Parry wrote:
>
> elag <elag@cloud9.net> wrote in message news:<3F066D77.E9D1EA6C@cloud9.net>...
> elag wrote:
> >
> > Parry wrote:
> > >
> > > elag <elag@cloud9.net> wrote in message news:<3F019F19.3FEF308A@cloud9.net>...
> > > > Parry wrote:
> > > > > [snip McLaren stuff]
> > > > > > > I don't know how much he's appreciated, though. Seems
> > > > > > > all anybody wants to see nowadays is Michael Snow.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Heh, I've actually seen several. I like them, but he does go on doesn't he?
> > > > >
> > > > > I've never actually seen one. But I've read about them, and wonder if
> > > > > that isn't just as good.
> > > >
> > > > Maybe almost as good as they are high concept pieces. Once you get the
> > > > concept you're more than halfway to experimental film nirvana.
> > > >
> > > > > For instance, as I recall one film was made
> > > > > by strapping the camera to a self-operated contraption and letting it
> > > > > spin around.
> > > >
> > > > I believe that would be "<->" aka "Back and Forth".
> > > >
> > > > > As an idea it's intriguing, as a viewing experience maybe not.
> > > >
> > > > It's not exactly entertainment in the Hollywood sense, but I do find
> > > > experiments entertaining.
> > > >
> > > > These experiments can get tedious after a bit even for a masochistic
> > > > experimental type such as myself but I think the experience is
> > > > worthwhile. If you get a little bored you can always take a refreshing catnap.
> > > >
> > > > You might even like a film like "Wavelength" if you can stay awake, but
> > > > "<->" may give you a spell of vertigo. Imagine-a film which causes vertigo...
> > >
> > > "Wavelength" is something of a murder story, isn't it?
> >
> > Yes, that is part of it.
> >
> > > I'd be curious to see how the narrative emerges in this film.
> >
> > It does stretch the narrative form in a new way.
> >
> > > To go off on a bit of a tangent, I'm recalling a short story by J.G. Ballard which was
> > > designed to look like the index of a book. As you read the index, the
> > > bits of information begin to connect and gain significance, and in
> > > this way its narrative emerges. That's the sort of experience one may
> > > have in a dream, where a innocuous activity like reading a book's
> > > index evolves into something larger and revealing.
> >
> > ooo... that sound great... any chance you can turn up the title?
>
> I think it was just called "The Index." There was a "Complete Short
> Stories" of Ballard published a couple of years ago so it should be in
> that. Hope I haven't remembered the story all wrong.
Thanks, for the info. I hope it wasn't all just a dream within a dream.
....
> > > Some of McLaren's later films
> > > are like this -- the ones where straight lines divide and bop around,
> > > or where images of dancers' movements are multiplied with an optical
> > > printer. In these films, technique is everything, and it's the sort of
> > > stuff which allows critics to say his work is "about the unadulterated
> > > joy of movement, colour and shape. They are purely aesthetic."
> >
> > I'd just say non-representational. They definitely tie in to early
> > films by Richter & Eggeling. There were a few filmmakers in the '20's
> > like Walter Ruttman & Oskar Fischinger who tried to find a visual
> > equivalent to music.
> >
> > > I had seen these films and was indifferent to McLaren's animations until I
> > > saw some of his earlier work, for instance one in which the animation
> > > is created by gradually altering a single picture frame-by-frame
> > > (rather than drawing a new image for each frame), which was visually
> > > powerful. So now I'm a fan.
> >
> > Me too. Unfortunately, I haven't seen that material for a long time and
> > my memory is very hazy. I hope I can find a few.
> >
> > Later, I heard an interview in which
> > > McLaren equated his work with surrealism, presumably because his
> > > abstract imagery was drawn from the unconscious.
> >
> > I can see that, at least in some of what I've seen.
> >
> > > > I'll have to look for some McClaren films at the Library...
> > >
> > > Good idea. This discussion has prompted me to sign out an NFB
> > > documentary on McLaren -- probably the same one with the interview I
> > > just mentioned,
> >
> > Does it include any complete films, or just excerpts?
>
> The documentary is called "Creative Process" and it is the one I'd
> seen before, with McLaren explicit about the influence of surrealism.
> It has only excerpts, but it has a *lot* of excerpts crammed into its
> nearly 2-hr running time -- including bits from the first films he
> made in college and from unfinished projects. There's even a painting
> he made in high school, and doodles he made on a medical z-ray of his
> head. Very nicely done. The funniest bit was a clip from an old
> television interview in which McLaren explains how a technique he
> devised was later used in an instructional film about cancer. Then he
> can only look sheepish as the interviewer speaks to the audience,
> justifying the trifles of McLaren's life work by saying it leads to
> useful things like the (now-forgotten) industrial movie.
I may have seen it in Film class. It also seems like something which
might have turned up on PBS.
>
> > > but I'll watch it again this wekend. It's either that
> > or "The Hulk."
> >
> > Oh no... see the movie/ play the video game!
> >
> > If it must be the Hulk just dig up some 60's reprints.
>
> Jack Kirby's fine, but I've always been more of a Ditko man.
Yeah, I don't know much about Ditko's personal life, but he always did
give the impression of a very strange bug. I always preferred his
spindly Spidey to the later musclebound version. The weird netherworlds
of Doc Strange were also a favorite of mine.
Hey, here's a bio:
http://www.ditko.comics.org/ditko/artist/artist.html
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