Pes

Pes

Honestly, I didn’t actually like listening to Pes talk about his work as odd as that sounds. He didn’t sound the way I imagined someone who created something as wild as the things he did to sound. He sounded sedated, very introverted. His films were so loud and insane that it just really conflicted with my perception of who he would be.
But then again, the amount of patience it would take to do the films he made would require not a wild, roaming mind, but a focused one. Every single thing shown in the frame, even though they were all toys or ribbons or something, all made sense in the context of the story line of the “war” film, which I thought was very admirable. Things were happening so fast that the subtly of his work almost came by subliminally. My favorite imagers were the explosions. I loved seeing the “microchip” city turning into Christmas bobbles and ribbons as the matchstick missiles struck, and the ironic “clown head” gun bursts exploding from the key cannons. It was amazingly cinematic for something that was made entirely with objects that could fit in your hand, like it was a Michael Bay film or something.
The film commercial of the “skateboarder” was pretty hilarious. I had seen things like that before were people had just jumped up and filmed it over and over, and then cut so it appeared that they were just floating, but Pes’ work was much more complicated and smoother looking. I’m still trying to figure out how did the face of the “skateboard” with his mouth hanging open and wind filling it.
If you say you’re into “experimental” cinema, most people have this really horrible, mythic conception of what it is. Most automatically think of an Andy Warhol film they heard about one time where you have to sit for eight hours watching the Empire State Building until suddenly it’s office lights come on. “Can you make any movie doing that sort of stuff?” Is usually the next thought I imagine people who aren’t really that into the modes and styling of cinema probably think of.
Apparently you can.
Pes is good indicator of how important experimenting with film techniques is. His “avant-garde” pixilation process that he perfected making his painstakingly short films afforded him the opportunity to create a highly lucrative, and imaginative advertising campaign for a shoe company. I can’t help but to think of Michel Gondry’s music video for the Rolling Stones (the video was “like a rolling stone” I believe) where the camera technique he came up with was employed for the infamous shot in the first Matrix film where Keanu “dodges” the bullet. Most people see these things on television or in a big movie, and just assume that Hollywood is a gigantic brain coming up with these incredible things. In reality, it is the people that we don’t really hear too much about that are really providing the tools that push the film industry forward.

Animation

Now the concept of abstract and experimental animation is very interesting to me, but I will have to disagree with the author of the article. The author believes that experimental animation veers towards the abstract. That it has no narrative to it. It is all about rhythm and color, just like a painting. There is a feeling that even though the author admires and is amused by things like Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse, that he thinks of less of it when compared to something like Fischinger. There is something more "artistic" about the abstract modes of animation when compared to Daffy Duck "cussing" or having everything but his beak blown to smithereens. He sees "experimental" animation as liberating, as opposed to the narrative confines of a Loony Toons cartoon. But this very definition of what "experimental" is compared to the rest ultimately confines it as an art form. Why can't a cartoon be just as every bit as artistic as an experimental animation? Certainly Road Runners landscape looks more like a Dali than Disney. Great works of art until the rise of modernism, and postmodernism have always been able to convey a story inside of it's frame. An animator should be able to use all things, narratives and abstractions, to convey a feeling, an emotion, or a story. An artist shouldn't have to chose which "camp" they belong to. The moment that happens, it limits expression.

Brakhage

Probably the best thing about this article for me was the fact that Brakhage attempted to narrate a lot of these technical processes using an informal, and also poetic language. You could see what he was talking about much easier, because his writing showed an enthusiasm for the subject (as opposed to many books about film that are cut and dry, and overly technical). It's the difference between having a manual on how to correctly paint a picture, and actually having the artist of the painting you wish to emulate actually there telling you what to do. Every now and then, though, this poetic sense would sort of not mix quite so well with the technical sense of things, and understanding was muddied (although there was clearly excitement). My favorite thing didn't really have that much to do with Brakhage at all, however. I really enjoyed the parts that discussed Kenneth Anger, and especially the Polish Cinema with the different screens. It was a good story, and the concept of it when played out (I have seen several travelogue type films presented this way) is very interesting to watch, so to read how it was constructed was pretty cool.

Magazine Transfer

The magazine transfer process was very interesting to me. The process behind it was a bit strange having to deal with the limits of the film strip, as opposed to what can be filmed. You instantly are working in a very constrained environment, and if you want to try and create something (abstract or not), you have to really plan it out. Half the time I felt like I was a psychopathic criminal as I cut out the letters and pictures from magazines, and then methodically placed them in the desired order. It didn't matter how well I thought I measured out my strips, after comparing them to the film stock I would have to go back and trim the sides down again and again, until very little of what I wanted was left. Still, I haven't seen the images projected so they might end up being more intense. The painting on film was also interesting, but since I painted the film strip horizontally, I have no idea of what it will look like once it is run vertically through a projector, and this was something I wasn't even taking into consideration at the time, and how it might affect the way I want the image to be seen.
I've become interested in the ideas of installation art, and VJing, and I think that the magazine transfer process could be incredibly useful in these sorts of projects. There is something about it that reminds me of being in lower school, and doing these sorts of crude cut outs and making collages, which is what it really seems to be, one big collage.