Lotte Time Lapse - Birth to 12 Years Old

http://vimeo.com/40448182

This video is a time lapse showing the evolution of a baby growing up to be a pre-teen. I most admire the filmmakers dedication. He committed himself to this project twelve years ago and continued to film his daughter from birth until she was twelve years old. I like that the progress is relatively slow, it does not jump around from year to year, although the beginning end transformation is very obvious and drastic. I have seen time lapse videos before that is strictly a slideshow, but this video stood out to be because he recorded her face speaking and moving, which also changed as she aged. The inclusion of more than one video for each year definitely added to the intricacies and dedication to the piece. He clearly spent a lot of time gathering the materials, and was very patient as he waited twelve years to make the video. I wonder if in the future the artist will continue this tradition and make the video longer? Will each segment become shorter? 

As for the music, I think the video works better without it. The music reminds me a bit of elevator music or something you would hear playing in a restaurant. It carries no meaning and distracts from the images and movement the video has to offer. I think an interesting addition would be Lotte's voice laid over the piece to give some idea of what she sounded like during different stages of her life. From gibberish when she was an infant, to broken English, to higher vocabulary in middle school. That could almost be a separate video all on its own: analyzing her speech development. 

A Story for Tomorrow

http://vimeo.com/36519586

Oh man. I'm not sure where to start with this one. I think this film is just so intelligent. The pace kept me at ease until I felt like I wanted to run with the story and, exactly at that moment, the film picked up. The beginning brought me serenity and patience and the pace helped me to notice every little thing in every shot. I also was extremely impressed when I watched it a second time and started to think about all of the places the artist needed to leave the camera just to get a shot of him walking up a sand dune for 20 seconds or driving down a road for 10.

The amount of effort that goes into films really is what is so inspiring to me, almost more than the content sometimes. I happen to enjoy most everything I saw in this film since I am very moved by nature, but in general, I tend to have an automatic appreciation for a film once I start to realize how much effort went into it.

I think the music also just kind of exists with the film and brings the film forward/keeps it in motion rather than distracting the audience. That was impressive to me as well.

The amount of motion in the end of the film just really made me think about how I could do something like this, how I could live a more exciting life...just so many things. It made me want to travel more and do what I love. I love when that occurs by simply watching other people travel and do what they love.

A strong film.

Jostens Clarksville Plant: Portrait of a Place

Reminder: I will not be in class Wednesday (in Tennessee on a press run for the BC yearbook).

RUIN - an animated short set in a post-apocalyptic universe

http://vimeo.com/38591304

I was drawn to this video when a celebrity mentioned it in a tweet and recommended people check it out. The "Oddball" animation short film features incredibly lifelike CGI, and can be seen in 3D and 4D theaters (which would probably make it all that more impressive). The beginning of the film starts with an overgrown, deserted city. The lifelike structures made me second-guess whether or not the short was actually animation or not. The film is a long chase scene between a human that has electronically-glowing skin and a hovercraft. Through a series of bombs and explosions, the human eventually conquers the hovercraft. This superhuman must have powers of some sort to have survived such attacks – you get the notion that this was not the first – from some higher power. The effects in the film range from explosions to slow motion and very lifelike panning landscapes. The short ends with the title “RUIN” fading in and out of black. The end credits run over a night scene of dark blues and blacks that suggest the attacks last past the duration of the film. The most interesting part of the film is what has been left out. How did this “human” survive the apocalypse? What was the apocalypse like? How do they live now? Are they the only survivors? It makes you wonder about what the future holds…

