In discussion today we talked about waiting. Hell, waiting sucks. The installation idea is really cool though. The possibility to put the image outside, looping and not having a beginning or a end. That idea got me going about a film where it has 4 or 5 different parts to it. I mean like a movie that has 3 different perspectives, if you watch all three you'll have the whole story, but if you just want the view of the buff guy, or the petite girl, or the rich guy, its all possible.
In my film 210 class, we have been focusing on perspective lately, the film The Birds to be specific. In many of the experimental films we see the perspective of the camera, but in D'est, the camera isn't feeling like the same old camera. I felt like a tourist in those country's, just waiting and watching while these people dissect me with their eyes. This film does a great job with time also. As with So Is This the filmmaker has the control of when we move on, there is no directed point where the camera moves on when its supposed to. Pretty sweet, but still a drifter, i found myself and the audience restless; I cant stress that enough.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Alternative Focus
So far in class we have seen many films that focus on the art of viewing, the power that it has when the only sense we are using are our eyes. But, when are we going to focus on something even more powerful, the correlation between sound and images.
The last film we watched, D'Est, had sounds as a stimulant, but not as a main factor. It wasn't the film though that got me think about sound, it was the readings we did by Chantal Akerman. She writes about her motivations, and music is a big motivator. I have the same feeling that I just want to shoot a huge film that focuses on music and the sweet shots that I would put along with that funky sound. For example: The Refused have a song "New Noise" on their A New Noise Theology EP. The song has some crazy footage, but just watch at some points were the music directs the movement. At about 1:30 and 4:00 minutes are a couple of the some distinguishing shots.
Only a few films we have watched have a distinct sound to vision comparison, but have a dominant visual aspect. Like Vertical Roll by Joan Jonas, The constant tapping is a soundtrack, relevant to the image portrayed, but the image commands the sound. The dropping of the frame commands the length between hits. OF course you also have some ambient sound from Lisa Steele's Birthday suit, but that is not a controlled aspect. That sound is just there for the reality of the nude body. It justifies that she is not hiding, not from the viewer or the world.
Music Videos are a great way to express music through visual images, I hope we get to see some in class this semester.
The last film we watched, D'Est, had sounds as a stimulant, but not as a main factor. It wasn't the film though that got me think about sound, it was the readings we did by Chantal Akerman. She writes about her motivations, and music is a big motivator. I have the same feeling that I just want to shoot a huge film that focuses on music and the sweet shots that I would put along with that funky sound. For example: The Refused have a song "New Noise" on their A New Noise Theology EP. The song has some crazy footage, but just watch at some points were the music directs the movement. At about 1:30 and 4:00 minutes are a couple of the some distinguishing shots.
Only a few films we have watched have a distinct sound to vision comparison, but have a dominant visual aspect. Like Vertical Roll by Joan Jonas, The constant tapping is a soundtrack, relevant to the image portrayed, but the image commands the sound. The dropping of the frame commands the length between hits. OF course you also have some ambient sound from Lisa Steele's Birthday suit, but that is not a controlled aspect. That sound is just there for the reality of the nude body. It justifies that she is not hiding, not from the viewer or the world.
Music Videos are a great way to express music through visual images, I hope we get to see some in class this semester.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Cultural explosion
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At the start of the film in class today, I already noticed two main pieces of the scene to declare its background. The drapes were white and clearly polish,I noticed because I come from a very devote polish/European background, and the vehicles that drove passed the window were European; not to mention the window opened to the inside, very classic in Europe, not so much in the US.
A little background on me. I was born in the US, in Chicago Illinois 1988, January 15th. You can go back and walk into that hospital at around 7PM and hear my loud screaming just as I came out of my little room, never to return. I learned polish first before my English and have kept most of my polish traditions, especially the house setup because of my mom, furnishing and such. Also, food at my house is very traditional. Greasy foods that give you most of your vitamins so cholesterol is high, but you stay skinny...Great success!
