Breaking into Brakhage's Brain in "A Moving Picture Giving and Taking Book"

I think my brain just overdosed on the imagery and information that I just read from Brakhage. The last two pages especially took me for a spin because they read like poetry, evoking images of swirling paint’ evoking images of his films. It reflects what he presumes us as moving picture makers to be on the first page: poets. How poetic. I kind of like that.
Although this was a tough and long read, it at least refreshed my memory on things that I already knew and enlightened me on things that I didn’t know. His writing style was conversational for a lack of a better word and his tone was light-hearted and sincere which was reiterated every time he said “bless you, or him, or it.” He must have had fun writing this article. Anyway, the parts of a projector where a review for me, but it was interesting to see how terms can be changed or modified from book to book or filmmaker to filmmaker. He uses the word “shutter opening” instead of aperture or Iris, and he says “sprocket-wheels” when I just say sprockets, but he has a point. He also says “viewing gate” when I thought it was the film gate. Tomato, tomato, right? Anyway, I really enjoy is conversational style, but sometimes I thought it was a little too informal or he just didn’t explain things well because he confused me especially when he was discussing splicing. Base-to-base, emulsion-to-base? Why can’t it just be base-to-base, or emulsion-to-emulsion? Splice-bars? Cement?? They must have used that in the old days because if you used transparent splicing tape then there should be no problem. I think I read that section a little too fast. I did learn an interesting fact that the glue of splicing tape crystallizes into certain recurring patterns when heated with a iron J. Nevertheless, I love is “quit-reading” approach every now and then. This showed me that he really wants me to learn, take risks, experiment, and be a poet. As he wrote in the letter (which I didn’t completely grasp because of the jargon), “Follow you’re a muse meants” (the amount of puns in this article is ridiculous).
The section that probably enlightened me the most was the section on lighting. I am assuming what was discussed in this article is what we were going to do in class today. In fact, after reading the whole idea about manipulating the exposure in a dark room, I am even more thrilled about our rayogram class project. I will be on the hunt later for tiny objects that I can use for this. Hasta la vista.

Thoughts on "To The Beat"

“To The Beat” by the Scratch Film Junkies was interesting to watch and hear. There were so many shapes and colors passing before me that I felt like I was looking threw a kaleidoscope sometimes. It was like a funky colorful dream set to beats. Bigger shapes seemed to evoke louder beats and smaller shapes seemed to cause quieter beats and a quicker rhythm. I remember seeing a line cross the screen and as it did, a kind of drum-roll followed the line’s movement. Their name fits themselves nicely since besides coloring, they scratched the film. I believe it was super 8 or 16mm since the live action looked like footage from a home movie. If I remember correctly they might have used clear leader as well. Anyways, I like how they incorporated the found footage into the colors and scratches. It seemed that colors would reveal images and then frame them and then cover them up again. Interestingly, some of the images seemed superimposed over others as well. I also wondered if the filmmakers had tried to musically imitate what they had colored or scratched on the film, or if it was a track that happened to link up with many shapes and scratches by chance. The former seems more likely to me. Whatever the case, it was a great short. Before this class I never had the chance to manipulate actual film, so I am pretty excited about our first assignment. Now I can be a scratch film junkie too.