maggie alex :: media unicorn

I have been using video as a creative tool since the early 2000s, when we still had to use mini-DV cameras, VHS tape, and thrifted, boxy TVs for sculpture and performances, and AfterEffects still looked and acted more like Premiere than it resembled the special effects powerhouse that it is today. Back then, my art school friends and I staged chaotic performances fueled by this still-crusty-looking medium that stood on the shoulders the American avant-garde art movement of the 1960s and 1970s, when the Sony PortaPak changed the art world forever. Programs like Pure Data, MaxMSP, and Jitter changed our worlds forever, especially when combined with cheap mini-DV cameras and willing members of the performance art community. My early motion graphics work utilized a lot of Morse code, the old free version of ProTools, guitar amp heads and half-stacks for maximum sound reproduction, and insanely time-consuming text animations built in an early and cracked version of Photoshop that eventually destroyed my last PC laptop with a mysterious and unvanquishable virus.

Now I have a legitimate copy of Adobe CC and use video to tell stories of all kinds for freelance clients and as an in-house producer for corporations and government agencies. My work has functioned as propaganda, helped people secure grant funding for underserved populations and fulfill grant obligations, educate various groups and communities, trained employees in matters critical to food system compliance and functionality, and documented countless stories from the privileged to the marginalized. Tape is no longer involved, 4k makes life a lot easier in the cut even though I miss the softness of other media, and the thing I hear people say the most is, "Wow. I thought artists all were supposed to be...crazy. But you're so...organized. And articulate. And easy to work with."

Most recently, I spent six years teaching undergraduate and graduate students video, performance, animation, compositing, and multimedia at UW-Madison. Not only do I have an MFA that centered around video, experimental film, and film semiotics, I also have a degree in audio engineering, with an emphasis in live sound. I have experience working with DSLR and broadcast cameras, professional audio equipment, studio and on-location sound, lighting, and production, live switching, podcast producing and engineering, directing, assistant directing, videography, recording and performing voiceover, ADR, score composition, and sound design. As a video maker, I'm best described as relentless, creative, and disciplined. I like to have fun on set and get everything in camera as much as possible. It's rare you'll hear me say, "eh...I'll just do that in post."