Wake, Abstractions & Abrasions

I found Curtis' In The Wake to be somewhat calming. Images such as sunbathing ladies, men and women chatting and laughing with one another gives an easy-going feel. I found these images distracting in that I hardly paid attention to the text and was mroe captivated by the found footage. The "voice" I heard that was narating was feminine; something about this film gives off a feminine feeling. The shots of nature and the poetry combined to form this sense of fragility and seems delicate.
Early Abstractions is a delightful experience for the eyes. However I thought the pop music took away from that experience. I believe that the soundtrack worked at certain points, however for the most part the music severely took away from the wonderful images. What is the significance of using traditional pop love songs? "Til There Was You," "Take a Chance With Me" and so on.. Very similar to Anger's Scorpio Rising and Rabbit's Moon, where old pop tunes make up the soundtrack. Toward the end of Early Abstractions, some strange themes are presented: snakes, eyeballs, skeletons and then a baby doll- to the song "Til There Was You." Bizarre.
The soundtrack to Abrasions creates tension and discomfort. Altogether, picture with image produces a sci-fi type of feel for me. There is something non-human about this film, sort of like "creating the monster" type of feeling, as if we are looking in on a scientist, whether that be Joel or perhaps Joel is the "monster."

Visions on substance

"Early Abstractions" seems to be a cinematic representation of an LSD trip. Upon reading a little history on Harry Smith it seems his artistic path began upon meeting San Francisco bohemians and smoking pot at a Woody Guthrie concert. It seems appropriate that in his early work there is a looming feeling of drug induced visions. The use of layering is prominent throughout the different styles of abstraction. HIs films incorporate surrealist images as well as basic collage of colors. It is a beautiful piece. I find it interesting that he seems to play with the word "end." He uses it often to end an image while the soundtrack continues which I suppose suggests the soundtrack was added in later. It fit well, but as was said in class, it distracts a little bit too much from the images.

Early Abstractions, Abrasions, and In The Wake

i am enjoying the simplicity and flow of abrasions, and in the wake very much in contrast to harry smith's piece. i think a simple idea can have better luck at being cohesively enjoyable. lots of the early abstract animation films just seem like a showcase of techniques that the artist has learned. in this way they remind me of student work. when i watch an abstract animation such as early abstractions, i just slip into the mode of looking for technique and figuring out, how things were done, and how i could incorporate the better ideas into my own work. the work and my mind become very concerned with surface, and some of what makes many films so powerful is lost. the sound track just furthered my pull to surface only. it seemed as a hook to draw in others that would not usually care to sit through the film. like explosions and sex might do in a hollywood movie.

"o brave new world" RECYCLED IMAGES AT UC BOULDER!!

WEEK ONE: THAUMATROPES &PHENAKISTASCOPES

(pictured at left is Anne's magical dragon phenakistoscope)



Greetings from Boulder Colorado, it's a brand new semester and this is the very first post!
All the filmmakers are getting down and dirty with their investigation and construction of various pre-cinematic devices . Stay tuned for lots more film projects and posts from this talented crew.

Here's a start:
Matthew 's color-blending thaumotrope:


Sam's thinking about bears:


& Kevin's thinking about psychedelic birds, but in phenakistoscope format (apologies for my poor shooting here--I'll do better next time):



oh! for more inspiration (and better phenakistoscope movies) see this page by Kevin T Allen
http://www.phonoscopy.com/recycled.html

3 IMAGE EDITiNG=film surgery!

Well we are busy working with found footage now, sharpening our scalpels and cutting together short pieces in bursts of three--in homage to Eisenstein, japanese haiku and the general round magic of the number 3 ... I like to call them simple machines myself., which can later be assembled into larger more complex machines otherwise known as, um, films..

Here is Rose's work, she has 2 three-image edits in a row.

CLASS DESTRUCTION!

Group project where everyone got a few seconds/feet of a found film called Millions of Bubbles and had their way with it, then we spliced together the sections as you can see here.

COLLAGE COLLAGE COLLAGE!!

oh my. its been a few weeks since any postings, but we have been busy as bees learning about the history of collage in music art and film, and trying out a variety of collage techniques on filmstrips as you can see here.

Anne's MANGA SQUARES :


and JEDs' VISUAL MUSIC #1:



stay tuned for next week's first contact with found footage...