music video type inspiration

Mint Chicks - Enemies from Ruban Nielson on Vimeo.

visuals

development

actual
ideaideaideaidea:
a narrative visual expression of music
(a music video)
with a song made by my friend taylor, living in portland, known as quietly bright

the song is here:
http://www.myspace.com/quietlybright

it's called "spirit"


taylor wrote a story with another one of my friends, ben, and the story became a song
(i'll post the original story once it gets e-mailed to me [tonight])
the story was written with the song and visuals in mind
the song and the story and the visuals are sum parts of a total idea
a multifaceted expression

the story (as i've heard it) is a pretty straightforward (albiet strange) narrative, but my purpose
in doing this project is less the perfect realization of a specific narrative and more about process.
the intended, overall message of the project, to me, is encouraging others not to limit themselves creatively -
to write stories or songs that are absurd, don't make sense, don't follow typical structures
to make things and not worry about illusory ideas of good and bad, but to indulge
in creativity, as an end, not a means. i think taylor's song is kinda weird in a lot of places, and i have
an attraction/repulsion reaction to most of the sounds in the song, because they are, for the most part,
electronically generated using a keyboard or a computer, and i think they definitely sound like that kind of
source, which i want to categorize as uninspired or lacking in creative ambition. but my attraction comes in the
way that taylor embraces those sounds and finds them liberating instead of limiting. my attraction comes in
his sincerity, making sounds and noises that may sound cheesy or funny and embracing that potential cheesiness or that humor. i know it's because i know taylor, and i know his facial expressions and mannerisms, but when he sings "i don't know" "i know" i can see his face, and i can see how he makes those sounds, and it's impossible to make those sounds without committing to it. you can't make them while winking, or with your tongue in your cheek. you have to stick your lips out and suck your cheeks in and feel it in your throat.

to me, the most exciting art happens along thin lines, or borders between (seeming) opposing sides, like good and bad, adult and childlike, political and private. i'm willing to try to walk those lines, to not feel like i always gotta be walking toward "good" art (aesthetically solid, conceptually airtight?) but maybe roll around in the "bad" too, maybe tiptoe along the border, maybe figure out there's no border at all, that there's no difference. the point is, i'm willing to accept whatever happens, to create and deal with the results and create some more. i'm not working project to project. my art is not riding on one assignment. my creative horizons aren't limited by expectations. i think if you're willing to explore, to pursue creation and make the rest up as you go along, you'll find the details fall into place, or fall of the map, or do whatever is that they're gonna do.

for my final project, i will complete the visual component of this idea,
with the collaborative input of other people interested in the creation
of the visuals and the total project. the visuals will be a collage of
hand drawn components, stop motion photographic animation,
video footage, and digital manipulation

creative sessions will be held with all interested individuals, and materials (construction paper, blank paper, magic markers, ink, paint, brushes, pens, pencils, sticks, camera) will be supplied
toward the creation of visual building blocks, to be constructed by me, later, in final cut

constructors:
ben pierce
monica brown
colby painter

each person will get a segment or segments of the song to visually represent

creative sessions will be held:
thursday 16 (video footage will be planned this day)
sunday 19 (video footage will be shot this day)
tuesday 21 (if necessary, future sessions will be scheduled on this day)

ideas

one: pointing. the camera points. the operator selects from the world and with the camera points. a series of pointings - wide shots which include context zoomed into tight shots which exclude context and emphasize subject, or object. representing the deliberate action of selection.

two: motion and light. an aesthetic study of light in motion, created by various types and temperatures of light filtered through objects and surfaces of varying movement, form, and opacity.

three: burning all illusions: experimental propaganda, a visual and auditory guide to self help and the search for meaning, as well as exploiting the human capacity for bewilderment. the only adventure left. on: making choices, self-determinism, the scheduled appearance of hallucinatory visuals, appropriation, distortion, and hoping truth shows up.

