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.