Rupert Howe – The Wicker Man Remade

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The Wicker Man (2010, 12 MB, 1:09 min)

wickerman live
The Wicker Man Live (2010, 7 MB, 3:31 min)

Rupert Howe is always doing interesting things.
He’s also an early adopter of the sort of tech that in-my-old-age I
would cautiously leave a few months to see how it turns
out, so many of the interesting things he does mystify me
somewhat at first.
SO.. here he seems to have got given (?) lots of extras
(in what universe does this occur?) to remake a section of
cult British horror film The Wicker Man on Hampstead Heath.
The results are jaw dropping in two ways.
Jaw droppingly charmingly-funny.
And jaw droppingly odd.
Most of his work is essentially some combination of these
two axes. ( Plus serious skills)
As an added bonus there a kind of Making-Of-The-Wicker-Man-Remake
which apparently was originally streamed live from his mobile.
I didn’t even know you could do that.
If anything the ‘making-of’ piece surpasses the substantive one on the
Howe strangeness scale. Even his friends & colleagues seem touched too
by a species of benign insanity.
Long may he flourish.

Stan Douglas – Win, Place or Show

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Win, Place or Show (clip) (1998, 1.6 MB, 47 sec.)

Two men are having a discussion in a small apartment. The scene,
lasting only six minutes, is filmed from twenty camera positions.
A computer program then produces some 200,000 possible combinations
of images and sounds, so the viewer always sees a different version of the story.
Win, Place or Show questions our conditioned viewing behaviour.
video installation by Stan Douglas.
from ZKM Videosammlung.

Jon Jost is not making movies

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Jon Jost is not making movies (2006, 36.4 MB, 6 min.)

In 2006, Woods Hole Film Festival featured a tribute
to filmmaker Jon Jost.
I got a chance to talk with him for a few minutes
about his career in film and his commitment to
pushing the medium of digital video. In this video
he gives some great advice to new DV filmmakers,
and explains once and for all 24fps setting on your camera.

By Mica.

Erik Bunger – the Allens


Erik Bunger – the Allens (2004, 23.3MB, 3:19)

Absolutely clever piece by Swedish artist Erik Bunger,
drawn from his experience moving from Sweden to
Germany, where many films on TV are dubbed. As
language can be so central to a character, Bunger
started thinking about people like Woody Allen, who
always play the same character but also one so
connected to his whiny, nervous New York accent.
For this installation piece, a computer program
continuously changed the dubbing of Allen between
his various vocal incarnations. Totally delightful.

Ari Marcopoulos – Claremont


Ari Macopoulos – Claremont (2008, 50.5MB, 10:44)

Okay, this requires some breakdown and explanation.
So Adam Kimmel is an NYC men’s wear designer. This
video is a promo for his Spring 2009 line. And you’re
thinking, what does this have to do with video art or
conceptual cinema or animation? Right. Well, not much.

But what it does have to do with is the Internet. The way
that now, we get to see things we didn’t five years ago.
Five years ago, this video would have been shown at some
runway event that few to none of us would ever fathom
attending – not that they’d let us in the door. And I’m not
worried about that. But I am worried about not seeing great
video. And that changed.

So now, you can watch this insane video of two skater guys –
yes, in Adam Kimmel suits, that’s the point – ride down wild
hills, dodging cars, in southern California. It isn’t that this
has superior quality – the first two minutes are a little dry –
and it doesn’t say anything meaningful about the evolution
of digital video, though they did make an HD version, if that
sort of thing interests you. But you get to see it, and you
probably wouldn’t get this point of view unless you’re a
gifted skater in our midst and we had no idea. It would also
be tacky to hate on this kind of video because the skill of
skating, filming, and not wiping out is something laudable
on its own. This kind of extreme boarding? Well, it clearly
struck a chord with me. No one makes this video for a film
festival, and if they did, it wouldn’t be like this. The Internet
is the natural home for this sort of piece. I’m just saying that
I’m glad the house was built.

Video by Ari Macopoulos.