with the moon

the main, only character is lying on the ground, below the trees, below the sky, below the moon, having a conversation. he is engaged in a conversation about himself and his dreams. he is having a conversation about himself and his dreams in order to understand his self. he speaks to the moon, and the moon speaks through the wind, or perhaps not at all. perhaps he is only thinking, but as he stares at the moon, he imagines the moon is speaking, too. he imagines the moon is speaking, too, because it is easier to answer to an outside voice than to himself. he does not understand the inner language of his self yet, so he uses a perceived other to probe him from outside. the moon's questions give contour to the borders of his self. the moon's questions find doors and pathways which lead inward, toward the inner geography of his self. the wind caresses the physical border of his self, his skin, separating him from the ground and the leaves and the trees and the moon and also the wind. but in his mind, he is the moon, speaking to him from the sky, so he is not separate at all, because he speaks through the moon, and he touches his own skin with the wind. the moon asks him who he is, and he cannot answer, because he does not know. his lips open to respond, by instinct, but he has no sounds to push through his mouth. his eyes are open. he has been staring at the moon for some time. the moon thinks for a second, strategizing some other way to know this person. the moon asks "what do you dream of?" this time, he is not dumbstruck. he recalls his dreams in his mind, brief fragments of dream memory, from the previous night, as well as recurring images, scenes that have played out many times in the sleepy theatre of his mind. he is having sex with a beautiful girl. he is a passenger in a car driving on an endless highway, towards a vague but pressing destination. the driver has been his mother, an ex-girlfriend, and a shadowed figure, obscured by his mind. he is bathed in feathers and light. he is thrown into the water. he is sitting on a hill, overlooking an endless landscape, in a place he has never been. he opens his eyes, and the moon is silent.

colby's memory

The ground cools my bare arms, my bare legs, my bare neck, which glow with a radiant warmth given by an afternoon of sun shone directly onto my skin. My eyes are closed but I can feel the moonlight press down upon the lids, drawing my eyelashes inward, toward dreams of stars projected by my brain. A midnight breeze rolls lightly through the curls in my hair, falls over my forehead, kisses my lips, ruffles my shirt. An engine grumbles past, coughing along the pavement, malcontent and impatient.

I hear a voice.

The voice is a presence of indeterminate origin, but whether it comes from within or without, from now or beyond, above or below, it is familiar. The voice is made of words I know, ideas I recognize, dreams I have had, desires I understand. This voice is my heart, this voice is my brother, this voice is myself, this voice is the voice, speaking the only words that can be spoken. The voice is a lullaby, but I do not fall asleep. This voice is a lullaby that awakens me from a dream and draws me further into this moment. I am the branches above me, and the sky above the branches, and the stars above the sky, and the possibility beyond the stars.

re: manifesto

I felt vulnerable. When reaching out, there's always uncertainty and fear, because others always have the choice whether to accept or reject the invitation. I felt vulnerable, but I think that's ultimately the position I want to put myself into, because the underlying idea of my manifesto is inclusiveness, to work together as a community which shares common beliefs. If I'm not vulnerable, how can I expect anyone to accept my invitation to cross the distance that divides us. I have to be willing, first, to offer myself completely, in the midst of all my uncertainty and fear, to show that I am not afraid, and that I am certain of the way forward, which is together.

I'm very interested in creating work like Jill referenced - the early 60's get a bunch of friends together with whatever material we got and whatever location we can find and make something happen. I think I know enough excited, creative, willing people to make something happen, and more specifically to make something happen that we want to share with others. The other, integral, part of the manifesto is the sharing - communication, having something to say, something worth saying and worth sharing

the manifesto, a message for you

we are explorers
we seek magic in ourselves, in every moment, in every place, in everybody
we share our magic
if we run out, we'll make some more

we believe in your holiness
we believe in your possibility
we only ask for your willingness

we made this for you
because we want you to know
we're excited
and we want you to be excited, too

both eyes awake
wake up!
wake up!
wake up!

we found the beat
and put our hearts into this
we felt the heat
and put our love into this
we felt alive
and put our selves into this

because we care
because we know it's not easy
and you can't make it alone
we want you to know we're here

we see more with many eyes
we make more with many hands
we sing louder with many voices

this is our dream
this is our hope
this is our celebration

this is for you

memory storyboard

quiz two

1. key, fill, back
2. back
3. key
4. fill
5. spot light - focused light used to illuminate specific areas of the scene

development

TITLE:
Celebration Hour

GENRE:
Experimental Youth Romance

LOGLINE:
A group of young people celebrate new year's eve by setting off fireworks in the hour before midnight.


SYNOPSIS:
In the hour before midnight, a group of young people celebrate by setting off fireworks and drinking champagne.


