Mothlight

Mothlight by Stan Brakhage (1963) was made by sticking bits of found foliage to tape and then running it through a projector.

There’s no sound on this animation you can choose your own and in doing so change the context of the visual dialogue completely. It’s an experimental short film that has no narrative and is open-ended. What I liked about the Stan Brakhage piece Mothlight (1963) is the random appearance of the flicking shapes of light—captured in this keyframe type of animation. The patterns, lines and textures are held together by the fragility of elements found. Using plants and insects to explore the themes of mortality and innocence. It has that DIY ethos quality to it that makes you want to head straight out of doors with some transparent tape and get creative, ripping the wings off many insects to do so, though the Victorians were much crueller with their collections of stuffed animals.

On closer examination of the tape, you get the feeling of less randomness and a much more studious, time-consuming methodical process. There is an interweaving of compositional elements arranged that have been almost plotted like constellations on to a clear tape into strategic juxtapositions. Stan Brakhage clearly demonstrates his skills of both an artist and experienced animator that really understood time and motion to perfection as the animation is absolutely mesmerizing.

As your eyes move over the spider webs there is a subtlety of new angles formed by the crossing over of repeated elements. The wings likewise fan out and change in colour variation and are repeated with the same methodical, almost scientific approach to collecting, sampling and repeating. Forming patterns of elements that are composed in such a way as to create movement with a lyrical quality. The film suggests that these strips may have been superimposed to create a more naturalistic effect.

This animation technique is reminiscent of Kyle Cooper’s outstanding title sequence Se7en. Se7en uses a layering effect with graphic elements scratched out onto film, working with the medium itself. Using a dynamic frame rate and unfamiliar juxtapositions meticulously crafted. The appearance of randomness is the same.

View title sequence in Se7en
More about Stan Brakhage

Cinema Paradiso

Cinema Paradiso won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes film festival in 1989. At the time this was completely unexpected for the critics to receive the movie so well. In his pocket the director Giuseppe Tornatore had bought a return ticket, an escape into exile if required, thankfully this was not needed!

Seeing the movie after that was absolutely magical. It is a meta cinematic masterpiece with a wonderful soundtrack. The cinematography is set in Sicily was beautifully composed—shown through a subtle, but shifting time spanning 30 years. The script was excellent without falling into the trap of being cliché or overly sentimental. The only problem that I had with it was with the deluxe edition box set, I wasn’t too sure which film version I preferred. The one that was previewed at Cannes and won the grand prize or the director's cut which was much longer, explaining the story of the lovers' later reunion in much fuller detail. The edited version kind of added to the utter despair of not knowing… creating a greater sense of mystification within the piece.

The story depicted the truth of having a very successful careered life as a movie director at the cost of a failed romantic life and family life. Beautifully visualized by the Filmatic visual montage of stolen kisses, the scene is also interesting as your viewing film you are seeing a film in the film. The stolen kisses are a montage of censored imagery controlled by the local priest:

The priest has the power to censor films before his flock views them. This was not a complete exaggeration, the Cento Cattolico Cinematografo established in 1936 to censor films continued to classify films, according to the church’s lights.

The postmodern cut-up montage reassembled out of the original film contexts, was poignant and emotionally charged. The footage reflected the nostalgia of childhood (his memories shared with Alfredo). Combined with an emotional sense of passion for the medium rekindled:

Six, five, four, the numbers wind down. And, there, on the reel, are all the expurgated scenes from the movies of his childhood: All the censored kisses. All the censored passion. All the censored life.

In this scene especially Ennio Morricone’s soundtrack fits Cinema Paradiso perfectly.

The film was both scripted and directed by Giuseppe Tornatore. In cinematic terminology it is known as a metafilm, holding the audience to not forget that they are watching a film and caught up in it simultaneously. We, therefore, experience the film's theme of the loss of innocence to a much greater effect—through its richness and brilliance of storytelling. Here’s some dialogue between Alfredo and Salvatore—enjoy.

Alfredo: Living here day by day, you think it’s the center of the world. You believe nothing will ever change. Then you leave: a year, two years. When you come back, everything’s changed. The thread's broken. What you came to find isn't there. What was yours is gone. You have to go away for a long time... many years... before you can come back and find your people. The land where you were born. But now, no. It’s not possible. Right now you’re blinder than I am.

Salvatore: Who said that? Gary Cooper? James Stewart? Henry Fonda? Eh?

Alfredo: No, Toto. Nobody said it. This time it's all me. Life isn’t like in the movies. Life... is much harder. ~ Cinema Paradiso

Chris Botti & Yo-Yo Ma - Cinema Paradiso http://bit.ly/Z4ihq 

Ennio Morricone - Cinema Paradiso http://tinyurl.com/3xh8pf

Death by Advertising

Édouard Manet, Portrait of Émile Zola, 1868, Musée d'Orsay

I was very surprised by Emile Zola’s short fictional story: Death by Advertising as it’s such a great discovery and written so long ago, yet still completely relevant. It’s about a young man who comes into an inheritance at an early age, due to his poor father who had worked himself into an early grave. It makes humorous and insightful references to the real ‘values’ of advertising. The story seeks to legitimize the fact that the newspaper adverts were his first visual introduction to reading material, whilst the advertising pages were of no use to his father; he found them alluring and insightful. From his first readings he learns to believe in the idealist lifestyle they inspire, the lifestyle his father only dreamt about. 

