| Re: Season of the Severed Head, resumed |
Plus ca change plus c'es .. |
| elag (elag@cloud9.net) |
2003/10/26 23:12 |
Parry wrote:
>
> elag wrote:
> [snips]
....
> > > > My problem w/ translated scripts is that I don't catch as much of the
> > > > nuance w/o the actor's delivery, or w/ languages I know (to one degree
> > > > or another) the critical differences between the original and the
> > > > translated interpretation. Also, it's hard to choose between differing
> > > > versions of translations where they are available, though one might
> > > > suppose that the newest trans. is best.
> > >
> > > Sometimes it's nice though to supply your own nuances when reading a
> > > script, just as with some novels you might cast the characters and
> > > imagine the camera angles that frame the action.
> >
> > Sure, reading scripts has its place. Most of my experience of theatre
> > for example comes from reading scripts. I suppose in the case of film
> > scripts I look on them a bit like orchestral scores. I'm much more
> > interested in hearing the composition than looking at the little black
> > marks on the page. Occasionally, I'll read one but generally I prefer
> > to watch the film multiple times instead.
>
> I finally saw it, the movie played out rather stiffly for me, having
I didn't enjoy it much the first time I saw it either. In retrospect I
guess I was chilled by Deneuve's frigid nature or maybe I had a hard
time placing myself 30 years into the past on that particular day.
It all made a lot more sense the second time around.
>
> > > > I think the 1st two books are pretty readable, though I can see your
> > > > point when it comes to Sexus, Plexus and Nexus. I've spent many night
> > > > wandering aimlessly through the streets of Manhattan seeing all through
> > > > a "Tropic of Cancer" filter. It's like the opposite of a neutral
> > > > density filter.
> > >
> > > I know the sensation you mean, though I've never gotten it from books,
> > > probably because I don't go walking after reading. I've often had it
> > > after leaving a movie, though. The effect is one of the best things
> > > about movies.
> >
> > I've never heard of a name for this type of experience. maybe we could
> > call it "Literary Afterglow" or "Cinematic Afterglow".
>
> after a little timely maintenance.
Okay... venture a better term?
>
> > > > > Why are you evading the question of pumpkin?
> > > >
> > > > Ah, pumpkins... they are wonderful aren't they?.. they can be a sweet
> > > > pie or a savory soup and even the toasted seeds make a wonderful treat
> > > > to say nothing of their marvelous transformation into Jack O' Lanterns.
> > > > Think of it, a vegetable into which you might merrily climb... some of
> > > > them grow to weigh 100's of pounds.
> > >
> > > Know any recipes for pumpkin drinks, Chef Elag?
> >
> > I've never really thought of it but I found a few:
> >
> > http://www.angelfire.com/on/cucurbitaceae/dk.html
>
> Unfortunately, any drink that includes alcohol just tastes like alcohol
> to me. Pumpkin just blended with milk, sugar and spices is actually a
> tasty drink. Now if I could only figure out a way to make potato
> popsicles.
Not that I suggest that you ever attempt to eat these but here's a
horrid little solution to your problem... frozen Potato Smiles... just
add popsicle sticks...
http://www.mccain.ca/Grocery/Detail1.asp?Sect=1&Sub=2&No=7
>
> > > > The noble pun'kin... I'm glad that it's nearly the season when I can
> > > > once again gaze upon their orange shiny faces.
> > >
> > > Hallowe'en's a great time of year, when my own shiny orange face isn't
> > > so out of place.
> >
> > Don't need any make-up, eh? My best costumes were "Death" when I was 8,
> > "The Flash" when I was 10, "Psychedelic Trip" when I was 18, and
> > "Ancient Roman in Black Mourning Toga".
>
GORILLA MY DREAMS
(McKimson-1948)
Down where the trade winds play
Down where you lose a day
We found a new world where paradise starts
We traded hearts
Way down where the trade winds play
Someone's rockin' my dreamboat
Someone's invading my dreams
We were sailing along
Peaceful and calm
Suddenly something went wrong
Someone's rockin' my dreamboat
Disturbing a beautiful dream
But with love as my guide
I'll follow the tide
I'll keep sailing till I find you
(this is the best gorilla themed song I could think of)
>
> > > > > > > I thought it was interesting that the shortcuts you took in the
> > > > > > > animation worked as a sort of axle for the motion -- the contrast
> > > > > > > between the stable parts and the moving parts of the image worked to
> > > > > > > your advantage.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > This is an accepted animation technique, though I carried it out w/
> > > > > > exceptional crudity. Figures are usually broken up into layers so that
> > > > > > parts not moving in one frame don't have to be redrawn. Hopefully my
> > > > > > end result will be far more fluid.
> > > > >
> > > > > I didn't see it in terms of crudity, though. When Hanna-Barbara looped
> > > > > a moving background it was obvious even to a kid that it was because
> > > > > they were working on the cheap, but now one can use that technique as
> > > > > a sort of quote. So the technique was funny in the context of your gif
> > > > > loop. Would the gif have been as funny if the background was more
> > > > > realistic? Is over-animation a danger, where computers can insert the
> > > > > twisted reflections of passing scenery on the spinning hubcap of a
> > > > > car? Do audiences come to regard such pointless detail as a mark of
> > > > > good animation?