SUPPORTING VISUAL MATERIALS:
(to be updated)

INFLUENCE:

Meshes of the Afternoon - Maya Derren

heavy symbolism - objects becoming objects, figures becoming other figures, windows, door ways, paths, ocean, beach, mirrors (man's face inside of mirror, mirror face = man, but also female subject = mirror face), multiple personalities/realities, one of three - blood on her hands, chance or fate, the key is a knife, the knife is in the bread, the bread is sustenance or just normal, bread of life, knife for death, sexual attempts, breaking, revealing the illusion, playing with flatness of film space, two dimensional space, footsteps, deliberate movements, emphasizing gestures, stairway, upward, through window, into, from exterior to interior, within/without, confusion of space, up is down left becomes right, etc, crawling up the walls, removed, ghost like, detached and without, sleeping reality, reality of losing key, dropping the key, losing the way in, to the interior, from without, the exterior, began while walking, a flower dropped on the ground, the flower - feminine, sexual, youth, life, unattainable flower, the flower becomes the knife, the passive symbol of life becoming active tool for death, tool for breaking, shattering of illusion or reality, shattering of feelings, mystical mirror faced figure always walking down the path, forever chased, no perseverance, she gives up, returns home, is called home, compelled home, into the interior, away from action, from trying, chasing, resigned to defeat, to return, and sit, and close her eyes, closed off to the outside, venturing inside, the record player, no outside noise, no other instruments or sounds, no active processes

elevator pitch!

1. It's called Holy Moments, and it's a short romantic piece with a boy and a girl, sitting on a rooftop at night, all sparkly stars and big bright moon, staring into each other's eyes, looking deep, and finding a moment of intense connection, of absolute vulnerability, without words or music or dialogue, just looking, intently, intensely - looking.

2. New Year's Eve an hour before midnight and the whole thing is sparks in soft focus and silhouettes, soft booms from popping bottle rockets overhead, sparklers waved through the air and a feeling of lightness, vibrancy, youth and excitement, fun for fun's sake and celebration, excitement, anticipation.

3. It's like a walk through the forest, with the sense of indeterminate time you experience staring into branches or looking over the landscape, feeling a breeze blow across your face, a sense of the infinite and present all at once, surrounded by ancient trees producing falling leaves, peaceful, calm, limitless, just shaking branches, just whispering grass.

concepts

critique

During critique, please discuss:

1. material choices or processes

I chose to animate in Photoshop still images taken from the internet. The process was completely digital, from the internet to the editing software, which relates the material to the conceptual idea of >>>

2. conceptual process

<<<>

3. intended communication

In this video, I intended to communicate a sense of overwhelming visual information, as well as a sense of play. I chose images with bright colors or vibrant patterns, as well as images that communicated happiness or energy.

4. Is this the result of your first try or were other attempts made?  Are those attempts present in the final work?

There was one, brief, previous attempt, which contained only a few images and was not animated. It was discarded before reading through the tutorials again and figuring out how to use Photoshop to animate.

quiz no. 1

1. Mise en scene is every thing present in the scene, including costumes, props, backdrop, decoration, people, and so on.
2. A scene is composed of a shot or shots. A shot is continuous length of footage that may be very short or very long, and may even encompass an entire scene, but it is footage from only one camera.
3. Editing is the processing of arranging shots.

three transitions:
-wipe
-jump cut
-fade in/fade out

by any means necessary

My concept for this project came while editing some photographs. Zoomed in as far as Photoshop will go, the arrangement of pixels formed accidental abstract color field compositions. Using Photoshop's ability to animate, I had originally planned to make a short video consisting only of pixel animation in Photoshop. When I sat down and started to work, though, I was immediately confounded. I didn't understand the timeline in relation to the still images in the layer stack, or how to move them or make them animate or anything like what I had imagined. I spent some time going through the posted tutorials and testing out what I read as I followed along, using random images from google. I kept working from that same file as I learned more, adding to the experimentation. I may not have produced exactly what I had planned on doing, but by experimenting, I learned how to arrange and animate still images in photoshop, as well as edit video layers and apply adjustment layers to segments of video.

four words, one sentence

Caught in the backseat among discarded clothing, shivering in the bright light, leaving us no longer intimate.

