TV and Keanoshow

The other night I did the pick up shot of the codex video on TV. It looked really bad. For some reason I always think that shooting something on a real TV is going to look good but it never does. So I did it a different way. I reconnected the 'eye TV' and shot that. It works fine and right now I'm rendering what should be one of the final edits. With any luck, I should be at beta 2 by tomorrow.

Also got Dave (Mirrormask) McKean's DVD Keanoshow today. It's a collection of his surprisingly numerous short films. I find his work endlessly fascinating for its beauty and for the way it helps me to think through the problems that visual artists face when they move into the video/film medium. The main problems with McKean's work are its misunderstanding of viewpoint and performance. Film works best when told through the viewpoint of its characters. McKean, on the other hand, is always present in his work, as a behind-the-scenes operator. He imposes his vision on his films from without, sucking the life out of his characters, objectifying them.

Second, he doesn't allow his performers to perform. By forcing his actors into perfect visual compositions McKean turns them into puppets incapable of spontaneity. The effect is like watching storyboards in motion—flat characters waiting to be turned into living things.

Finally, McKean is partial to superimposing scratch film-like effects over his work. Using techniques reminiscent of Stan Brakhage's and Len Lye's work, McKean attempts to reinvest his films with the movement, energy and life shorn by objectifying his characters. When McKean uses film, the scratches and grain are real. Perhaps this is why the films are more satisfying than the digital work. In his digital creations, the scratches are superimposed becoming an effect that remains on the surface of the work, aspiring to energy and movement, but never quite achieving it.