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.