In The Age of Enlightenment advertising, a daring and new technological lifestyle seemed to hold the key to the pursuit of happiness. I admire that this guy is no quitter and sees his chosen path to the end, without remorse or loss of faith. Emile Zola even jests about his reading material being all ‘outstanding’ in claims when often it was not by far, hence explaining partly his reasons for not seeing reason in quitting. The thing that is most surprising and remarkable is that it was first written in 1866 (translated into English in 1884). 

Today’s books still have outstanding quotations on them, as do cinema trailers/posters, TV guides and electronics. We have billboard advertising, on the Underground animating LCD screens, and neon signs furnish our buildings; all such things in one way or another are promising happiness. Creating a viral marketing video is the latest craze in the advertising world. Also, Twitter introduced promoted tweets, but can’t keep up with advertiser demands.  

The great stand up comedian Bill Hicks, in the late 1970s and throughout the 80s warns us about advertising and marketers; playing on the fact that the audience thinks that what he’s saying is in some way a joke. “If you’re in advertising or marketing kill yourself *laughs*— silence.” He understood the bullshit and the damage that advertising is accountable for. Where Emile Zola’s character couldn't quit, Bill Hicks was standing up tackling the problem head on, making no joke about it, shaking things up! Bill was very much like this young man in the respect that he was no quitter. Bill Hicks using his comedic talent to enlighten us directly about things that matter, didn’t quit the fight. “In a time of universal deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” ~ George Orwell

Visually from a design perspective, I’m interested in what advertising was like and could it be as effective as the story Death by Advertising suggests. Here are some examples from Victorian England, based on The Age of Enlightenment. These like the story helps illustrate the characters plight a little more emphatically. Typical newspaper classifieds at the time illustrated: just a shave, a blood purifier, a skin beautifier and stretched trousers to name, all appear to look good with nice drawings and typographical design. Emile Zola sees through the advertisements and writes this short story using humour, satire and irony to enlighten and entertain, just like Bill Hicks did much later. He proves in the most remarkable way that it’s impossible—to live by the weekly onslaught of dangerous goods and treatments, advertised and purchased. This could only be achieved with good characterisation and the means necessary and self-delusions of grandeur. We can all relate to this story in some way a hundred and forty years later!

Henri Fantin-Latour (14 January 1836 – 25 August 1904) Vase of Roses, 1875

The Attack on the Mill and Other Stories (Oxford World's Classics) by Emile Zola

Print advertisements from the collections of Mr Roland Knaster and The British Museum, and printed in 1968 by William Clowes and Sons Ltd, London & Beccles.

Photography: Water Surface Patterns

It was a beautiful sunny weekend, so I headed over to the docks wanting to recapture the dock waters, cause last time I was there I hit upon the idea of taking pics of reflections that simulated sound waves. I wanted to expand on this theme using the surrounding reflected architecture to create these watery rhythms, of course, what I forgot was that last time I was there, the sun was out only it was windy too and later in the day. The reflections didn't look at all how I last observed them. Humoured by this realization, I was quite taken with the idea that I had no idea and thought that I would try capturing the dock waters in as many different ways as possible.

So why are the Ceilings Left Empty?

Parallel worlds are always fascinating because of their complexity and strange familiarity. Sometimes you get stuck in such places as Neil Gaiman’s Coraline. And, at other times it offers you a choice you couldn’t possibly have made, like Doctor Who (David Tennant) creating a duplicate of himself. Ji Lee has created these installations titled Parallel Worlds, he explains:

People fill the floor of their homes with furniture and walls with paints and pictures. So why are the ceilings left empty? Decorating ceilings was a celebrated art form in the past centuries that somehow got lost through the reductionism of modernism. People don’t look at the ceiling anymore. It’s a dead space. So, I wanted to bring a small wink to this space. I also like the idea that somehow there's a parallel world which coexists with ours.

Ji Lee’s Parallel worlds are that of our own realized in contemporary miniaturization, only lacking is an epic adventure and I wonder if the title is a little too ambitious for this project. The focus here is much more to do with the humour and placement and semi-permanent nature of the miniature installation itself. The thing that makes them interesting is that they are very cleverly constructed, appealing and fun. There’s stuff lying on a rug, a chair pulled out invitingly and plants they need attending. Ji Lee asks “So why are our ceilings left empty?” He’s exactly right, maybe it’s time to reconsider this space in new and exciting ways.

Ji Lee – Parallel world. Please enjoy

Haruki Murakami: Behind the Book

These are three objects that kept Haruki Murakami company as he wrote the brilliant and bewitching Kafka on the Shore. Sinchosha Murakami’s Japanese publisher asked the author to take them behind the scenes of the book. He selected things from music to books to objects that helped maybe subliminally maybe not to inspire the story. Here, the objects that he chooses to sit on his desk as he wrote this piece, including his apple laptop. Whilst some of these have a personal significance to Haruki Murakami others he clearly enjoyed! I greatly appreciate him sharing these little gems.

Behind the books: Find out what Murakami eats, drinks and listens to while he writes.