four words

backseat
caught
intimate
shivering

exercise one

smaller moments, out of focus and vague, but simple and intimate, honest maybe awkward
just thinking about the past and time shared on rooftops and under bridges, setting off fireworks and getting caught
with champagne in my mouth, with a song on the tip of my tongue
a release of breath, a minute before morning
rambunctious and ridiculous, inspired and overreaching : knowing how to go too far
and not looking back, but over the shoulder, out the window, laying in the backseat on the road from nashville to asheville the first time I heard Astral Weeks and remembering how it felt to climb up a parallel tree when it was cold in Murfreesboro and on the way home, the wheels that spin, the rain that pours, the foggy lights and fingers cold, you let Mirah say what you couldn't and I ran wild through the mountains of East Tennessee for you, living life as a story I could tell you on the phone as I sat in the backseat of my car, shivering, fingers cold, foggy lights again, but above, the streetlamps in the parking lot, the fields stretching for miles all around

I decided to come back home.

drunk most nights, with Germans on the couches and a Swede in Colby's bedroom
he was a hermit for months

inspiring concepts

climbed down from the tree next day, a queen

yellow hair windblown over freckled cheeks, light in soft circles (seen through leaves), and the rhythmic sound of sneakers hitting pavement keeping time for melodic laughter

• La Jetée
• Jules et Jim
• À Bout de Souffle

all those excitable french men

Here We Go Magic - "I Just Wanna See You Underwater"
my girls, guy's eyes, lion in a coma, brother sport

Was nützt die Liebe in Gedanken
the music is always in the distance, strummed or sung
late summer, at summer and graham, a tinny car speaker buzzing "Fools Rush In"

[Georges Méliès took a trip to the moon and
came back to earth as Michele Gondry made of cardboard and sincerity
to live in eternal sunshine]

mumblemumblemumblekeepitrealmumblemumblemumble
and at the core, just some heartfelt words (conversations on a porch, perhaps, before sunset, or in the night before sunrise)

just... trying - searching blind like four eyed monsters

Hannah Takes the Stairs, Mutual Appreciation
>>>Bujalski<<<

turn into something, loch raven
we
longing for a microphone left on, picked up a pencil and started to hum
started to
tigers
hey kids, let's pick up sticks,
let's make a sound of our own

no budget, some friends, from the hip, not saving-private-ryan-shaky, but bright, very bright
(i'm not a slacker, i just don't always know what i'm doing, or why. i only feel compelled, drawn, towards a holy mountain, and secret places, where there's no one watching.)

expectation leads to disappointment
if you don't expect something big, huge, and exciting, usually...

Time for a Change

The awkward schedule of ceremony delaying the inevitable, collective relief - less cheers and shouts than easier breaths, a feeling summed up as: "finally...". The roaring wave of nomination's momentum has come to finality at reality's shore, as foamy surf, to soak into the sand while already our eyes look toward the oceans of possibility once more, to await the next wave. We will move forward, it seems, finally.

Before the poet begins to speak, the mall is already dispersing, and replicas of Abraham Lincoln's inaugural china await the scraping of fine silver, forks and knives hungrily diving into chicken, perhaps. Still some cynicism remains, still some skepticism eats away at this moment's silver lining. For so long government has been a merciless machine, ingesting constituents and pumping byproducts into corporate coffers, while voices of protest drowned in the mechanical din. Now this person has promised change, to dismantle that machine and give we, the people, the tools to build together, a new machine. I wonder, though: what machine will we make? How will it hunger?

This country has been without a leader for at least eight years. I don't remember Bill Clinton much. Barack Obama's rhetoric so far has been inspirational, and comforting, mostly, just to hear what sounds like truth and resolution, as if he actually believed the words he spoke. I'm happy that the man chosen to the highest office in our country, who represents America to the world, is intelligent, compassionate, and rational. Barack Obama is a leader, without a doubt. This country has needed a leader, and I'm glad we have one, but I'm wary of the hero-worship and idealization that has already accumulated at Obama's feet. Huey P. Newton once said, "Heroes ain't nothin but sandwiches." Everyone has the same potential, which is limitless. The danger of heroes is that they blind people to their own potential, as if the brightness of their heroes seem to outshine their own attempts at greatness. But everyone can be great! Everyone has something to contribute, a perspective to offer, and certainly love to share. I think Barack is keen to this empowering thing, with his calls to service, and his emphasis on we, us, the people, not on himself as a "decider". I'm glad to hear that sort of language in his speeches, and I hope it resonates. I hope that as the millions of ears around the world hear his words, the millions of eyes watching turn inward, and discover the potential slumbering within. We need less heroes. We need more action. This country should be loud, and wild, and buzzing with life. I hope that in the next 4 years (hopefully 8!), we will begin to awaken, and look to a new world with open eyes.