Journal Reading

Gigantic Releasing Moves Indie Film Distribution Into New Era
by Peter Knegt (October 23, 2008)
http://www.indiewire.com/biz/2008/10/gigantic_releas.html

This article by Peter Knegt discusses the progress Gigantic Releasing is making in regards to indie film distribution. The New York based company just recently launched Gigantic Digital which is a website aimed at distributing films that won't get theatrical distribution. Each film will be about 2.99$ and the site is even encouraging filmakers to submit their own films. They hope to create a great movie experience for the viewer as well as making the indie market more accessible to those who have the desire to see such films.

When going to see the Act/React presentation at the Milwaukee Art Museum I felt that some of the surprise of the opportunity to interact was lessened by the presentation given in class. Not to blame the presenter but I feel the show would have had a greater impact on me if I wasn't expecting to be forced to interact with the piece. My expectations of the art show would have been to go and observe which is usually the case with traditional gallery shows. The fact that Act/React requires the viewer to be a part of the piece is something really unique and would have been a pleasant surprise to be pushed into unexpectedly. This can be related to film and modern day trailors where the best parts are often given away before the film can be experienced for the first time as a brand new surprising experience. With that said, the pieces were still very amusing given the chance to interact with them. The piece in particular that I enjoyed was Daniel Roszin's wooden mirror. Like quest lecturer John Mckinnon pointed out, this piece is not only visually intriguing, but is conceptually interesting as well once the viewers interaction is added. The wooden pegs twist in accordance to the being standing in front of it creating a representational image. This image is not clear, meaning there were no true details of facial features, and looks fairly similar no matter who steps in front of it. This almost creates a commonality amongst the viewers. The piece invites viewers in by its visual interest and then alters their participation by altering its appearance. This occurs in a similar manner in the piece Healing #1 by brian Knep. This piece was lying across the floor with certain images slightly moving over the surface. This minimal movement acted as an invitation for the audience to engage. By stepping over the surface, the image would be "torn" apart creating a wound-like trail behind you. Once left for a few moments the surface image would then repair itself by healing back together again. The concept of inviting viewers to tear it apart then reconstructing itself intrigued me. No matter how many people would step on it at once it was always able to repair itself. Also, the piece invited people in but then would repair in the absence of their presence. This piece needed both presence and absence for the art to function.

Field Report #1: Namibia: The Struggle for Liberation by Charles Burnett

For my first field report I chose to view Charles Burnett’s Namibia: The Struggle for Liberation on Saturday night. The film depicted the struggle of Namibians fighting for their freedom against South Africa, a battle which lasted up until 1990. After watching Burnett’s previous work Killer of Sheep, earlier that week, I found them to have distinct similarities. Both have a feeling of documentary-like style. In Killer of Sheep, scenes such as the man working in the slaughterhouse give the viewer a sense of watching a man at his trade and learning about how one does a certain profession. I experienced this feeling of being educated in Namibia as well. A number of scenes that come to mind are when Burnett shows the rallies and protests that went on throughout the political turmoil. These could easily be replaced with news coverage from the time. He also keeps true to Namibian culture by displaying native clothing and dance. In many scenes we could see women carrying water back and forth with baskets balanced on their head. In the celebration of independence at the end, the film showed women participating in dance that I can only assume has a historic cultural value. Another interesting comparison I discovered is Burnett’s presence of children within his pieces. The children especially in Killer of Sheep stick out in my mind. There were many scenes where the child was the main subject. In Carl’s favorite scene where the girl is wearing the dog mask, the film breaks away from the complicated and stressful lives of the adults and focuses on the children somewhat playing outside. Within this scene that could be playful, the dog mask interrupts this feeling and makes the scene almost have sadness to it. In Namibia, the child watching a beating gives a different dynamic to the scene. The sequence where a man is beaten while being tied up would be awful to watch in any case, but when we are introduced to the fact that the child is being forced to watch we are struck with another level of sadness because we view children as delicate and playful, not someone who should be experiencing such pain at such a young age. It was interesting to see two films about different subject matter by Charles Burnett. There is a kind of truth that can be found in his works that I have seen thus far.

Post #1 Including Name and Journal

Megan McCormick

Journal:

http://www.indiewire.com/

I chose this online journal because it offers a lot of information surrounding the openings of independent films at festivals and there overall place in the cinematic world. Since I am mostly exposed to mainstream films (outside of class of course) I can learn about what is currently being created around the world.