In order to make Postmodern Times we had to write descriptions of every clip in the original film. These descriptions filled a ~600 line spreadsheet we used to track the production of each clip. This screenplay renders that text in the conventions of Hollywood scripts.
Screenplay credits: writing and production by Christopher Willauer, code by Danara Sarioglu, and editing by Valerie Werder. Postmodern Times was produced with the support of LACMA Art + Technology Lab.
Postmodern Times (2016–18) is a shot-by-shot interpretation of Chaplin’s Modern Times made by commissioning short clips from online workers on the labor platform http://Fiverr.com . It is a portrait of the contemporary digital factory. Each clip was produced by a different freelance worker; clips made by online workers are interspersed with clips from the original film, resulting in a fragmented and chaotic work that reflects the conditions of digital labor itself.