The louder you scream, the faster we go (2005)--Phil Collins (b. 1970)

http://www.ubu.com/film/collins_louder.html

The louder you scream, the faster we go is actually comprised of three separate promotional videos for three unsigned acts. The first two minutes were recorded at a film festival, and I thought the footage was really beautiful. I loved the captured raw and candid emotions that the crowd exhibited as they swayed to music and enjoyed their atmosphere. I think the employment of close ups, so that every detail of their face, and subtle hints at emotion, made the captures so interesting. I would've much preferred if the video had ended there, but instead it moved onto the next clip, which featured mature women performing ballet, with alternative rock in the background. It definitely reversed the mood I had experienced from the previous clip, and actually left me really confused. Though, once again, I like how Collins ended the clip with a close up of a woman clapping with a raw and magical happiness on her face. The last clip was of a man pleasuring himself for about a minute. It is quite amazing how many different reactions I felt from one video. The choice of clips really got me thinking about what his overall message might have been, rather than watch a story and have the answer handed to me. If I had to guess, I would say that Collins attempted to capture reality in three separate scenes, that features emotions captured through candid videography. Although I didn't really agree with the choices of clips, I do like how this was something very unique to what I have seen in my life. This video got me thinking a little more creatively for my own personal project.

Sade's Green Dream

This is the video I was trying to show in class last week.

Hans Richter

The black and white shapes, negative and positive space, creates an interesting visual abstraction for film. I can imagine this a 2D narrative series of work horizontally displayed. The use of film also makes the video more authentic. 

Vimeo web compression guidelines

Here are the Vimeo Compression Guidelines
http://vimeo.com/help/compression

Andrew Efimov - Saint-Petersburg Timelapse (2011-12)

Andrew Efimov - Saint-Petersburg Timelapse (2011-12)

http://vimeo.com/36397732

Although the background music works really well with the video, the video quality itself really exemplifies what timelapse can do visually and artistically. Varying camera techniques such as dollying and the speed of the motion at the same time exaggerate the vastness and depth of beauty of Russian landscape. The color composition is another great component of this work; without any plot, the mixture of natural dark and fluorescent, bright colors makes you simply appreciate the film and keep watching for the breathtaking beauty. The combination of slow and grand movement of clouds with contrastingly fast moving cityscape underneath provides a real sense of epicness. The calm and at the same time dramatic sound of violin on top of beautiful images of Saint-Petersburg simply makes the film better and amazing. 

"The Mashin' of the Christ" - Negativland

http://ubu.com/film/negativland_christ.html

As soon as I started playing this film, I immediately regretted it. A compilation of different videos and scenes of Jesus Christ being crucified, the video obviously contained copious amounts of gore and pain. As I watched, I repeatedly winced and thought to myself, "Why am I watching this?" The video was satirical though destroying the usual solemn and sad depiction of the crucifixion. There were cartoon versions of the event intermixed with real actors juxtaposed against joyous scenes of people celebrating and dancing to the news. In the background, the narrator repeatedly said sayings such as "Christianity is stupid" and "Communism is good" and "Give up." The piece reminded me of satirical propaganda with its repetition of the same images (some Communist dictators as well as similar scenes from the crucifixion films). It encourages the viewer to not believe the told (and retold and retold) story of Jesus's resurrection and instead turn to the definitive face of Communism. After Jesus dies, there is celebration and rejoicing from the Communists. The final scene of the movie is a question mark morphing into the communism symbol, which I took to mean as "do away with your questions" and "turn to Communism." Overall I thought the film was well done, but weird.

Playing for friends on 5th Street (2004) a film by Derek Bailey;

http://www.ubu.com/film/bailey_friends.html

This film was fairly long,  around 50 minutes, so I only watched the first 10 minutes or so. My guess is this is as close to a music video any film artist will attempt to achieve?? I was pleased the artist gave a sense of who his friends are in the first couple minutes of the film. This allowed me to understand the pleasure his music brought upon those in his presence.  I find the film artist's technique for how to convey this music successful.  The choice the film artist made to have cuts with different lighting helped make this successful. The music was enjoyable to listen to and easy to see that the musician clearly has a passion for what he does.

