On Desire

What does memory look like? What do thoughts look like? What is the magic ingredient that makes reality real?

I dunno.

Let’s make some language. We’ve already got B roll, an antiquated term for supplementary footage used to cover audio edits in an interview. The concept of turbo charged B roll is experimental, so let’s call it exroll or xr, cause it sounds cool and avoids controversy about pronunciation later, (is it zeeroll or exeroll?).

So what do we need to make xr? Here’s what clobbered me in the Barnes and Noble yesterday – I’d like to be able to code visually again as in the bygone days of Director and Lingo. I’d like to be able to deal with a variety of media. I’d like the host application to be open source. Can you say – Open Source After Effects? Not yet? So it looks like I am stuck with After Effects.

After Effects is pretty great, and it’s got Javascript built in – expressions. I’ve already experimented with algorithmic animation in AE, so I’ve got a clue what’s possible.

Now we’ve got another piece of the puzzle. I just sent Patrick back with some After Effects tutorials, we’ll see how far he gets. I need lots of rotoscoping done for DOG, but now I’ve got another reason to climb the AE learning curve, XR. It’s almost time to start recruiting.

I had a flash today while listening to a Democracy Now report on http://storycorps.org, a huge oral history project catching the compelling eloquence of regular folks. That’s sort of what ALM is about too – finding extraordinary answers to global survival in ourselves.

I was thinking how cool it would be to visualize Storycorp histories with maybe animation or collage. It could be fun to listen to these stories and make sketches, to draw what came to mind and then match the sketches to the audio later. There’s power enough in the human voice alone, especially when the speaker is recorded in a dark room without the distractions of camera, bright lights and staring interviewer. With a shift to the internal world, memory playback becomes more vivid and descriptions more intense and compelling.

The brilliant colors that fire in the dark theater of imagination could be rediscovered. Rather than complementing narrative audio with contextual b-roll or a sync shot of the head that’s talking, interviews could be illustrated from inside that head. Then it hit me, this is the enhanced b-roll idea I need for the ALM interviews.

Backstory – While talking to Steve Elrick about his thoughts on the November 28 ALM sneak preview, I proposed the idea of enhanced b-roll for the interviews. I’ve got these heads talking and some cutaway imagery to edit to (b-roll), but we’ve seen all that before. It’s the same old, here’s the talent speaking and here’s some contextual shots to cover the edits. But what if there were b-roll custom built from scratch that took the moment to another level? What if we could see what the talent saw, an impressionistic glimpse of the talents own experience? Is this an opportunity to innovate the whole technique of b-roll beyond present art, redefine b-roll? Perhaps…

So here’s how I can start. I identify the audio for the segments I want to use and sketch some new visuals, forgetting completely about the live action. I can pull from the vast vocabulary of animation and live action to visualize them – cell, collage, clay, 3D, visual remix. I could recruit a slew of visual artists to help, especially my talented visual friends currently sucking wind in the not yet recovered economy. Viola, turbo b-roll. Illustrate it as if it were oral history, that’s the ticket. Make art, yay!

The “evolution” of Hello World is already leaning in this direction. The stop action treatment works, folks like it. Andrea said it was projected my delightful personality more accurately than my actual live action improvs. Sounds like a direction to me.

09-09-05 Hello World Evolution (newer OS)
09-09-05 Hello World Evolution (older OS)

On November 28, 2009, 150 adventurers gathered at the Mills Community House Theater in Benzonia Michigan for an Evening of Exploration. Introducing new work by local artists in a historic venue, this event may herald an economic and creative renaissance in Michigan’s smallest county.

“The idea is to amp up our creative community by showcasing new artists and works in progress,” host Dan Kelly explained. “I presented a 45 minute excerpt from my documentary movie, Around Lake Michigan, Gretchen Eichberger made her dance and choreography debut with Glorious Dawn, and the recently formed ukulele duo Saldaje (Melonie Steffes and Shaun Anchek) played their first amplified theater show. This was an artistic expedition, a discovery both for the audience and the featured artists.”

More than half of those attending identified themselves as working artists, comprising a vertitable who’s who of the region’s most accomplished writers, painters, musicians, actors, and directors from Leelanau, Grand Traverse, Manistee and Benzie counties.

“There is a great need to create community and for artistic expression,” said composer and filmmaker Jeff Gibbs. “you (Gretchen and Dan) have your fingers on the pulse of that.”

The Mills Community House was also featured prominently. “The second floor theater is a fantastic venue for performance, education or even a dance party,” stated Kelly, “and there’s even a commercial kitchen on the bottom floor of the building. Yet the theater is not well known. One of our goals was to introduce this space and have it adopted by local artists.”

Steve Elrick, painter, Benzie County Players president and Mills Community House board member, was excited to see a full house. “This is the largest one night audience since the theater re-opened in 2007. The Mills board and volunteers worked hard to get the theater accessible to the public, I was glad to see that many people in there, it was awesome.”

The event ran from 6 pm – 9 pm and through reservations were required, there was no charge. Catering was provided by Suz Mclaughlin and served by Sarah Lousinau of Still Grinning, and featured the produce of regional farmers. Other local businesses also benefited.

“I heard that lots of folks went to the Cold Creek Inn and Road House after the show,” choregrapher Gretchen Eichberger commented. “The Mills is centrally located between Grand Traverse and Manistee counties, we envision making it a go to destination, a venue for innovative events that attracts new audiences and energizes businesses in Beulah and Benzonia. If we add the Benzie bus into the mix, it really opens up lots of possibilities.”

Future Evenings of Exploration are in the works. For more information contact:

Gretchen Eichberger 231 871-0215
Dan Kelly 231 882-0460

Photography by Jon Mead