Showing posts with label creative commons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label creative commons. Show all posts
Shadow Chase
Sometime in the latter half of last year Ana Cordeiro Reis (Hyaena Fierling) had asked me if I was interested in providing her with a half-an-hour of video footage that she could then compose to with a view to it being used in a live performance in the UK. Naturally the chance to work with her was all the motivation needed, and so we began discussions on the what, the where and the how.
I had recently had my work projected publicly for the first time (as opposed to being shown on a flat-screen TV in a gallery setting) and was thinking about the need to tailor the work to the environment in which it was to be shown, so my first questions were about where Ana was planning to perform. Locations in Birmingham and possibly The Gregson Institute in Liverpool were mentioned and I spent some time researching the type of places these were and the type of performances held in them, as well as looking at Ana's other recorded live performances on YouTube and Vimeo.
The spaces were fairly small and intimate (as opposed to stadium type) and the projection would not be on a huge scale. I had to consider peripheral lighting, possible people movement and that Ana would be weaving her magic against a backdrop of my imagery. To produce a narrative or anything too subtle seemed pointless, so the challenge was to make something visually interesting in such a setting over the space of half-an-hour as well as maintaining some continuity and having some alignment, if not meaning, with Ana's aesthetic.
We discussed via Skype a theme. Dreams, journeys, imaginary landscapes, juxtapositions...
Ana sent some footage via WeTransfer of road movies she had taken in Portugal and also some still images from her vast collection. I had also been working on footage from unrelated sources, so it was a matter of trying to find a balance between her suggestions and what I needed to maintain my interest and enthusiasm.
I had never made a video of this length before (10 minutes being the previous max). I also was used to working to a soundtrack, not in silence. I was not comfortable with using still images (seemed like a slide show) so I began merging the road movies with dream like snippets. At this point the combined footage ran for less than 20 minutes. I thought that to have some footage of Ana herself might be a nice touch, so that the audience could see that the film was specifically about her as opposed to some random imagery.
Over a few months life and work get in the way of the best laid plans. Other little projects crop up, ideas get modified, directions change. I was doing long road trips from one end of the state to the other, Ana was in UK one day, Portugal the next. Occasionally snippets would arrive, we continued our Skype discussions and I continued to try to build the film without really knowing what the soundtrack would be. I must admit at this time I was really struggling to maintain continuity, so when some more footage arrived of Ana dancing it became the catalyst to start bringing it all together. I compiled the film out to around 28 minutes and sent a rough cut back. I had called it 'The Dreams of Ana'.
It was only a matter of a few days when a 10 minute soundscape came back with the title of 'shadow chase'. From here on it gave me the direction I needed to start pulling it all together, and so began the tightening up and working out the colour harmonies and 'flow'. Also Ana sent some more footage of her hands and shadows which helped me to resolve issues I was having with the start and end. I got to a point where I thought that this was about as good as it is going to get, so sent off the second draft. She continued with finishing the composition, and so Shadow Chase was born...
The soundtrack will be released as part of an EP, and we will let you know when the live performances are likely to take place.
You can download the film from the Internet Archive here...
Our other collaborations have been:
Why is this happening?
The Illusion of Freedom
I forget you
Ana's website is: akousmata
Internet Archive has a makeover...
I cannot emphasize enough the impact and influence the Internet Archive has had on my art, and the direction it has taken since mid way through 2012 when I started getting interested in video and came across the Archive when searching for some public domain footage to experiment with. Since then it has become something of a second home on the Web, one where I resource much of my 'found footage', the repository of my video collection, the definitive 'home' of public domain and the concept of the 'free web', as well as the vast collections of text, audio, books, Netlables, images, music, film, the Gutenberg Collection, the Wayback Machine...the list just goes on and on and on. And all for FREE!
The Archive has just released a Beta version of their new look and feel, and now my video collection is presented in the above format rather than just a list of text titles. I think it's pretty cool (as is everything the Archive is, does and stands for). You can now even 'like' my videos! Check it out here...
I would also encourage you to join and support the Archive. Very easy to sign up and get your e-library card and become part of the electronic frontier...
I forget you
You can download the files from the Internet Archive here...
The soundscape is by Hyaena Fierling from her album super flumina Babylonis, available on Bandcamp here...
You can visit her website here...
The woman is Brigitte Schiller, from Lutz Mommartz's Die Schiller.
With thanks to all those who work in the Creative Commons...
Telegraph - What Is Your Name
As an artist racked by self doubt and perfection paralysis where every production is akin to the breech birth of an antiquarian mutant it is delightfully refreshing when one comes across an ascribed artwork that I have no recollection of ever making! Well, it's that sort of world now, especially in the creative commons...
I have no idea who Telegraph are. The only blurb I can find is from their release 'Cookies': "And another, and another... And another one big and really strong release by our super-residents Telegraph duo! Meet six underground minimalistic deep-house tunes by excellent music-makers from Minsk!"
It's not the sort of music I would normally listen to, but it's not unpleasant. The video footage originally came from my experiment mixing up Marcel Duchamp with Candy Earle called la mariée mise à nu (the bride stripped bare) although in my film the tones are red rather than blue. Thanks to Telegraph for the credit...and for the same on another of their videos called Next Room which is heavily filtered and for the life of me I cannot work out what the source was, but who cares, transmutation is the new paradigm!
The Illusion of Freedom
Arguably my most ambitious project to date I return to my surrealist roots homaging Joseph Cornell and Luis Bunuel. Eroticism, religion, sex and death interspersed with industrial decay and wastelands combine in a mashup that underpins the futility of decadent desire, religious ecstasy and the conflict with the reality of our mundane lives.
I am (again) indebted (and indeed honoured) to be working with the soundscape Ayesha (She Who Must Be Obeyed) (the muse perhaps?) from the album Rosa de lobo by Hyaena Fierling Reich (aka Ana Cordeiro Reis). Her website can be found here...
The album Rosa de lobo can be downloaded from Bandcamp here...
The video files can be downloaded from the Internet Archive here..
Return to Reason
This mashup (like the title suggests) is a return to some of my favourite themes, and working again with the soundscapes of one of my favourite musicians (emptywhale), who I blame entirely for the development of my cinematic 'style'. The themes of eroticism, passion, death, decay, disintegration, decline and disorder combine in a (humble) homage to Man Ray...
The delightfully dulcet soundscape is From A Clear Sky taken from emptywhale's third album Some Hollow Lullabies. You can download it here...
The HD MPEG movie file on the Internet Archive can be downloaded here...
You can see all of my videos here...
The Lake
These images are all freely downloadable at CD size 640x640 pixels (12x12 cm)...
Simply click on the image to see it actual size then right click and Save Image As...If you would like a hand with some elegant typography get in touch...
All images available under the Creative Commons license: Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0.
Why is this happening?
This video is a result of my concerns over what is happening in the world in places like Ukraine and the plight of asylum seekers in Australia. It seems that 50+ years after the youth rebellion of the 60's that nothing much has changed. The fight for freedom of speech and expression goes on...
I am indebted to Hyaena Fierling Reich (aka Ana Cordeiro Reis) for the use of Dog Day Sunrise as the soundscape. This was originally released as part of the Classwar Karaoke - 0019 Survey compilation available for free download from the Free Music Archive here...
For more information about Ana go to her website here...
You can download the video from the Internet Archive here...
You can view all the videos here...
Resignation
This one is part of a series done at 640x640 pixels (CD cover size) and available for free download under the Creative Commons license. If you want a hand with some typography drop us a line...