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"Decasia": The Beauty of Film Decay
Posted by
michael
on Tue Dec 31, 2002 03:55 PM
from the ad-te-omnis-caro-veniet dept.
from the ad-te-omnis-caro-veniet dept.
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"Decasia": The Beauty of Film Decay
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But what about the copyright holders?! (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:But what about the copyright holders?! (Score:5, Informative)
If you are about the average age for a Slashdot reader I may well be older than your parents. Much of the material used had already passed into the public domain before *my* parents were born.
The film is *old.* There are no copyright holders.
KFG
Ha.... at least its still viewable. (Score:5, Insightful)
Analog fails gracefully, digital fails catastrophically.
Decasia? (Score:2)
I don't know... (Score:1)
Digital too (Score:5, Funny)
NO CARRIER
deteriorating analog footage (Score:5, Funny)
Of course, that's not to say you can't make a film entirely from deteriorating digital footage [imdb.com].
--
Cool and all, but (Score:3, Interesting)
All they offer is a VHS copy (Score:5, Insightful)
What about AOTC? (Score:5, Funny)
Ya can't beat analog for interesting disintegration.
Oh, I don't know. This year's all-digitial Attack of the Clones provided for an interesting example of the distintegration of George Lucas' writing, directing and overall creativity...
Just further proof (Score:2)
The text (Score:3, Funny)
small versions of their images on Google cache (Score:3, Informative)
I don't get it... (Score:1)
But isn't this just spliced old film? i mean, don't get me wrong, or anything, i just don't see the art in this.
If it was just the defects, then i could see it - that would be something, "did i just see a ship, or was that the way the film degenerated?"
Oh well, back to staring at fractals in the dark.
The decasia site disintegrated (Score:2)
+1 Redundant
eeewwww (Score:2, Funny)
Deteriorating Web Servers (Score:2)
Hey cool! (Score:5, Funny)
Weird, but oddly appealing (Score:3, Insightful)
On the other hand, in the same way everyone (go on, admit it) slows down to take a look at a major road accident you just can't resist seeing how bad it really is.
I, for one will be tuning into Sundance when it airs - just for the pure morbid curiousity.
DVD Desintegration? (Score:2)
I seriously doubt that a lasting disc will be adopted so long as the MPAA controls the standard, and they do "0\/\/N$ j0."
UGH! Who was the camera man? (Score:2)
So the question is.. (Score:4, Funny)
'analog', bleh... (Score:2)
To me, analog means something like a non-discrete signal, like in a VCR or radio or electric guitar. Not anything non-computerized
The music is amazing too (Score:3, Informative)
The composer of the score, Michael Gordon, is one of my favorite living American composers, and this film is the perfect vehicle for his fascinating, gritty music.
For more info on him and his new music organization Bang On A Can, see their site here [bangonacan.com].
The soundtrack to the film is available from Cantaloupe [cantaloupemusic.com], a very interesting label for contemporary music.
I saw this years ago.. (Score:1)
Decomposing nitrates (Score:4, Funny)
-psy
haiku (Score:1)
One of analog's biggest
advantages: No!
Motive... (Score:1)
I have some of that stuff :) (Score:2, Interesting)
I think I have about 100 feet of it left. It's safely (?) stored in my Michigan basement (no, not a dirt floor) which is ~68 deg.F. 24/7/365.
My father was a professional photographer; it's left over from his days of filming Generals and Celebrities in the LA area in the 40s. I was in a band when I found it - it provided the best promo shots we ever got when used with proper flash and a remote shutter switch with a winder.
With the dangers involved, it's not stored near anything flammable, and I will put some back into service soon (new darkroom in the next six months) - it beats the crap outta the Kodak offerings for B/W, IMHO.
Caveat: I'd guess it's fastest (pushed) speed is ASA 20 :(
Wait a moment... (Score:1)
-Jason
Yes you can't beat me (Score:1)
Ignorance of copyright (Score:3, Interesting)
I find it offensive how casual industry "insiders" tend to be about copyright violations, while they simultaneously condemn audience members for time- or space-shifting their own works.
