before I was born, and eyes that I can now catch a glimpse of through the lens of his camera, sixty years later.
November 2025
After discovering a group of digitized film footage my grandfather shot in the 1960s and 70s, I set out to organize and edit it for my family’s future viewing. At first, the goal was purely practical, trimming long stretches of black and arranging the footage by location.
That changed when I took a sound design class in the fall of 2025. I began experimenting with adding sound to this otherwise silent footage, using audio to bring each moment and environment to life. What started as a technical exercise slowly became a deeply personal project, one that documents fleeting “snapshots” of my grandfather’s life, a version of him and his world I never got to experience firsthand due to his passing three years before I was born.
The final piece is made up of several scenes that offer brief glimpses into the time he lived in. Through watching and editing this footage, I felt a connection to my grandfather I had never known before, seeing the world as he saw it. His sense of awe and curiosity reflects a mirror for my own filmmaking and photography journey, approaching the world with the same attention, wonder, and care that I strive for.
