Sunday, November 30, 2008
night and the city: Indie Maverick Rob Nilsson's Nine-Film Panorama of Urban Anomie/By Dennis Harvey
Keeping in the tradition of the last two articles discussed, I chose to look at this article on Rob Nilsson. The table of contents referred to this article as being about “the vast canvas of San Francisco's under-the-radar grassroots maverick.” While for a minute I marveled at the staying power of the word maverick and it's ability intrigue after being used to the point of redundant meaning loss in the last election, I realized that this topic was something that might be worth reading about; it was something that I might not easily come across it elsewhere. And it was. In fact this article about Nilsson himself, and the works he considered to be “the most important cinema made in America in this era”, his own 9 @ Night, was very interesting.
Nilsson was born and raised in Wisconsin and the San Francisco Bay Area. He came across filmmaking on a lark while teaching a group of Nigerian high school students and has been making a prolific and impressive amount of films ever since. Similarly to Oshima, Nilsson rejects the idea of working within studio standards and guidelines. He believes that American film currently serves to distract people from their “boredom” and does nothing to “feed their souls”. Nilsson created a film collective/manifesto called Direct Action. He did this before Von Trier created the Dogme 95, but got much less exposure. His current group is called the Tenderloin yGroup. It is a group that consists of streetpeople from San Francisco's Tenderloin distract as well as others from every sort of background and talent. It was these people that came together to create Nilsson's 9 @ Night.
9 @ Night is nine separate feature length films that all work together as a cohesive picture of the city and those that are forgotten. They use primary non professional actors and were all shot with little money. They have only been shown in their correct order and entirety a few times but they will hopefully be achieving wider distribution through cinematiques and art movie houses. Hopefully they come to Milwaukee so we can have a chance to see the “most important” works in American cinema.
I do, however, think that “the most important cinema” is a big leap and much too broad of a statement for an artist or anyone to make. Nilsson is basically negating everyones work but his own. He believes that current American filmmakers are “either confused, lost, or irrelevant”. Though it seems he is doing amazing grassroots cinema, it still seems a bit much to presume. By making this statement he is saying that the whole industry of films and film academia is studying and making things that are essentially useless, or without at least without real value. (At least when looking at American films of this era.) It is too narrow of an opinion for me to take stock in. I do think that many movies do simply help temporarily stave off boredom, but there are many works of relevance that can be seen, such as some of the video exhibits residing within the Stop. Look. Listen. exhibit. Perhaps by making this statement he is trying to move more people to adopt more grassroots efforts into their process and move away from the mainstream
I do find Nilsson to be an inspiring filmmaker. He manages to gather talent and tell the stories that he feels necessary on low to no budget. Like Clementi and Oshima he is a bit of a renegade filmmaker. This is important in todays age where people are currently barraged with media symbols created by a homogeneous industry on a minute by minute basis. It is very easy to sink into a feeling that they only way to work in films and media is to become part of this massive multi billion dollar industrial machine. In Milwaukee, the “indie” movie theatres have taken to showing more mainstream films such as Sex And The City and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. There just aren't too many venues for lesser known relevant work. Seeing people doing films off of the grid and reading about them in a publication available in many bookstores is heartening. It helps to make it feel like it is possible to avoid the conglomerations and lead a more fulfilling career life. It's also always nice when people achieve some sort of success coming from Wisconsin. When walking around exhibits and seeing the tags of New York, LA, and San Francisco over and over again I feel my shoulders slump and I actually get a bit weary, sometimes. It's disheartening that people usually don't produce out of their native areas. It was good that Nilsson has come from WI, gone to San Fran and been productive, but wish he could have done it here.
Keeping in the tradition of the last two articles discussed, I chose to look at this article on Rob Nilsson. The table of contents referred to this article as being about “the vast canvas of San Francisco's under-the-radar grassroots maverick.” While for a minute I marveled at the staying power of the word maverick and it's ability intrigue after being used to the point of redundant meaning loss in the last election, I realized that this topic was something that might be worth reading about; it was something that I might not easily come across it elsewhere. And it was. In fact this article about Nilsson himself, and the works he considered to be “the most important cinema made in America in this era”, his own 9 @ Night, was very interesting.
Nilsson was born and raised in Wisconsin and the San Francisco Bay Area. He came across filmmaking on a lark while teaching a group of Nigerian high school students and has been making a prolific and impressive amount of films ever since. Similarly to Oshima, Nilsson rejects the idea of working within studio standards and guidelines. He believes that American film currently serves to distract people from their “boredom” and does nothing to “feed their souls”. Nilsson created a film collective/manifesto called Direct Action. He did this before Von Trier created the Dogme 95, but got much less exposure. His current group is called the Tenderloin yGroup. It is a group that consists of streetpeople from San Francisco's Tenderloin distract as well as others from every sort of background and talent. It was these people that came together to create Nilsson's 9 @ Night.
9 @ Night is nine separate feature length films that all work together as a cohesive picture of the city and those that are forgotten. They use primary non professional actors and were all shot with little money. They have only been shown in their correct order and entirety a few times but they will hopefully be achieving wider distribution through cinematiques and art movie houses. Hopefully they come to Milwaukee so we can have a chance to see the “most important” works in American cinema.
