Jean-Luc Godard's trailers and title sequences

Godard's films have been been one of the major influences of my own work for a long time. Not so much in content but more in technique and style (though not as much now). I'm not sure the proper film language to describe it (its not montage), but there is definitely a collage like way he puts together his films. Text, images, and sounds intercut into the dietetic world of the film and yet it all works together. The title sequences and trailers are basically condensed versions of the films, accurately reflect the crazy energy, flow, and rhythm of the narrative.

Pastpresentfuture

Edvard Munch (1974)

In terms of editing and sound, Peter Watkins' film is an incredibly poetic and lyrical take in the life of Edvard Munch. The past, present, and future blend together in the narrative, sounds carry from time to another. In the example above, a group of artists have a discussion about Munch and laugh about his Puritan up bringing. Then it cuts to a shot of Munch in his room crying. Interwoven in the the sequence is also of scenes of Munch's mother's death, with the sounds of Munch's sobs and the laughter of the artists carried through out. Even though these events are totally unrelated in a linear understanding of time (the first is from the present, the second we later learn is from the future, and the third is of the past) the decision to edit this way adds another layer of meaning to the moment at hand, of endless torment and sorrow.

Bas Jan Ader

Is he magic?

Jan Dibbets

Panorama Dutch Mountain (1971)

Land 0-135° (1972)

Shortest Day at the Guggenheim Museum New York (1970)

New Horizons (2007)

Cloud Love

Here's some old work from last term. It never had an opportunity to be shown in a proper viewing environment. But someday . . .

Cloud Love from Sarah Chan on Vimeo.

Li Hongbo

Flexible Woman (2010)

Continuous Happiness (2010)

Li Hongbo - Pure White Paper from Dominik Mersch Gallery on Vimeo.

Some Saul Bass

Images from the title sequence of Grand Prix (1966)

Work in Progress: Some thoughts

I'm struggling a bit in making a piece for our coming show. My first instinct was to do a video projection or some sort of work with monitors. However, the installation space is a public area where security would be an issue. Not that it should deter me, but feel that even with a video, it seems like it would get lost in the space somehow. So I see as an opportunity to do some print based work, but still conveying a passing of time or a potential to shift perspective.

The above are sketches made using found images from an old home movie and crayon. The act of mark-making cover details but also seem to make the images more alive, as if to activate a memory. Through activation, memory is animated but not accurate.

Since these are stills from a film found on an online archive, I feel like there might be conceptual issues surrounding the use of media. The footage has gone through stages of mediation will continue to do so if I choose to go forth with this project. Existing as an actual film, it has been digitized (with the level of quality reduced), then will be printed, and marked. The question I pose is this: Is there a difference in the project if I marked the actual film vs. marking the mediated image? How is it different from marking a photograph? Somehow I feel that trying to "animate" a film after printing it as stills is a little redundant. Perhaps it's an attempt to give it new life (abeit a false one)? Is it just an illustration of movement? I don't know yet.