Finding my way back from the land of sleep...

So I have now unintentionally missed two classes in a row. And feel like an underachieving jackass. I don't do this...why is this happening? Well what's done is done and the only thing I can do now is try my best to catch up and not let my partner down.

As far as the cameraless filmmaking goes...I'd have to say I feel like I've had more hands on experience in the first two weeks than in a whole semester of any other production class I've taken thus far. I really enjoyed the magazine transfers, mainly because it was an experience seeing everyone work independently and then contribute their work to one large piece of film stock. Now I'm not a painter, but I'd have to say I was pretty proud of my little bit of dabbling on the film stock at the end of class. I experimented a little with combining colors and having them metamorphize into images with meaning.

I really, really wish I wasn't being such a failure at making it to class. I'm going to have to talk to my partner Jamie about what we did the past two weeks in order to catch up and try to gain some kind of understanding of what I missed. I guess I'll experiment around when working on our elements project in order to see what I missed out on. Sorry Andre, Sorry Jamie!

But I WILL be there next week and ready for the multi-plane animation session.

Responding to Brakhage

Of course it would be Stanley Brakhage, the yoda of experimental filmmaking, teaching us the basics. The first part of his article was exactly that, basic. I almost laughed at how trivial the part was where he began talking about how to physically project an image from film..."you would have to concentrate bright light thru it and focus it sharply thru some lens..." Part two, the letter, was a step up the ladder though. The writing almost became more poetic and like a memoir of his previous filmmaking. I liked reading him talk about his films that I've seen in previous classes, such as Mothlight and Dog Star Man. Part three was a flash back to Shannon's Doc Production class last semester, as we had used a seconic light meter and talked about different film stocks and all that jazz. I had to reread the part concerning the "Rayogram" to figure out what the hell he was talking about. Overall, the reading has allowed me to become more anxious to figure out/perform new experimental techniques so I can make sense of all the ramblings of the genius that is Brakhage.

"...And yet I don't want to discourage you from attempting anything, no matter how impossible seeming, which might permit your muses to show us all something new..." I accept your challenge Stan.