ghosting

jonnyfaw — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:08:43 +0000

And the final project is now at hand. For this piece I wanted to experiment with a relatively simple image loop that could then be manipulated and layered to create a sense of visual drama. I began with a 13 second clip which I then slowed multiple times until the image began to experience a degradation in image quality. I then sped the image back up and saved multiple versions of the piece at different time formats. These were then layered to create an image which appears to move in and out of itself and across the screen. There are also some great abstract images which were created, due to the overlapping, which were unintentional but added a new element to the piece. Finally I created a soundtrack for the piece which consists of a clip of African drumming, Tibetan chanting and an excerpt from a lecture given by Hunter S. Thompson. I used a similar process of overlapping for the Hunter Thompson section which functions as an auditory mirroring of the visual elements that are taking place in the video.

maya deren

jonnyfaw — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:12:17 +0000

In seeking to understand the medium of digital art it is often easy to overlook the role of earlier types of media in its development. The vast scope of easily attainable source material and digital formats can create a sense that any new art created within the digital idiom will be considered outdated and common once new technology has been created that allows the artist greater freedom and a new set of tricks or software flexibility. However, the advancement of new technology does not, and should not, replace the role of the artist in the creation of new work. By seeking to create work which is able to stand on its own as a piece of art rather than as a piece of technological manipulation the digital artist can escape the trap which belays those works which rely entirely upon the newest gadget or program for their scope of interest. In many ways the history of, and advancements in, motion picture technology can provide an excellent example of the ways in which the digital artist may be able to create work which can remain relevant even after the processes used in its creation have become outdated. A particularly good example of this type of analysis can be found in the films of Maya Deren.
While Maya Deren is not a household name, in circles outside of students of avant-garde film, her work has been highly influential to many of our most creative filmmakers, particularly David Lynch. Deren was one the first filmmakers to approach the process of movie making as a way to create an artistic narrative rather than as a way to tell an easily understood story. Thus, her films appear to function more as Surrealist expeditions into the modern psychology of the subconscious than as typical linear narratives. In creating these works Deren was not afforded the ease of modern special effects or high quality motion picture cameras and film. Her work was created during the 1940s and 50s, on equipment which was considered substandard by most of the more established filmmakers at that time. But with very basic motion picture cameras and film Deren was able to create convincing effects which can still amaze modern viewers with their sense of visual depth and metaphor. She was able to do these things not through the use of technology but through the use of a keen understanding of visual poetry and classical art-making technique. By studying her process, and the films that she produced, the modern digital artist can seek to understand ways in which they can create work that can achieve a timeless quality even after the media used in its creation has been replaced by more elaborate alternatives.
Many of the films that Maya Deren directed, and often starred in, were created with a limited budget or no budget at all. The films were shot entirely in black and white and most of them were shot without sound. These limitations make many of the earliest movies appear to be very dated by contemporary standards but Deren was able to use these limitations to create a sense of mystery in her work as well as a sense that the images depicted are appearing in a subconscious state of dreaming rather than in the brightly colored, highly auditory world of the conscious. She was also able to use the simple technique of cutting and pasting film together to create a type of visual collage that allowed her actors to function in a world that could defy gravity and time, to study her work is to study the complexities of motion and place.
Maya Deren had initially intended on pursuing a career as a poet and had studied English in college, however she found that she was limited in how to best express her ideas in written form. The issue lay in the way in which she interpreted the world around her. When seeking to understand the world she saw things visually rather than as a script, thus her attempts to express these images often felt forced when attempting to translate a visual experience into written vocabulary. The motion picture camera allowed her to create the visual poetry of her mind as a visual experience that more closely approximated the images that she imagined. Although Deren had abandoned the classical format of poetry as a medium, the same type of placement of concept is evident in her films. Often the characters are seen to exist in many different places at once, which is similar to the ways in which a poet may shift focus from a first person narrative to a second or third person narrative in the course of a single poem. Poetry also uses a great deal of metaphor to express ideas that are too complex to be understood within a few lines of verbal analysis. Derens’ films utilize this same technique through their use of visual metaphor. Thus, Deren was able to draw upon an older form of art and appropriate its technique into a more modern language. This type of appropriation of past technique into new modes of expression is precisely the lesson that the modern digital artist can learn from the study of artists that have preceded them in other media.
Maya Derens work is an excellent example of the ways in which an artist can seek to express ideas in a format that is too often dominated by easy comedy and that often appeals to the lowest common denominator of human experience. Much of the work that passes for digital art appeals to these same audiences, which is why a disproportionate number of the popular examples of Internet art involve cats and slapstick humor. Deren was producing her films at the same time that Hollywood was producing a variety of slapstick films and simple morality stories that were easy moneymakers. While Derens’ work was not as profitable it has withstood the test of time in a way that those others have not. As new technology was created in film the devices that made earlier films interesting were replaced by more advanced technology which rendered the old movies less impressive. This trend can still be understood today by viewing the summer blockbuster movies that are released every year. Films that seem to be highly cutting edge are quickly replaced after only a few years by movies that rely on newer processes. The films that maintain their interest are those that rely upon other, more concrete, techniques and methods. An understanding of this distinction between paying close attention to art-making versus the manipulation of technology can allow the digital artist to create work using tools that are considered basic even by the standards of the time that they were created that will still remain artistically relevant.

14 Seconds to Launch

jonnyfaw — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:18:55 +0000

This is a short video that I created using images appropriated from Youtube. I used a combination of photoshop and windows movie maker to create this piece and plan to expand it for my final project in Intro to Dig. I hope you like it.

jonnyfaw's blog yo

ghosting

maya deren

14 Seconds to Launch