Whoa Whoa Studio (for Courbet) (2000)

What...did I just watch? I have to admit, I had to watch it two more times after reading the artist's personal message in order to understand the art. When you first watch the clip, between the strange and creepy child's voice echoing "woah woah woah" like a broken record, and the pregnant woman painting with a claw hand, it's hard not to find it rather strange and a bit comedic. The problem though, was that I wasn't entirely sure why I was smiling..and i'm not sure that was Cheryl Donegan's intent at all. It just seemed so absurd at first, that I couldn't help but convert my confusion to amusement. Instead, Whoa Whoa Studio is actually an interesting piece that really taps into fantasy and a dreamlike state. Yes, the visual is bizarre, but there are definitely some interesting film techniques being incorporated. For example, the use of mirroring images, such as the claw drawing a picture on a computer monitor and it appearing instead on the canvas. I'm sure there is some deeper meaning behind the gestures, the helmet, and the pregnancy...but for now, I'm not sure if i'll ever find it. Maybe you guys will notice something I missed:

http://www.ubu.com/film/donegan_whoa.html

Samuel Beckett - Breath (2001)

Samuel Beckett - Breath (2001) 

http://www.ubu.com/film/beckett_breath.html

(Directed by Damien Hirst, from Beckett on Film, 1 minute, 21 seconds )

I was not sure what the video was trying to say when I first watched it. It really forces you to continuously replay the video, and I think it is its beauty how you gradually understand what the object was, discover different perspectives and parts of the image, and learn how the breath sound gets incorporated into this piece from each play. The way the pitch and volume of the breath sounds varies as the object moves works really well in showing how and where the object is physically located and moving, and this fainting and crying quality of breath not only works here as the indicator of the object’s location, but also emphasizes the destruction and brutal image of hospital. You get to discover something spiritual and deep quality and meaning in the simple breath sound when you finally realize what the image was at the end of the film. The gradual silence in the end then makes you awe and appreciate how such a short film can make a great impact on you. 

Man Ray

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7PQvkYYikU

As a painter who is interested in abstraction and surrealism, I wanted to find some specific video artist who dealt with the same things. After talking to Silva, he gave me a few to look up. Man Ray, an American artist, who spent majority of his time in France, created an array of short films possessing a dreamlike quality. This video in specific, the link I've posted above, is "L'Etoile de Mer."
I love the ambiguity of some of shapes and the "blurry-glass like" filter on the camera lense. The very beginning of the video has a painterly quality thatI can definitely appreciate. I watched the video with both music and no music. I preferred watching it with no music, only because the music tended to give it a more creepy feel. I appreciated the imagery more without the sound.
The blowing paper and the starfish clips were absolutely amazing!!! I truly enjoyed the mechanical like clip of the different moving jars with star fishes and glass. The way the video was tied up at the end reminded me of Maya Deren film; each element gets tied into the story line at the very end. So although things seemed choppy or unrelated, they all make sense at the end of the story.

I plan on watching more videos by Man Ray and a few other surreal artist and sharing. He has a whole bunch of videos on youtube.

Sade

Iceland Midnight Sun

http://vimeo.com/30581015


I'm very interested in time-lapse videography so I was drawn to this video for that reason. I certainly am biased towards Iceland having visited and having left most of my heart there, but regardless, the images and the color in this film are absolutely stunning. The film also shows extreme dedication. The filmer shot for 17 days straight and lived out of his car for the whole period of time. This is the way to experience Iceland, for sure, but it also is a choice he made in terms of how dedicated he wanted to be to his shots and ultimately his film. 


The film really exemplifies how much time and energy was put into this man's personal project. The panning and the dolly-ing is quite mystical and really adds to the whole feel of the natural landscapes he was working with. While showing how normal Iceland can be, the filmer also showed how abnormal it can be by making sure to include the sun panning horizontally across the frame, which really is the height of the "24 hour sun" phenomenon.


At times, I felt like the shots were not full enough; I felt as though the composition was a bit uneven, with the majority of the details in the bottom of the frame. So, that's one thing I would change if it were me shooting the video. On the other hand, the color was certainly full enough to give the viewer as much visual information as possible.


A job very well done, in my opinion.