Hopefully reality will catch up to them soon enough - the only available subject for the next "Decasia" will be the white noise of encrypted video streams, their keys long lost in obsolete trusted playback hardware...
Bill Morrison showed this at my school. (Score:2, Interesting)
For what it's worth, here's what I wrote about it:
Film Today
Decasia
Decay to many people is a sad thing. Bill Morrison's film shows it as more of a thing of beauty. It is kind of an odd viewpoint, mixing the horror of films lost with the beauty of the method that destroys them. In the past I've heard stories of people opening film canisters to find nothing but dust, or of films being harvested for the silver. It's almost painful to think of. But Morrison was on a hunt to find these decayed films. It must be an odd conflict to feel the loss of the old imagery but to be happier because of that that destroyed it. There is certainly a beauty in decay, similar to that which is demonstrated in fractals and other "chaos theory" art. Decasia simply more related to film itself.
Some of the images carried strange moods. The near introductory footage of the machines processing the film was very much like someone telling the story of film. And it was followed closely by the most decayed footage in Decasia, as previously mentioned in class; the scene with the nuns was most unsettling. Aside from the mood created by the music, the rotation of the contrast and the flashing of the light made the whole scene look like nuns chasing children through an apocalyptic war zone. I think also that anytime you have a nun moving in slow motion that you can scare people.
I think Decasia was an unusual film in that Morrison intended to create a hypnotic state. A state that isn't entirely uncommon in experimental films, but often unwanted. I did like the way he made the "story" rather ambiguous, as many artistic films use rather vague methods to convey a more specific storyline, and then usually fail to do so. Decasia is able to succeed without doing anything specific.
and if you love this... (Score:2)
Don't go for the sequels or the DVD interview w/ the director, though -- you've been warned.
i don't see the point (Score:1)
The only drawback... (Score:2)
Mini Review and Commentary (Score:2)
One of the main responses from the
My own response was that this was a love affair with a medium. It was perhaps a little self-indulgent and a larger effort than the kernel of inspiration afforded, but one worth experiencing nonetheless. I found the soundtrack to only complement the images about half the time; otherwise, it was a little oppressive and took attention away from the images. This is most likely a result of film following music.
While the execution of the vision may have been a little repetitive, the breadth of the source material saves the concept. Many of the images are of what we would consider mundane activities from our highly-stimulated postmodern sensibilities, but I think that was in part, "the point".
When film was new, people took record of everyday things because the whole process was fascinating and those everyday images were all people knew at the time. They hadn't had their perspectives bombarded with excessive post-processing yet; they hadn't lost the specialness of the moment. Amidst the quotidian scenes, we have birth, illness, death and other bigger events. Life can be comprised by the occasional exciting events, but there is a lot of mundanity in-between.
So, with "images as life" as a possible theme, the decay of image is a useful visual metaphor for the inevitable decay of life. You can almost see the people in the scenes as trying to reach out from the past, from the midst of their loss with a message. Call it "Carpe Diem", call it "Appreciate the Now". Implicit in the choice of medium (and I believe the marketing decision to provide only VHS copies backs this up) is the final reminder that how you view things (read life) has consequences.
Some facts for a change... (Score:3, Informative)
Last Post! (Score:1)
This machine is subject to breakdowns during periods of critical need.
A special circuit in the machine called "critical detector" senses the
operator's emotional state in terms of how desperate he/she is to use the
machine. The "critical detector" then creates a malfunction proportional
to the desperation of the operator. Threatening the machine with violence
only aggravates the situation. Likewise, attempts to use another machine
may cause it to malfunction. They belong to the same union. Keep cool
and say nice things to the machine. Nothing else seems to work.
See also: flog(1), tm(1)
- this post brought to you by the Automated Last Post Generator...
Re:Fight Entropy!!! (Score:1)
Re:Fight Entropy!!! (Score:2)
iFgth Etnrop!y ! giFth tErno!py ! giFt htrEno!p y!
--- Well maybe not...
(my karma-whore hacker method of modding up a funny AC post)