Pixelvision

I went to D2L to find the info we are supposed to read for the feature length film next week, but I didn't see the reading he talked about. I did, however, see a reading by Michael Almereyda, who used a pixelvision camera to make an hour long film after seeing Sadie Benning's diarylike films. His ideas are pretty interesting, and I think it is cool that he is willing to break free of traditional cinema to try something new. For his next feature he says he plans on using 35 mm and pixelvision together. Now that's something you don't see in a theatre. And yet, he says he still wants to do a regular film. I got the idea that he wants to be a bigtime director in Hollywood film. I can understand his passion. Apparently he's tried over and over again but can never get funding. I'm glad he is still trying, despite the hardship. It shows he truly loves film! If he had made it in the Hollywood film business, more than likely he wouldn't have pursued pixelvision. Well, if you can't cut it in the bigtime, you can always go experimental, hey? (sorry, I can't help it I guess...anyways, I do admire his efforts. His creativity is not his problem apparently. He just needs practice on convincing people that he can make money in the box office. And heck, if his blend of 35 mm and pixelvision works for him, that'll be his way in. We all know how hard this business is.)

Anyways, I wanted to share this quote I got from his pixelvision story:

"A final confession. I still harbor vast hopes to direct big-budget films. Films with lavish sets, spectacular action sequences, actors everybody knows. Films that feed and reflect the immensity of pop culture. Basically, I want Tim Burton's job. But what is cinema, anyway? 'Love. Hate. Action. Death. In one word: emotion.' Sam Fuller's blunt inventory makes sense to me, and pixel- vision can cover those bases as well as the usual high-priced machinery. So there are days when I'm content. Days when I can pick up a pixel camera and leave my stunning future behind. Film makers, after all, are born free, but are everywhere in chains. The PXL 2000, if you can get your hands on one, remains liberating, spell-binding and inexhaustible."

I see alot of myself in this guy. He has a big dream and he's working hard to achieve that dream, no matter what goes wrong. He rationalizes his dream in a way to stay happy (perhaps we could say he chooses to see the glass half-full) but he never relinquishes his dream. He hasn't reached it yet, but he is constantly working toward it. He is even trying a new medium, just to get a name for himself, to try to taste the future he wants for himself. This is one postitive guy and I believe he will go far with this attitude. He has a goal for himself, and he works toward it diligently; yet along the way he chooses to be happy with progress he has made, and therefore gives himself confidence in his artistry and accomplishment. He could easily choose to give up or say he must be doing something wrong, but he refuses to. Instead he pushes ahead, doing his dream in any way he can. I like this guy. Watch for his name in Hollywood- if he doesn't give in to experimental film, a guy with passion like this will eventually get what he wants.

And now, for a brief view of the videos we watched in class today.

I think the one I enjoyed the best was Data Entries by Cory Archangel. As annoying as it was to listen to the incessant noise and as hard to watch as it was, I still found it interesting. I had often heard computer noises before in movies. So where did these noises come from? Who decided what a computer sounds like? I never hear my computer make those noises! Did someone beat Archangel to this project? Perhaps while making a computer? Someone must know. I got annoyed with it after about 30 seconds and really I would have almost liked it if he had stopped it there. After that, however, the newness of the idea wore off greatly and I just got irritated with the aweful noise it made.

Other than that, my next favorite film was Thursday. I liked it because it was more narrative than experimental. The artistically framed images and the lengths of time we were given to inspect them really made it seem like a story. I especially enjoyed the use of the clear mug. It was experimental in that it was close up and we could see the fluid inside move, but the mug was used several times throughout the film, so we started to turn to it as a story builder. In the end we seemed to get the idea that we were watching the day in the life of a man in his house, how he gets up early, sits in his rocking chair, drinks some coffee, enjoys the beautiful weather, then washes his glass and goes to sleep. It was the most diarylike of them all, to me. The most explicit in theme.

As for "Gently Down the Stream", once again I am moved to anger that we are forced to watch crap like this. Yes I can see why you say it is artistic, but I personally find it rude and disgusting that we must watch a film that is sexually explicit. I happen to be a very moral person who is proud of being pure. I HATE having to watch this stuff. The entire thing gave me the impression of a lesbian dreaming about her sexual desires. The woman at the rowing machine and the women swimming and walking into the water were all sexual images, and accompanied by the sexual words and allusions to lesbian behaviour, the film became one big sex dream. Who makes stuff like this? Please don't comment about how artistic it was and how I should go into more detail of why the artist was successful and what her images and her words did to get her point across...because as much as I could talk about the art involved, I refuse to because the very thought of that film makes me feel dirty and sick inside.