Death to the Projectors

I presented my Small Town Clowns film "in progress" for winter term review. It's funny I don't think I have been as proud of my own visual art ever, but my presentation was tangled in a gnarly mess of technical errors.

Initially my problem began with the death of a projector for transferring the film to digital. When this projector broke I turned on my back up only to watch the lamp suddenly dim, chased by the curious sound of a bubbling noise. It took some luck but I eventually found another projector on short notice to use....but once I brought it back to the studio I noticed that it too was broken-the part that grasps the take up reel was slightly broken enough that the reel couldn't lock. At this point the screening room had become a pretty sorry looking projector graveyard. It was at this point that I recruited Nina to unravel the film slowly off of a Pérrier bottle while I yanked on the other end to slowly guide the strip through the projector's belly. Thanks again Nina! Needless to say this left me with much less time than I had expected for progress. I'm using this spring break to stock up on good projectors. I want them to be my friends again.

After having come to a reasonable point in the project to be "showing" it for critique, I had made a DVD with Dustin. As it turned out, we discovered too late that all of the videos worked on the DVD except mine! Ridiculous. This is what I get for thinking Super 8 is Digital Art I guess. Ultimately, my work being in progress for critique turned out to be a really good thing. While I really wanted to be prepared to show off a finished product-I think I wouldn't have taken as much away from the critique if I had. The phrase "in progress" seems to invite viewers to speak freely and critically without the work without the idea that it is "done" and not open to suggestion. I could go on about what was said but thats a totally different blog - I'll just settle to say it was definitely helpful.

On the other side of the pet rock my sound/music project at school has been thriving, even through break, and I am nearly finished with a full length album or document of sorts. I have been considering the project conceptually, attempting use the same approach as my films - by incorporating sound documents and archetypes from art/sound art/music history into my songs. I am hoping to use them as tools for creating accessible music - in some weird way. For instance right now I am deconstructing the notes involved in a composition by Marcel Duchamp to be rearranged into a pre-existing structure in a pop song. Long story short I have been spending a lot of time in that little sound room. I consider this album to be my ode to that little closet of noises.

Small Town Clown Notes So Far

Small Town Clowns

So it's about time I started working out the next dream page in to a film. Initially when I began this project, I only thought to make separate stories from each page - not re-using characters for multiple films or videos. But recently Ying suggested the idea of re-using my mustache character throughout the series of films, and this would bring about a better sense of uniformity and open up the possibilities of elaborating on themes and images.

Ultimately, I tried to established an implied narrative in Mustache Police where I was challenging Dali's symbolic image from art history. In other words, I was trying to pose the question of Dali's celebrity more memorable than his art. But something I discovered during the critiques was that my ability to make the film depended so much on my love for surrealism in the first place. To some extent, this is an obstacle that many aspiring artists face...the notion of making referential art that is "original". How can I, as a filmmaker, claim my ideas for myself - when most of my techiques are rooted in my knowledge of art and film history? Where is the line between influence and originality drawn?

My next film is based on a dream page which bears the simple statement "Small Town Clowns". So this time, I have decided to re-use the mustache character from my first film and put him in a more dense and confusing situation involving Clowns. The concept is that I will be calling on symbols of clowns from art and film history, and attempting to thread together a narrative consisting of them seeking out to reclaim the mustache.

I am still not sure how much to decide on as far as storyboarding - but I have definitely decided to get some shots immitating paintings of Clowns Picasso made in his Rose Period. Many of these paintings were made of real people Picasso discovered on his travels - italian townsfolk and wanderers. There is one specific painting, which involves a rose colored Clown sitting on a horse. My plan is to get the right costumes together and do all of the filming in my hometown Fossil, Or. I have friends who actually live on ranches back home. If I can convince them - which I think I can - I'll be getting them one to dress up like the clown on the horse...and I will try and shoot frame by frame on them sitting still. My intention is to recreate the moment when the actual clown was painted and turn it into stop motion.

Finally, my ultimate goal is to finish a third film based on this concept. This is where it gets tough. I need to do some thinking to decide which side of the war will win; or if resolution is necessary at all?

Above are some images I have found from Picasso's Rose Period of Clowns, and some other relevant images... If anyone has suggestions for me - Clowns they know of...or general criticism, etc. Please dish it out. I am still trying to put all of this in perspective a little bit. Its not easy to abandon the original ideas I had.