Sunday, October 26, 2008

Journal Response 2 - "Outward Bound"

When It Was Blue is a film that I would expect to, one day, be shown in this class. An adventure of sight and sound, it is a 16mm, combination of black and white and color, double projection piece. Images of wildlife, wilderness, and man taken from across the globe are projected one over the other, in the same fashion as Vanessa O'Neill's Suspension. Filmmaker Jennifer Reeves used contact printing and hand painting(much like Andrea Leuteneker) to manipulate her footage, spending more than four years on it. She originally screened a shorter version in 2005, but grants allowed her to re-edit and extend the film to about an hour. Musician and composer SkĂșli Sverrisson(known for working with experimental musicians like Laurie Anderson and Blonde Redhead) provides the soundtrack, and will be accompanying the film with live music during upcoming screenings. The article mentions many others who have pushed film's possibilities. We are firmiliar with a few of these examples from class, such as David Gatten's What the Water Said, Stan Brakhage, and our own Julie Murray is mentioned as well(I wonder if she knew that already). When It Was Blue is screening October 29-30 in New York, but I hope that I will get an opportunity to see it sometime, as it sounds like a wonderful experience.

The article can be found here

1 comment:

Carl Bogner said...

Well,I hope we can get it here. It is a challenge when a maker has her films accompanied by live musical performance.

We did have Reeves as a a guest a few years back. She was great - energetic, focused, interested in students. And she is most prolific - new work every year, it feels like, including, recently, a feature.

The mention of "Suspension" is apt as the two films screened together at the Toronto International Film Festival this year. But tell me more: your interest in the film is evident but what revelations do you think are promised or offered through the techniques she is using - live music, double projection, combining black and white and color. I respect that you haven't seen it, but what about these techniques entices you -- as a maker, as a viewer?

Again, Mariella, your posts are good, as reports, as connections to class. I'd like to hear more though - of our thinking, of your reacting, of your opinions, of our consideration of the ideas or artwork written about in the articles chosen. Yes, fine work here, but I encourage you to expand your thinking in the final post.