"Kate Moss at the Beginning" - Karen Kilimnik

http://ubu.com/film/kilimnik_moss.html

This film revealed what was going on behind the camera when Kate Moss was starting out her model career in the early 90s. For a profession that usually looks extremely put together, trendy, perfect, and seamless, this video showed a different side of the "runway girls" that you see on stage. I almost wished that it showed a bit of a darker side than it did, but it steered away from the dieting and pressure that is put on these girls to look a certain way.

The most interesting scenes were those with directors and photographers that give them extremely specific directions on how to move their bodies, which way to look, and how to act. It makes the girls seem like paper dolls or puppets that can be molded into whatever they are needed to be - something I find quite unattractive. This filmed played with the idea of the "it" girl and what her life is all about. I don't think it's something to be idealized at all.

It seems as though the sound that was in the background corresponded to the scene. If there was music, it was the music coming from the runway show. When they were speaking or walking, it included all the sounds going on around them. The film simply peered into this lifestyle.

One of my favorite scenes (that was actually repeated twice at the end of the film) was almost like a blooper reel from a photo shoot. A line of models fell over and knocked down the set, causing them all to burst out in hysterics. It showed them smiling and laughing - having actual emotions - as opposed to the serious pouts they gave the camera as soon as they were instructed to do so. The repetition of this scene could mean that it happens often or the opposite.

"Ballad of the Skeletons" - Gus Van Sant (1997)

http://ubu.com/film/ginsberg_ballad.html

This film was a short and experimental starring Allen Ginsberg, an American poet. The director superimposes a lot of images (including the globe, the American flag, and petition signs) over well-known political figures and moments. I found the compositional elements very interesting, and liked that they were illustrations of the poem. For example, when the poem talked about the hippies in the 70's, it showed multiple cuts of protestors and people smoking.

My biggest problem with the video was the prominence of the poet. He was often the main focus - right in the center taking up the majority of the screen - and I couldn't seem to connect his importance to the actual images. I think it would have been more impactful if solely his voice and words were paired with the images shown. His odd face and facial expressions were very distracting for me.

The whole film being in black and white made it more serious, because I think it would have seemed foolish with all of the special effects and the poet reading the poem looking directly into the camera. Because the nature of the political issues is serious, it made sense to carry the serious tone through the use of black and white film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1evQ_4qZIA

This week I watched an independent film by Tiye Massey called Jay. It  used the music: "missing my son" by Tom Waits from Orphans: Bastards Album.  He doesn't own any rights to the music, but the soundtrack paired with the film was an interesting choice for the artist. It was easier for me to watch the whole thing because there was a story associated with the film, however I struggled to make the connection between the moving images and the story line. I felt myself focusing on what the story was telling and not what the images showed. Often times I caught myself creating my own moving images in my head that were relevant to the story line.  

Robert Breer "Recreation" (1956-57)

http://www.ubu.com/film/breer_recreation.html
Robert Breer "Recreation"
(Featuring a commentary by Noel Burch (in nonsense French), Recreation's rapid-fire montage of single-frame images of incredible density and intensity has been compared to contemporary Beat poetry.)

There is something addictive and fascinating about this film. The way the film uses rapid montage of ambiguous and unrecognizable images makes you totally confused and awed, but it has the power to control what to be seen and told and truly draw your attention. From the given environment of continuously and rapidly changing colors and shapes, you instinctively try to find a recognizable shape or image, and you feel satisfied and settled when you finally identify one. But, this film gives you no time to grasp and understand each image, so it keeps you insecure and confused throughout the film. The beat and tempo of the voice and the dynamic movement of images are also synchronized, and it seems to make a comment on exuberant and revolutionary culture of contemporary Beat poetry.

