Monday 02/26/ 07 Films Featuring a visit from Laura Marks

Today i was ten minutes late for class so when i walked in to class it was dark and in the middle of a showing. From what i was able to findout from the end of the first film and what Laura Marks was saying was that it was a film about finding a letter in the ground. The letter that was hidden inside of a mortor shell; I saw a guy hitting the shell with a hammer and thought it would blow up, how odd it felt to me that a group of people stood around while this man hit a possible active mortor shell with a hammer. It was reveled that inside was a letter, that i had guessed the guys were diggin for in the first place. I wished i had gotten the name of the film and it's creator but i brought a new perspective to me. At the end of the showing Laura Marks talked about an olive tree that the filmmaker talked about cutting down but wouldn't because it would be removing the familys livly hood, at this time i was still unclear as to what she was talking about, thats what i get for being late to class, right?

The next film that Laura Marks showed us was an animatted short by another filmmaker, again i didnot get to record the name of the animator but it was an interesting short film called, "The Sadman" this short was featured on leboniese tv. This piece is a representative of what life in bayrouth is like; that the leboniese people are very welcoming, hospitable to others. But there is always this underlying feeling of sadness. In the film it features a man that we see every day walking home from work, it cuts to him going down to most likly his apartment, where he is shown washing his face in the sink and it is revealed that he losses his face, so he draws a a happy face to replace it. The next day we see the same thing until he washes his face again except that the water turned to sand, the next scene is hime covered in sand much like a sand version of a snow man with a happy face but this crubbles and we are faced with the sad man again. Next day we see the same thign again except that when the man goes to the sink no water comes out and he he starts to cry, his tears fill his apartment. We see in the end that the man has bottled his happyness almost like he is waiting for it to be ready to unlesh so he can enjoy it like some kind of perfect "canned goods".

The next film that was introduced to us by Laura Marks was a film made in the 90's, that was released over the internet, i once again wasn't able to record the filmmakers name but his film "Dead Time" was an excellent movie. This film featured a city cut off from every escape to the outside except for the internet which was available, sometimes. Laura Marks said to the class today that this filmmakers movie and others were alot like, "messages in bottles", cast out over the internet to those that would watch. In the end of the film we see the ruins of the city from it being bombed, ontop of a roof was the filmmaker him self wearing a, Superman shirt, I found this a bit ironic and the line that he said in the shot was that, he wished he could have raised his fist in the air but he didn't because he lost his sense of humor, I talked to Laura Marks after and she agreed. I mentioned what i thought to her; that when we see the Superman symbol it is identifyed with power, or strength and that when the filmmaker was wearing that but said that, he would have raised his fist but lost his sense of humor, that is took the power away from that and that seemed to fit the mood a very lost sense of power, or stability. Laura Marks told me that she was there when that city was bombed and that is how she felt, lost and unimpowerd. It was great to talk with her, even though it was only for a few moments, but to get that kind of insight from another filmmaker was an experiance of it's own.

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Cory arcangel: "Data Diaries"
Q: What was the specific concept this film is striving for? Does it involve the patterns and the colors? or just the idea?
I think perhaps the point of "Data Diaries" was to show that can be found everywhere; otherrimes in extremely random, unexpected places.

I found that in our own personal space we trend to want to talk to our audiance. Do you think this is what she was doing?

In our personal space we do tend to want to talk to our audiance, a created simple audianc that is in front of the tele. Like theme sang by Vito Acconci - it presents a certain... What kind of image can be shown to keep the audiance coptivated?

I think you can show any type of image that is shocking or controversial to coptivate an audiance. Can sound along coptivate an audiance?

I think sound, the lack of sound, and music play just as important part on the film as the image themselves. Did you find the sound in any of the films we've seen to be particularly worthless?

Mostly, yes, it's hard to remember which soundtrack was which cause they all sounded the same.

Who is the man in the glass telephone booth?

Who isn't the man in the telephone booth? He is a representation of the audiance. Atleast he should be what moves in in this anyhow.

Fred Warden - Every Day Bad Dream 16mm/ Color & Sound 2005

This film is like a kind of hangover, pure energy for film, the cartoon mayhem that is Donald Duck as the ring leader. I found this film to be disturbing in it's wake, yet very entertaining as i watched . I liked this film because of how disturbing it really was, in comparison to "All My Life" it was on the other extrem from peacful.

Bruce Baillie - All My Life 16mm color/ sound 3min 1966

Wanted to captivate the light that captivated what he experianced. Bruce Baillie calls his films his" home movies" . There isn't a practice but that you just do. Singularly beautiful. Ella Fitsgerald is being played over the natural audio of the piece and it couldn't be any more perfect. When i watched the stilled camera pan along the fence seeing the the many flowers that lined the fence made me want to implement it in one of my own movies. I found it a very peacful and wonderful sight to watch this 3 min long film.

Leighton Pierce - Thursday 16mm, color/sound, 4min

Filmed the two hours in his infent sons down tim. Restricted to his house, extremly close, intemant shots. This film felt to me Dorskiesk, veryrich soundtrack. It seemed that to me Leighton Pierce was searching for the visual gems around his house. In the film we follow the short story of a cup of coffe being drank and the beautiful images that can be presented in between. I liked this film because it made me think that to simple film the morning and specific events within can be a great short film.

Cory Arcangel - Data Diaries - quicktime movies 2002

Computer RU-RU , mayhem, confussing. A simple film to be watched i didn't really care for, however i did like the mayhem in the film.

