PAINT PAINO

Julia, from my class, mentioned that some of what I was working on reminded her of the paint piano experiment that Michel Gondry did with Bjork. I remembered hearing about it, though I never actually saw it myself. Now I've finally watched it. Success. I like it.

I'm starting to really think about what my ink spills are for, what it is I like about them, & where I want to go with it. I think my tutor's suggestion of playing with the scale is a good idea. & also, playing with different ways of dropping the ink.
Oh, ideas.

MOTIVATIONAL VIDEO.

Minutemen - This Ain't No Picnic

STALKER. AGAIN.

Another scene from Tarkovsky's Stalker. This vaguely relates to some of the video work I've done recently, so I thought I'd put it up here.




I really admire/adore the way the camera is handled, particularly in this shot. I offers the viewer serious contemplation of the image. The objects in the water are moved over at a pace that allows you to identify each of them & perhaps question their relation to one another. Tarkovsky was so particular in his arrangement of imagery that I imagine he probably spent a great deal of time arranging them, working out their placement. Each frame is beautiful. That's possibly what I most respect about him - his belief that every shot, no matter how fleeting, is important. He could spend just as much time on a set that would pass by your eyes in a second as one that the camera lingers on for minutes. The result is film footage that is so exquisite that it keeps drawing me back to watch it again.
I really would like to play more with this is film. Although I'm coming at it from a different angle, with less emphasis on liner narrative & explicit story-telling than he is. I'm not entirely sure how it all fits in just now, though I do know that I have already been infused with a stronger awareness of the framing of an image, & the importance of finding the right location.
It's always healthy to have someone to look up to.

MOTIVATIONAL VIDEO

Holy shit, how have I never seen this version before?
Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights ("Red Dress" version)
Her interpretive dance makes much more sense against this moody, moorland backdrop.

NORMAN MCLAREN

Another filmmaker that spent some time with the GPO film unit.

Spook Sport, 1940


Dots, 1940



Dots is particularly interesting to me when considering different ways of abstractly visualizing sound. To make dots, McLaren decided on a scale of varying dot sizes - the larger the dot, the larger the sound. He changed the nature of the mark with the changing nature of the sound, & decided on the code before beginning any animating. It's a simple piece of animation, but very effective.
Deciding on set marks for set sounds is good, but potentially problematic with the ink drop videos I've been making. I would be coming for a different angle to McLaren - making the marks first, and the sounds later. Basically doing it the whole other way around. It's keeping me thinking, for sure.
Nonetheless, his animations are great - they have a real sweet simplicity to them, which I find both charming & thought-provoking.

LEN LYE

Yeah, just remembered about this. Was trying to find it & was unsuccessful until I realised that "experiental video royal mail" would be more specific than "experimental video post office" & perhaps lead to less pages about the band Postal Service.
Anyway, Len Lye, A Color Box, 1935


Swinging the Lambeth Walk


Rhythm





I like these as examples of abstract animations & visualized sounds - both of which interest me in relation to the video I have been making recently.

STALKER

Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker has to be one of the most stunning films I have ever seen. As is Tarkovsky's style, Stalker meanders slowly through a crumbling, post-apocalyptic, Soviet landscape. As far as research into video art, I think Tarkovsky's very relevant. His work seems to have a meticulous & obsessive approach to the direction & cinematography. This film took almost four years to complete, & was shot three times. I think he did a good job.