So, because I speak polish, been to Europe over 7 times in my lifetime so far, I knew where we were after a few shots. Most, if not all, the shots were about culture. The shot of the old couple in the beginning playing cards and just chillin in the morning was typical. The guy eating the home cooked meal was typical, I swear I've seen that same table at my grandma's house and the cabinet setup. The doors, if you noticed, consisted of less wood and more glass or plastic screens. At one point of the Polish orchestra scene, also in the first twenty-thirty minutes, there was a muffled dialogue between the band and speaker, he forgot what the name of the polka song was, he asked the band after he thanked the audience members for attending.
Because the filmmaker was traveling through europe, there was a certain narrative between the long shots of people just standing there and waiting for the train or bus. The producer shot the people waiting and then some cultural aspects of the city or country that was visited, and back to the bus. We definitely started in Poland for a while, then we moved on across the boarder to the current Slovakia, a deeper dialect of polish with less sz and cz sounds. Cool thing is that both languages: Polack and Slovak, even Russian and Ukrainian but not as easy to understand, come hand in hand, one can speak only one but understand both. I knew we were in the Russia/Ukraine section by the establishing shot of the sign sometime into the film with the weird writing on it, the Russian alphabet is funky.
The lines of people were fun to watch. European culture, I thought, was best expressed in those sequences. The way I was taught to treat life is to keep your distance from self expression. Most of the people at the bus stop knew the camera was there and just looked at it funny. I mean the women stared at it, typical of Slavic nations, and the males looked away, but still caught glimpses a little here and there. If that same camera was in the US every self-righteous person who noticed it would be on the spot yelling and screaming. The mentality at the bus stops was don't say anything, it has nothing to do with me, just let them film. There were a few oddballs that criticized the camera filming them, and the woman most likely yelling at teens being dumb, or drunks being dumb, but then waves it off because she knows she can't change anything. In that scene with the older woman yelling, I couldn't understand what she was saying, but just the way she said it convinced me plenty, my mom has the same tone with me, strange, it's very culturally European.
Finally, our crowd which we viewed the film in was great. I mean really, I thought the film was boring and repetitive. The crowd was more restless than a pack of hungry wolves. A huge pile of change dropped, I dropped my cellphone twice, and everyone around me was moving constantly or sleeping. Though culturally explicit, like a culture fist to the face---HYAHHH!! TO THE FACE!!---it was presented in a slow fashion that bored the audience after about thirty minutes in. Personally it may have been fun to scope out the culture differences for me a little, it took the fun out of any narrative that was expected by the typical American.
At the start of the film in class today, I already noticed two main pieces of the scene to declare its background. The drapes were white and clearly polish,I noticed because I come from a very devote polish/European background, and the vehicles that drove passed the window were European; not to mention the window opened to the inside, very classic in Europe, not so much in the US.
A little background on me. I was born in the US, in Chicago Illinois 1988, January 15th. You can go back and walk into that hospital at around 7PM and hear my loud screaming just as I came out of my little room, never to return. I learned polish first before my English and have kept most of my polish traditions, especially the house setup because of my mom, furnishing and such. Also, food at my house is very traditional. Greasy foods that give you most of your vitamins so cholesterol is high, but you stay skinny...Great success!
So, because I speak polish, been to Europe over 7 times in my lifetime so far, I knew where we were after a few shots. Most, if not all, the shots were about culture. The shot of the old couple in the beginning playing cards and just chillin in the morning was typical. The guy eating the home cooked meal was typical, I swear I've seen that same table at my grandma's house and the cabinet setup. The doors, if you noticed, consisted of less wood and more glass or plastic screens. At one point of the Polish orchestra scene, also in the first twenty-thirty minutes, there was a muffled dialogue between the band and speaker, he forgot what the name of the polka song was, he asked the band after he thanked the audience members for attending.
Because the filmmaker was traveling through europe, there was a certain narrative between the long shots of people just standing there and waiting for the train or bus. The producer shot the people waiting and then some cultural aspects of the city or country that was visited, and back to the bus. We definitely started in Poland for a while, then we moved on across the boarder to the current Slovakia, a deeper dialect of polish with less sz and cz sounds. Cool thing is that both languages: Polack and Slovak, even Russian and Ukrainian but not as easy to understand, come hand in hand, one can speak only one but understand both. I knew we were in the Russia/Ukraine section by the establishing shot of the sign sometime into the film with the weird writing on it, the Russian alphabet is funky.
