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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