For the past while, I’ve been working on a new WordPress site for the New Directors / New Films festival. Basically – this film festival is freakin’ awesome. Films like Clerks, Pi, and You can read a bit about the project on my work site. But this post is not about the site or even the festival, but about the promo video that was made for the festival.

Below is the teaser video (made by theLab) – who did a full rebranding of Comedy Central – produced a super slick and interesting video which gives a glimpse of what the festival’s all about.

A Few Quick Observations About This Video

1. There is no melodic score. Instead, the piece is scored by sounds of cinema and digital-life.

2. Bleeps. Cuts. Scratch. Static.

3. There is no actual video of the films. They are all stills.

4. It’s awesome.

What do you think about the video?

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
New Directors/New Films introduces New York audiences to the work of emerging or not-yet-established filmmakers from around the world. Presented jointly by The Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center, this renowned festival in past years has uncovered talents like Pedro Almodovar, Darren Aronofsky, Nicole Holofcener, Courtney Hunt, Spike Lee, Kelly Reichardt, and Steven Spielberg.

Related Links :

• For more on NDNF, visit the official site
• You can also read more on the NYTimes ArtsBeat Blog.

This video features footage from Amelia, an amazing film by Édouard Lock, founder of La La La Human Steps.

As explainded by Lock,

“A theater audience shifts their point of view continuously in relation to what they wish to see, even though they remain in their seats while they do so. Though their physical position remains static, they alter their virtual point of view constantly. In some way, this film reflects this observation.”

The work is breath taking, both as a dance piece and a film. However, some have said the choreography lacks an overall structure.

Do you yourself a favor. Watch and enjoy the full-length DVD. Decide for yourself.
The soundtrack features work adapted from Lou Reed’s cannon.

Here is another clip (found via the wikipedia entry for Lock)

during some research for this multi-screen project, i came across more inspiration. here is some time lapse video i found on the ‘net. the idea stems from Koyaanisqatsi. if you know of something similar, or where i can find royalty free hi-def video of this stuff, shoot me an email, or leave a comment. enjoy!

Building a building in 2:41

Times Square Time Lapse

Koyaanisqatsi

Brand Upon the Brain

Originally uploaded by jakilevy.

this is a silent movie by Guy Maddin. There will be LIVE narrators, along with 3 foley artists (creating live sound effects). Lou Reed, Isabella Rosalinin, among other distinguished guests will be there. pretty exciting event….Last Time something was done with this movie, Guy used an orchestra / band to create ALL the sound effects LIVE near Julliard.

amazing.

go see it. don’t miss it. and please let me know how it was.

This is a video I made last year. I was interested in looking at people looking at people. What would happen if I were to film people filming people filming people. How many layers of filming can you create before you get a hall of mirrors? Here are my initial findings:

this is not really big news. Archive.org has had stock footage available online for a long time. They even have it available in hi-res.

But, since I’ve been using jumpcut, I thought i’d post this…

taken from a set or group or whatever called stock footage.

happy birthday rob !

some tech specs: this was shot on a kodak 7590 at 12 frames per second. i uploaded the individual clips to jumpcut and did all the editing there.

if you’d like, you can actually go in and make your own individual edits and remixes of this video (and even add your own music).

to embed on your own webpage, use this code:
<embed src="http://jumpcut.com/media/flash/jump.swf?id=5AC15CC6DE1E11DBBF98000423CF385C&asset_type=movie&asset_id=5AC15CC6DE1E11DBBF98000423CF385C&eb=1" width="408" height="324" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed>

What does Marcellus Wallace look like, typographically ?

First seen on: http://www.37signals.com/

Great clip

“Reading time is free”
-Roland Barthes

The medium of film is a medium of time. Scenes made of stills move in frames per second. In order to extract meaning from a film, we must watch it sequentially – from scene 1 to scene end. What if we could approach film and cinema spatially? Aside from comic strips, the church’s stained glass windows, and the photo-novel, what other forms can this take? What does this mean now?

It didn’t occur to me to ask these questions until reading Roland Barthes’ The Third Meaning. How can a still image take on a cinematic property? How can sculpture be cinematic? What if a map, which is traditionally used to convey information, could be used as a cinematic element?

I imagine a gallery filled with stills from a film, strung about. The film, displayed , but not projected, visible, but not readable, hangs through the gallery. The soundtrack plays, but we see no animation. In an extreme example, the object is literally a cinematic object.
Playful, absurd, pastiche.

While the comic strip is narrative, I have to wonder whether it is cinematic. I now ask – what is the difference between narrative and cinematic?

The properties of cinema:
1. larger than life
2. more real than real
3. durational

It is not only the moving image that separates film and cinema from other narrative forms – it is its presentation and production. It is the largess. The projection. The quality that forces you to watch for more than just 5 minutes. If are to gleam anything from the cinema, you must endure the entire piece. You cannot simply glance at a film like a painting because it is durational.
However, this does not mean it is cinematic. A cinematic form will inherently contain narrative elements – plot, character, spectacle, musicality, and tempo. There are also cinematic techniques – pan, zoom, fade, transition. In defining cinematic, I am looking for the least common denominator. What would it take for something to NOT be cinematic? What would exclude an item from being cinematic? Can anything be cinematic?

An animation is more real than real

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/12/magazine/12hodgman.html?ei=5087%0A&em=&en=8859dc4eb289d59d&ex=1163566800&pagewanted=all

“Bugs Bunny, imitating the conductor Leopold Stokowski in concert, will violently raise his arms in onetwelfth of a second (two frames of film). Every part of his body will be rock-still — save for Bugs’s quivering hand.

It is impossible for a living being to do this, but not for Bugs. He is truly Stokowski, more Stokowski than Stokowski was himself, because Bugs is the impression of Stokowski: his power, his arrogance, his supreme control over his musicians, perfectly boiled down to its essence. We laugh because it is completely unreal and utterly truthful in the same moment.”

I found this particularly interesting because it creates a parallel truth. Right next to our sensory truth, there is another layer of truth – perceived truth. An impressionistic truth.
Non-linear cinema will begin to have an effect of reality-tv.
That’s all I’ve got on that…