The lines of people were fun to watch. European culture, I thought, was best expressed in those sequences. The way I was taught to treat life is to keep your distance from self expression. Most of the people at the bus stop knew the camera was there and just looked at it funny. I mean the women stared at it, typical of Slavic nations, and the males looked away, but still caught glimpses a little here and there. If that same camera was in the US every self-righteous person who noticed it would be on the spot yelling and screaming. The mentality at the bus stops was don't say anything, it has nothing to do with me, just let them film. There were a few oddballs that criticized the camera filming them, and the woman most likely yelling at teens being dumb, or drunks being dumb, but then waves it off because she knows she can't change anything. In that scene with the older woman yelling, I couldn't understand what she was saying, but just the way she said it convinced me plenty, my mom has the same tone with me, strange, it's very culturally European.
Finally, our crowd which we viewed the film in was great. I mean really, I thought the film was boring and repetitive. The crowd was more restless than a pack of hungry wolves. A huge pile of change dropped, I dropped my cellphone twice, and everyone around me was moving constantly or sleeping. Though culturally explicit, like a culture fist to the face---HYAHHH!! TO THE FACE!!---it was presented in a slow fashion that bored the audience after about thirty minutes in. Personally it may have been fun to scope out the culture differences for me a little, it took the fun out of any narrative that was expected by the typical American.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
So you want to be a gangsta
Picture this, your driving down the street and its pretty late. Downtown chicago and you drive up to a streetlight. Awkward, no one around...red light taking forevvvveeerrrr.......and BOOM! A frickin cracked out baby on your windshield.First reactions, hit the gas, boom...your dead
Stairway thoughts: Where the hell did that baby come from...what am I doing in Chicago...why is that baby doing coke?
A change of situation,
Your chillin' in a apartment, California smog...errr, air blowing through the window and you see some really nice scenery outside and you want to film it. Get some music, drink a little tea(always good for a hangover too on those groggy Sunday mornings) and go out to film this.
Later you show this film to friends and whoever would like to see a cool little strip of just some nice shots.
So, what are the similarity's between these two scenario's. Well, let me answer that for you, Both have no point, both are pretty random and pretty sweet, and both don't have a meaning.
Going back to the mad scientist film and even new films we have see in class like the computer show by Cory Archangel, we don't always have a meaning for what we want to film, nor a meaning for what we have filmed. The world is full of beauty and its just waiting to be captured and treasured forever. All we have to remember beauty is our memory, but memory's don't last forever.
Experimental Media is all about the feeling people have when they either film something or view a piece of it. To see what colors and sounds a computer made were really cool, but my feeling was, "Hey! this is really really annoying and it has to stop" Another great feeling/emotion I felt that was really vivid in Theme Song, the warmth and comfort that Vito showed, even on the big screen. I wanted to climb into the screen and smoke a cigarette with this guy and just philosophize about anything and everything.
Well, see you cats later!
Saturday, February 17, 2007
As hard as it doesnt seem
Jonas mekas has a drive, a drive that takes time and dedication. To be able to post a blog or post a film everyday is not only a commitment, but a test of memory. Being the second, but now my first entry of the five, I can now see the dedication that Mekas has to his 365!.
I saw on the internet a parody of a person who also took pictures everyday(probably not though) for eight years. it was really cool to see that person transform into the final picture, done in mid-teens to early twenties.
Unlike the video we walked into on last monday, the 8 year progression had to words or other meaning than the change of looks. The presentation with writing though was a lot more interesting than the simple look change.
IF you want to check it out! here ya go. http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1710434
I saw on the internet a parody of a person who also took pictures everyday(probably not though) for eight years. it was really cool to see that person transform into the final picture, done in mid-teens to early twenties.
Unlike the video we walked into on last monday, the 8 year progression had to words or other meaning than the change of looks. The presentation with writing though was a lot more interesting than the simple look change.
IF you want to check it out! here ya go. http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1710434
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Number 1
If you go to this website and watch this movie, a stop motion fight, I think it would be worthwhile for you guys. http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1727961
It involves you guys using those clicker thingy's to make a short film. It's really cool how they did the whole fight sequence and I think we can relate it to the single frame shots of Market Street, single frames make up the whole movie. The focus put in on the single frame in this short are just as relevant.
