LOTUS.
After David arrived in Santa Barbara to attend SBCC, it wasn't long until he grew anxious to make films. But there was a slight problem, he didn't know how to find actors and had no stories to tell. Desperate to create something he decided to film daily life and compose them into stylistically edited montages.
As he was editing the first in the series, he realized he didn't know what to call these montages. As he struggled to think of a name, a friend of his told him that he hadn't seen him in weeks. David was confused, he thought he had seen him only a few days ago. He also realized that forgetfulness and misconception of time was common and happening more often then not. And that's when it struck him... Isla Vista, Santa Barbara had been notorious for feeling like a constant vacation, where everyone loses a sense of time, where it felt irrelevant, lapsing into one long enjoyable haze...
In Greek myth, the lotus flower induced a state of dreamy and contented forgetfulness in those who ate it; making Greek soldiers content with the idea of never returning home and completing their mission, losing all ambition. And as long as they ate it, time continued to pass them by faster than they could realize. For David, that's what the state of Isla Vista felt comparable to: the "lotus" flower.
David created "lotus I" as a tribute towards his freshman year college dorm days of haze. He made "lotus II" which focused on the Halloween scene in Isla Vista. And he made "lotus III" highlighting what it was like to return home for the winter. It wasn't until "lotus, corrupted lungs" that David decided to add a little more direction towards his videos, where he paid tribute to XXYYXX''s "About you" video. And in "lotus, yamm", David crafted a montage that featured locals of the "dirty island" playing a game of basketball.