> > > >
> > > > I'm not overly fond of such (over)animation, though a few judicious
> > > > computer effects can liven up even cel animation. I'm reacting against
> > > > such things in striving for a certain simplicity and cartoonishness and
> > > > even crudeness in my concept. My own attitude is sort of anti-D1sney
> > > > and against the trend towards naturalism. Nevertheless, my end result
> > > > will be less crude than my tests, but I'm still not sure exactly what
> > > > they will look like.
> > >
> > > I suppose such choices are what create meaning in a work, and suspect
> > > technology-driven animators will over-animate things just because they
> > > can.
> >
> > That is definitely a trend, but I would always expect the majority to be
> > hack work anyway. If you think about the early days of animation, it
> > was always about technical innovation and tricks and flash, like the
> > Fleischers 3-D turntable effect and the multiplane camera. The ease of
> > using computers will encourage a lot of empty spectacle but it should
> > also allow the inventive independent producers to create interesting
> > pieces cheaply and so more freely.
>
> difference between film and video editing, is that the first is a
> hands-on experience and the other is more abstract. I wonder if the more
> intimate nature of the former is in some ways reflected in the final
> work.
I think it is, but in the end all of these innovations are just tools.
In the right hands more advanced tools facilitate expression. In the
hands of a hack they become boons to laziness. I used to hear similar
arguments over the negative effects caused by using the "easier" flatbed
viewers instead of the old school upright Moviolas. The majority of
stuff will always be hackwork, but that's no reason to deny the utility
of new methods.
It is a bit annoying that computers have made it possible for producers,
bean counters and other empty suits to cut films where they formerly had
to rely on people who actually knew something about editing. But
really, the money men have always stuck their noses in and micromanaged
things which they barely understood, going back to the Dawn of Cinema.
It is a wonderful thing to be able to touch and caress the images which
are being created, but on the whole I think that the benefits in terms
of speed and efficiency and the ability to see multiple versions in a
snap, outweigh the losses. On the other hand, I might feel a bit
differently if I had a producer breathing down my neck, demanding hourly
changes and dozens of different versions (one for each mood).
>
> > In contrast to tech tricks, I've been reading about a technique used in
> > cel animation by the late Shamus Culhane (he worked at all the major
> > studios from the '20s to the '60s and wrote "Talking Animals and Other
> > People" and "Animation: From Script to Screen"). He had a high speed
> > animating technique which involved drawing a scene (on many sheets of
> > animation paper) very quickly almost w/o thinking about it... sometimes
> > drawing only an eye or an arm... just enough to suggest the action while
> > allowing for later clean up work to pull the drawings into final form.
> > It sounds like a kind of "Automatic" Animation.
>
> McLaren too found a near automatic technique by drawing directly onto
> technique and worked at considerable speed. It looked like doodles
> spontaneously coming to life.
I think we've both seen the same McClaren docu.... wasn't he drawing a
chicken of chicken like form in that sequence. I think of that sequence
often. I used to make bunches of hand made film loops using scratching,
marker, bleach, etc. to form partly animated partly random images.
>
> > I doubt I'll get to the point where I'll try try it as it's the kind of
> > thing that can only come out of spending years mastering the traditional
> > techniques which I'll likely never use. It is also reputedly very hard
> > on the wrists and I have enough problems w/ incipient Repetitive Stress
> > Injury as it is. It remains a very intriguing idea to me, though.
>
> carpal tunnel syndrome. Working with a computer mouse, on the other
> hand...
Culhane complained of it, but mainly in reference to his "high speed"
technique. It nearly crippled him for awhile. I will definitely get a
drawing tablet before I attempt any more animation.
>
> > > > I'm glad you had fun anyway....
> > >
> > > Gee, I hope you didn't take my remix as an affront.
> >
> > Nah, I rarely get annoyed by remixes in this forum. (It reminds me
> > about what I said about nuance and text) Most posts can be considered
> > fair game.
> >
> > > Perhaps I should have been more liberal in my alterations: Blank and White descend
> > > through the 3 levels of the NY sewer system where they battle the
> > > bastard children of Cinder-Cat to death over orts of food.
> >
> > The cinder-cat could be a funny character.
>
> character.
>
No... worthwhile?
>
> > > Sure, then you could be trendy and buy new vinyl releases of things
> > > like the Rolling Stones' "Between the Buttons" for only a few dollars
> > > more than what the cd costs. Actually, New York would be a great place
> > > to own a record player. There's a vast, strange universe waiting in
> > > those used vinyl stores.
> >
> > Yes, and because of the DJ culture you can find whole stores full of
> > nothing but beats, ambient noise and pop cultural samples... but then
> > you'll need 2 turntables.
>
> Have you been to a place called Norton Records? I know they operate, or
> used to operate, out of New York but am not sure if they were strictly
> mail order.
No, and they're not in my phone directory.
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