Robert Breer - Fist Fight, 16mm color & sound 1946

Something of a diary film, sound comes from soundtrack "original" the consecutive fact of film allows for everything. Single images one after another in quick succession fussing into motion.. this is cinema. My own approach to film is that of a painter I try to present an image that follows mereely other aspects of and eqivalent to the first & last image. The whole works constantly present. A berage of image, animated, photos. RU-RU is introduced, the term is used to describe his films. RU-RU comes from a joke the filmmaker tells about to guys captured by and indian tribe and they both must pick there fate and it ends in RU-RU, which in a quick sum up is a highly pornographic/ violent death. I wasn't really sure about this film I didn't hate it but i didn't care for it either.

Su Friedrich - Gently Down the Stream 16mm

Black & White film, 1981. This film was mentioned in Micheal Snows Film, "So Is This". A dream video in a way, this film was a font peice like " So Is This" were something is written on every frame. This film is presented at 18 frames per second, it is a serious of the filmmakers dreams and reflects to us the audiance the topics of her sub-concious. The filmmaker kept a dream journal to make this peice and as dreams often are it was very random. Su Friedrich skratched what she wanted to say on the film, not using title cards like Micheal Snow most likly did with his film. In the begining of the film she featured religious images and also water images. I did like this film because it kept my attention and it made me think about how my dreams are if i tried to put them into film. I thought Su Friedrich did an excelent job on this film and should be proud of the work on this film.

A Letter to Jonas No.1 from Ben

Monday Morning, the focus of Bens digital camera is put on a large tree first blury then of course clear. The filmmaker only known as, "Ben" plays and chasses his dogs Fyne & Bess. He introduces the England morning country side as the sun is coming up. Ben goes on to expalne how he couldn't sleep and went to take a walk with his dogs at 6:00AM. Ben turns the camera around on him self to a close up shot, when he tells "Jonas" to just listen to the morning noise, how peacful the morning can be when you stop thinking or making artificial noise to fill the air. This film was presented to us as part of of Jonas mikases 365 days of film. I enjoyed this film because it made me think of filming the gems of nature and not just telling a story with a camera.

Miranda July - The Amateurist - video 1998

People contained in technology , two parts of the film, The subject in the survalience camera & "the mad scientist analyzing the subject in the survalence camera. A corraspondants of sorts, The Mad scientist watching the lady on the survalence camera, analyzing the letters and numbers the subject makes, it almost seems like the lady on the survalence camera is trying to say what she wants with her body, in between when she is giving the fingure. It's like seeing two penpals that can't see each other or read each others letters yet communicate only between each other. I liked watching this film because I enjoyed seeing Miranda July playing two roles within the same space and time, yet playing two different characters. When i watched this film seeing Miranda July playing the mad scientist it made me think of seeing a 1960's episode of Lost in Space, the campy, cheesy way the film seemed to come off was incredibly enjoyable to watch.

Sadie Benning - If every girl had a diary

Pixelvision on vhs 1990 made a toy camera, Sadie Bennings father bought her her the pixelvision camera. Watching Sadie Benning was like watching something fragil, not like glass would break if you weren't carful enough but more like holding an infant, you wrap your arms around that baby and you wont let go for the world until that baby is safe and sound. Sadie Benning made her "diary" in the privacy of her own bedroom. You get the feeling that your watching something intensly fragil, a presumption of our presents only more intense, intament only more sencer. Sadie Benning seems to suggets that a come- on more then a diffying plea. I didn't really like Sadie Bennings film because it seemed to me like she was ranting and complaining but isn't that the purpose of a diary so overall i enjoyed it for what it was but it also botherd me at the same time.

Cecelia Condit - Beneath the Skin 1981

Different skin, surfaces, varitey of texture, video taping different surfaces. Contrast between the impersonal horror of a news story heard on TV & the interview of a storyteller!!! Two face's superimposed over her own face. One sleeping, one awake, a memorable conversation that seemed to be very much dream like yet very active in a "gossip circle". The visual exploration between chroma keying, to black and white, to textural. Variety of visuales, the blurred skull. The way this piece was presented to me "the audiance" seemed to be like this is me in my dreams over my subconcious. When we watched this movie I felt like i was inside her mind yet over her body in a death experiance. I liked this movie I thought it was a novel approach to depicting dreams and the beholder of those dreams.

Joan Jonas - Vertical roll video 1972

Joan Jonaes film featured her in self as a stationary manican that the focus is on her body and the parts in which it details. Joan Jonas preforming on her body being distabilized by a vertical roll featuring a violent hammer hitting sound as the vertical roll hits the horizan of the frame. Joan Jonas used one camera to film herself and displayed that image on her TV and then used a second camera to film the image on her TV. In order to achieve the vertical roll she simply twisted a nob which was a feature on her tv at the time. This style of filming interest me and infact reminnds me of when i was younger and would film an image on TV in order to portray a different story. Joan Jonas created a different type of experiance by simply twisting a nob on her TV and adding a hammering sound to the vertical roll. I enjoyed viewing this film because it made me remember my earlyer days as a film maker exploring the much like Joan Jonas did for this peice.

Lisa steel - Birthday suit with scars & defects 1974

NUDITY IN A PRIVATE SPACE OR A DECLARATION?
On her 27th birthday Lisa Steel video taped her self in the nude recanting the scars on her body and thus telling the story of her physical life. This piece makes me think of a preformance for ones self in ones own privacy, confessional naked, preformance. In telling the storys of her scars and her clumbsiness; it seems that Lisa Steel is confronting us, the audiance, in the raw and nude self to show that our bourgeois American sexual taboos are only "skin deep". I enjoyed Lisa Steels film because to release a private preformance to strangers is a brave event. To see Lisa Steels film about her life of clumbsiness felt real because who doesn't recall the scar on the knee from falling off our bikes. The black and white quality of the film says to me this is my journal except it as is.