The tracks in the grass, the emotional poses and reactions are right on and come on, floating teens is just cool. Hope you guys like it
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1727961
It involves you guys using those clicker thingy's to make a short film. It's really cool how they did the whole fight sequence and I think we can relate it to the single frame shots of Market Street, single frames make up the whole movie. The focus put in on the single frame in this short are just as relevant.
The tracks in the grass, the emotional poses and reactions are right on and come on, floating teens is just cool. Hope you guys like it
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1727961
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Filming
Yo, peeps, if you guys need someone, or even know someone who would need someone, for a filming project or just for fun, feel free to comment me. I'm looking forward to hearing and hopefully experiencing other people perspective on films and such.
Thanks!
Dave~
Thanks!
Dave~
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Hey! Dont leave ME out!
Film 201 is turning out to be a sweet, warm(theme song), and well organized video voyage. Several of the "experimental" films feature a diverse camera work that is far from the professional cut by cut we have grown to love in feature films. Hope you enjoy my critical eye, the eye of critics, evil eye, all-seeing-eye, the close and asleep eye, or however you want to view my interpretation of the work I have interpreted and in thus put on this page. Haha! N'Joy
1. Joan Jonas - Vertical Roll
Here is a interesting piece of art. In this I felt she was dressed as a exotic dancer for the reason of the roll. Her small movements off the screen gave her a rolling effect like a belly dancer. Though the belly dancer did not originate in Japan, that wood block was ridiculously loud, but fitting. With every skip^ there would be a loud thud^ and annoying thud^ that drove me insane. The presentation of the female body in such a way was quite awkward I also thought. She showed her body, with the thud^ gyrations, but only showed her face as the constant. She seemed to signify that her body may change THUD^ but her mind will stay that same.
2. Miranda July - The Amateurist
This video captured the exact thought that I have produced for a variety of instructors. "Maybe the director or filmmaker didn't do this for a specific reason, maybe it was a accident and it was sweet. Or it was a just a good shot, no reason behind it besides the filmmakers emotion." (David's Mind, Left Hemisphere) The Mad scientist type examines the video feed, hours upon hours, read up on related images and styles (wait...numbers...she is making numbers, BRILLIANT!) Sometimes, I think your first emotion, your initial reaction is the most true and real. This is the filmmakers true intention of making the film, the first reaction captures this, every viewing and critical viewing afterwards is a comparison of different emotions and strays from the real deal.
Hope you guys enjoyed the readings so far, lest you be sober don't bother reading them again.
A quote to live by, "Act stoned when you're not or act more stoned than you are, flaunt ignorance, materialize your dreams" (Mike Rose, Lives on the Boundary)
Davey Havoc - Vocality beyond self
1. Joan Jonas - Vertical Roll
Here is a interesting piece of art. In this I felt she was dressed as a exotic dancer for the reason of the roll. Her small movements off the screen gave her a rolling effect like a belly dancer. Though the belly dancer did not originate in Japan, that wood block was ridiculously loud, but fitting. With every skip^ there would be a loud thud^ and annoying thud^ that drove me insane. The presentation of the female body in such a way was quite awkward I also thought. She showed her body, with the thud^ gyrations, but only showed her face as the constant. She seemed to signify that her body may change THUD^ but her mind will stay that same.
2. Miranda July - The Amateurist
This video captured the exact thought that I have produced for a variety of instructors. "Maybe the director or filmmaker didn't do this for a specific reason, maybe it was a accident and it was sweet. Or it was a just a good shot, no reason behind it besides the filmmakers emotion." (David's Mind, Left Hemisphere) The Mad scientist type examines the video feed, hours upon hours, read up on related images and styles (wait...numbers...she is making numbers, BRILLIANT!) Sometimes, I think your first emotion, your initial reaction is the most true and real. This is the filmmakers true intention of making the film, the first reaction captures this, every viewing and critical viewing afterwards is a comparison of different emotions and strays from the real deal.
Hope you guys enjoyed the readings so far, lest you be sober don't bother reading them again.
A quote to live by, "Act stoned when you're not or act more stoned than you are, flaunt ignorance, materialize your dreams" (Mike Rose, Lives on the Boundary)
Davey Havoc - Vocality beyond self
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