Kiki Smith's Jewel (1997)

http://www.ubu.com/film/smith_kiki.html

I'll be honest, I picked this film because I liked the name Kiki. Part of what makes these exercises so fun but yet so intimidating, is this huge archive of incredibly talented artists whom I've never heard of, nor would have heard of had I not joined this class. Well, I'm happy to have learned a bit about Kiki Smith and for this week, I watched an excerpt of her 1997 work entitled Jewel. My first time watching the film, I really couldn't quite understand what I was watching. I guess I was so concerned about identifying what was coming across the screen, that I think I missed the point. What flies across the screen are these sort of amoeba like jelly fish organisms, a macro shot of a very peculiar world. But despite the strange shapes and the drone like floating across the screen, there were no distinguishing characteristics I could have used to identify the objects. Instead then, I focused more on the abstract. Yes, the visual is quite engaging, but the lack of sound and the strongly contrasting colors allows us to sink into a sort of meditative state (at least for me). It all became a blur of motion to me, and I found the film quite relaxing. Also, there is an intriguing air of mystery to the clip. Kiki Smith's Jewel reminded me to try harder to appreciate films that are amazing in less orthodox ways.

Mircea Cantor - Departure (2005)

http://www.ubu.com/film/cantor_deeparture.html

This short film portrays a deer and a wolf trapped together in a white box of a room. Following with their natural instincts and positioning in the food chain, I expected the wolf to pounce on the deer at any moment – quite an uneasy feeling for someone who doesn't like gore. For some reason, this never happens (oops, spoiler alert). The animals seem oddly out of their element set against a white background and don't know what to do with themselves. Lost and confused, they wander around as Cantor shoots them at various angles. There were extreme close ups as well as farther off shots, some of just the deer, some of just the wolf, and some together. I thought the quality of the color and detail in the fur was absolutely beautiful. Trying out video art after photography, I have been finding it difficult to take videos of things that are more still because they don't seem as interesting to me. Watching this film, though, completely proved me wrong. I made up the story in my head about the two characters, even though they weren't doing much of anything. Hopefully thinking about this film will give me more confidence when I'm shooting as well.

Marina Rosenfeld

http://www.ubu.com/film/rosenfeld_teenage.html

I am on 2 extreme ends of the spectrum when it comes to there being sound or no sound in a video. The "Teenage Lontano" is a video where sound makes the video come alive. The tone of sounds shift and intensify as the video progresses. There is also this eerie feel to the video. Rosenfeld was sure to make the sound the central focus for the video by eliminating any extra/unnecessary imagery in the film; the teenagers were highlighted by simple yellow lighting in a straight line. The shots of the teenagers were not distracting from the sounds being created by the teens. I had a hard time figuring out if the sounds were only from the teens or were other sounds coming from something else...

It was a audibly interesting video. The ambiguity in the beginning of wondering what the sounds were and where they were coming form, was enticing enough.


Lontano means "as from a distance" in Italian, I believe.
Lontano is also the name of a contemporary orchestra would entered the music scene in the 1970's
Here is a link: http://www.lontano.co.uk/

Sade G

Isaac Julien Video Installation at the ICA

Hi Gang,

So don't forget to go to the Institute of Contemporary Art and see the 9 Channel Video Installation by Isaac Julien http://www.icaboston.org/exhibitions/exhibit/IsaacJulien10000Waves/

It's very easy to get to the ICA from BC
by taking the green line to the Redline and getting off at South Station and walking to the Harbor along Seaport Boulevard (10 min walk).  If you want to get closer you can transfer tot he Silver Line towards the airport and get off at the Court House stop.  Follow the signs to the ICA.  More detailed directions here.  http://www.icaboston.org/visit/directions-and-parking/

You can learn more about Julien from his website  http://www.isaacjulien.com/about

Considering we need to do a lot of catch up with editing next week let's all discuss this piece on the blog for this week instead of using class time for a long discussion.  We can certainly continue the discussion further in class too but I want to get beyond the technical hurdles that we hit this week.

For next week, you'll find your own videos and installations to write about in galleries or museums around Boston or online at places like UBU http://www.ubu.com/film/  There are literally thousands of video's by the most prominent and important one's of our time.  If you feel overwhelmed you can always ask me for suggestions. - Jeff

Welcome to Introduction to Video Art!