Part 2 of the trilogy “A Complicated Web of Papers and Lies”.
In writing a letter, you are given a series of statements and questions about yourself which you address in your reply. For example The sender writes “Linda just gave birth to puppies. How’s your wife?” to which you reply “My wife IS Linda, what have you done to her you son-of-a-bitch!”. I treated the video correspondence the same way.
I Got the Poops was the letter.
In Fridge is my reply.
I shall now discuss the motifs and ideas I decided to elaborate on. This may be very pointless and self-indulgent. If you wish to skip this, be my guest. Also, if viewing this post on The Facebook, please visit the mothersite to see the video.
I Got the Poops presented me with the basic format: We first begin with a long segment to weed out those who may not actually be interested in viewing the work. In I Got the Poops it’s hand-processed 8mm film of people walking on the beach. In In Fridge, it’s the interior of a refrigerator. Of course, to the spectator it just appears as blackness. About a minute of blackness.
This idea of terribly long things where nothing happens is a motif I continued throughout the piece, also seen in the minute of me staring at the camera (as the color grows ever so slightly redder) and the ongoing Mudkip exchange. I also feel this was a motif in I Got the Poops, the segment I’ll call “The Alpha Cat Adjustment” takes it’s time, Andrew blinking in Night Vision is also drawn out, and who can forget the credits? I feel I expanded on this, however that’s how correspondences work.
After the browsers have been taken out, it’s time for us to move into the meat of the piece, meaning YouTube videos. Andrew decided to work with funny cat videos, specifically cat videos that are internet phenomena ranging from the horrible screaming demon cat to the cat who iterates “Oh Long Johnson, Oh Long Johnson, Oh Don Piano”. I decided to focus on a different internet phenomena: Mudkip, the mud-fish pokèmon. Why? Because I want to be the very best, that no one ever was. Catching monster is my quest, to train them is my cause. However this wasn’t it, for I decided to explore this strange new world of YouTube. I also included a Perry Grip music video with rodents, you know the one, as well as thirty minutes of Disney Films (Which I of course reduced to thirty seconds).
So, we have two motifs that I’ve identified thusfar: The motif of something terribly long and the motif of YouTube. There is one final motif I want to point out: Andrew stole my Adventures through Art School. I returned the favor. Many of you either may not know or may not remember, but Andrew himself had an unsuccessful vodcast many moons ago, much as I do now. It was called “The Diary of a Mad Filmmaker”. I decided that if I’d be making a diary of a mad filmmaker, I’d be mad. I’d be REALLY MAD. I’D BE JUMPING UP AND DOWN I’D BE SO MAD. Need I go on? No. Because you’ve seen the piece, and you’re probably not reading this unless you’re me.
Once we get through the weeding period and the montage of YouTube videos, we move on to the Chapters. I Got the Poops included three I believe, In Fridge contains ten. One of the chapters in I Got The Poops didn’t work, but this works in to the overall stylistic difference between the two works, of which I will discuss later.
No, I will discuss it now, because I’m tired.
I Got The Poops was edited together in a way that showed extreme skill with Final Cut and the editing process, I believe. This is reflective of Andrew’s overall technique, for he’s been working with Final Cut longer and more seriously than I have. I Got the Poops was also much more focused on sound design than In Fridge. From the dripping water blinking to the much more developed Alpha Cat Adjust segment, I Got the Poops does show that the filmmaker is very technically savvy.
I am not technically savvy, and neither is In Fridge. However, what I lack in technical knowledge I’d like to think I make up for in ideation and gusto. I’d like to think that In Fridge has the same sort of Chaotic, Manic, Surrealistic (Almost Nihilistic) energy many of my other pieces have. It has been said of some of my other work that if the world ended and all was left was that video, no one would need any explanation. I’d like to think that In Fridge is the same way. But what do you think? Are either of them better or worse, or are they just different? What motifs and expansions have you noticed between the two works? How do you Powder a steak in the 3rd Dimension?
AND HOW DID IN FRIDGE TRANSFER TO TAPE? Well luckily this question I can answer, because there are now in fact TWO versions of In Fridge floating out there in the internet. If you dare, watch it again. It’s gained a much different quality through the transfer.
I had the tape dubbed, however my journey was only half over. For the TAPE itself is only the goose you quest for: You think it’ll be great, but really it’s kind of stinks and it’s loud.
What else did the bear say? Or can you not tell me because of the whole delicate balance of space and time getting torn apart and both our world collapsing into a black hole thing?
Really? Well then hello to everyone wondering about whether or not Linda has given birth to puppies.
And I’m with you on being torn between the two versions, I also think “Video Problems” may be a motif of I Got the Poops which I didn’t include too much of (although, while working on the color I DID NOT check to make sure it would look right on a television screen)
And I’m glad the analysis was helpful. I got to thinking a while after posting that I shouldn’t have included it for one reason or another.
This is some really illuminating analysis–thank you for such a detailed post on your process.
I’m torn on whether or not I like the version with the tape error better than the original master (arguments in favor: the “Hooked on a Feeling” and Mudkip motifs emerge much more fully-fledged and to lively, surprising effect when they are not so directly hinted at earlier in the video. Arguments against: We miss out on the first instances of intense anger, the phrase “powdering steaks in the third dimension” and the fantastically unexpected intrusion of Microsoft, Yahoo! and Google). Either way, This is some truly masterful editing that shows great nuance in its introduction and resolution of scenes. It seems almost musical in its pacing–Eisenstein would be proud. Most remarkably, though, I found the long Mudkip sequence to be riveting. It could have easily been intractable, but somehow your assembly made it hypnotic, almost trance-like. I couldn’t look away.
Incidentally, a Google search for the exact phrase, “Linda just gave birth to puppies” returns only one result: this page. Just thought you should know.
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What else did the bear say? Or can you not tell me because of the whole delicate balance of space and time getting torn apart and both our world collapsing into a black hole thing?
Alligators do not make good pets. I am telling you this from personal experience. I talked to a bear once.
Really? Well then hello to everyone wondering about whether or not Linda has given birth to puppies.
And I’m with you on being torn between the two versions, I also think “Video Problems” may be a motif of I Got the Poops which I didn’t include too much of (although, while working on the color I DID NOT check to make sure it would look right on a television screen)
And I’m glad the analysis was helpful. I got to thinking a while after posting that I shouldn’t have included it for one reason or another.
This is some really illuminating analysis–thank you for such a detailed post on your process.
I’m torn on whether or not I like the version with the tape error better than the original master (arguments in favor: the “Hooked on a Feeling” and Mudkip motifs emerge much more fully-fledged and to lively, surprising effect when they are not so directly hinted at earlier in the video. Arguments against: We miss out on the first instances of intense anger, the phrase “powdering steaks in the third dimension” and the fantastically unexpected intrusion of Microsoft, Yahoo! and Google). Either way, This is some truly masterful editing that shows great nuance in its introduction and resolution of scenes. It seems almost musical in its pacing–Eisenstein would be proud. Most remarkably, though, I found the long Mudkip sequence to be riveting. It could have easily been intractable, but somehow your assembly made it hypnotic, almost trance-like. I couldn’t look away.
Incidentally, a Google search for the exact phrase, “Linda just gave birth to puppies” returns only one result: this page. Just thought you should know.