Regular Joe’s “Escargots” was a video that I was really looking forward to re-RECording. For me, the language barrier in the poem Joe adapted was a welcomed obstacle in trying to draw a theme from the piece. The French language forced me to focus on the video’s elements of style and performance to reach a conclusion about its meaning.

And to be honest, I found myself perplexed by the video. But it was really interesting to watch and attempt to dissect.

When I approached re-RECording “Escargot” I knew I was going to eliminate the narration and create an interpretation of Joe’s character and his adventures in Paris. To me, the character seemed like an outsider struggling to uncover some kind of meaning to life. I re-titled my video with the French phrase “Raison d'être” (translation: “Reason For Being”) in order to give my re-RECording a starting point to be re-intrepreted.

It was as if he was getting all dressed up to go searching for something outside his boxed in room, only to find himself running around in circles in eternal frustration and impatience.

I drew from those emotions in my interpretation and felt I had found the perfect companion piece in the “Ain’t Nothin” beat by phonontek (one of the best beats I have ever heard.) It is a somewhat grating loop, and I found that to match the tone of the character’s frustration and tension.

Without simply putting movement to a beat, I constructed a narrative that is up for interpretation. Though under a minute, I did try and orchestrate a three act story. We begin with the character getting ready and heading out into the city and when we leave him he does seem to have a better understanding of something.

What that is I cannot say. That’s for the audience to decide, or re-RECord.