kirsten johnson

One of the most compelling and anxiety inducing moments of Kirsten Johnson's presentation was her having everyone in the room line up in front of each other and stare into each other's eyes. Unlike what's expected from the norm of presenting to a large group of people where you'd expect just to listen to the presenter just speak and maybe have some slides as a supplement, Johnson does the opposite and tried to make herself as interactive with everyone as much as possible to keep the energy going and not make it passive. Making everyone stare at the person across from them but for two minutes straight was something that definitely wasn't easy for anyone. From a personal standpoint, being someone who's terrible with eye contact to begin with made it especially hard for me where I had broke eye contact less than fifteen seconds in. However, it was pretty obvious that for many it was hard to last the full two minutes to stare and not have any reaction when it comes to having that sort of closeness to a perpetual stranger. Though stressful, doing the activity itself was something that was eye opening (pun somewhat intended) when you relate the action to what happens during real life filming and that's what Johnson tried to show us in a unique way. Being patient and immersing yourself in the subject that you're filming is important to be able to capture the true feeling. Time is of the essence where it's not until you're found in a situation where you have to wait or do something for an extended period of time that you realize how long even two minutes can be. Just like how she mentioned how long she had waited in one location to get a specific shot, staring into someone's eyes can feel like an eternity but there's something that can be captured in those moments without even realizing and that's what makes it worth it in the end.