I do, however, think that “the most important cinema” is a big leap and much too broad of a statement for an artist or anyone to make. Nilsson is basically negating everyones work but his own. He believes that current American filmmakers are “either confused, lost, or irrelevant”. Though it seems he is doing amazing grassroots cinema, it still seems a bit much to presume. By making this statement he is saying that the whole industry of films and film academia is studying and making things that are essentially useless, or without at least without real value. (At least when looking at American films of this era.) It is too narrow of an opinion for me to take stock in. I do think that many movies do simply help temporarily stave off boredom, but there are many works of relevance that can be seen, such as some of the video exhibits residing within the Stop. Look. Listen. exhibit. Perhaps by making this statement he is trying to move more people to adopt more grassroots efforts into their process and move away from the mainstream
I do find Nilsson to be an inspiring filmmaker. He manages to gather talent and tell the stories that he feels necessary on low to no budget. Like Clementi and Oshima he is a bit of a renegade filmmaker. This is important in todays age where people are currently barraged with media symbols created by a homogeneous industry on a minute by minute basis. It is very easy to sink into a feeling that they only way to work in films and media is to become part of this massive multi billion dollar industrial machine. In Milwaukee, the “indie” movie theatres have taken to showing more mainstream films such as Sex And The City and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. There just aren't too many venues for lesser known relevant work. Seeing people doing films off of the grid and reading about them in a publication available in many bookstores is heartening. It helps to make it feel like it is possible to avoid the conglomerations and lead a more fulfilling career life. It's also always nice when people achieve some sort of success coming from Wisconsin. When walking around exhibits and seeing the tags of New York, LA, and San Francisco over and over again I feel my shoulders slump and I actually get a bit weary, sometimes. It's disheartening that people usually don't produce out of their native areas. It was good that Nilsson has come from WI, gone to San Fran and been productive, but wish he could have done it here.
Sound and Video Art
Stop Look Listen. The exhibit currently residing in the Haggerty Museum on the campus of Marquette University, is a compilation of works from some of today's prominent video artists. The exhibit consists of many different works that utilize elements of sound to amplify and bring further meaning into the pieces. Aaron Zimm (field recording artist) described sound art as sound that is working to achieve a higher level of meaning and provide more than just the level of comfort and recognizability that come from familiar sounds and universal musical structures. Sound art is demonstrating something. Something more. The sound, or lack there of, that is used in conjunction with images in the pieces by Patty Chang and Johanna Billing work in ways that both enhance the meaning of the work and inspire different avenues of expanded thought, both in and outside the pieces.
In Patty Chang's The Fountain, she uses sound to enhance the feelings of danger and claustrophobia. For her piece, she laid a mirror covered with a thin layer of water horizontally on the floor. She then positioned herself over it and proceed to slurp and gulp at the pool. The camera and framing show only her bare shoulders, face/head, and part of the water covered mirror. Throughout the piece the camera remains in this close stationary shot, without variation. The viewer is then drawn in and made to feel caught in this realm. It is as if they are gulping the water which creates feelings of claustrophobia in the audience. The only audio the viewer is hearing in the piece is the sounds that Chang is making; this includes the smacking of lips, the gulping of the water etc. There is no music or outside sounds layered. Having this as the audio intensifies the feelings of claustrophobia. Only the sounds of Chang herself can be heard which further connects the viewer with her form. There is no background music or other dialog to focus or to direct the viewers thoughts. You are brought into this world without any sound to help guide you away from Chang's actions. This piece is set up with headphones. Headphones add to the claustrophobia as they do their best to encompass your head and block sounds that may be occurring outside the work.
On the piece by Johanna Billings...
In the article by Zimm, he mentions that music and its identifiable nature can be used to create a a garden path. It can draw in and audience and lead them to discover other more complex aspects. Billing uses the pop song Magical World (also the title of her work) as a garden path, an easy entry, into her piece. In the film the song is being sung and preformed by a group of children in Croatia. They are singing in English, but English is not the children's first language. As with Chang's works, the sounds we hear in the piece are diagetic, but they are musical as opposed to plain human. Listening to this American pop song sung by the innocent faces of children gives an immediate sense of familiarity making the viewer initially engaged in the piece. Once they are effectively engaged they then begin to realize deeper dimensions in the film utilizing the garden path effect. They will be able to ask themselves questions about these children's lives, the state of their country and innumerable other aspects . This normal American pop song is transformed. It is recontextualized and leads to many thoughts that the song itself could not have brought. Billing's ability to change the feeling and meaning that this familiar song brings moves her work from simple sound or video into video art. She successfully combines music and video into a more high art form.
By defining what sound and art and music means to him, Aaron Zimm touched on what it means to make a higher level of art, that is to say art that appreciated by a certain well versed audience When looking at the way Zimm outlines his theories it seems apparent why these works by Patty Chang and Johanna Billing were chosen to be displayed in a museum, which is traditionally a more high art arena. Both The Fountain and Magical World are working on complex levels that engage the viewer raising questions and physical visceral reactions They do this not only through their images, but also through sound; sound as an integral part in their being and creation of meaning.
In Patty Chang's The Fountain, she uses sound to enhance the feelings of danger and claustrophobia. For her piece, she laid a mirror covered with a thin layer of water horizontally on the floor. She then positioned herself over it and proceed to slurp and gulp at the pool. The camera and framing show only her bare shoulders, face/head, and part of the water covered mirror. Throughout the piece the camera remains in this close stationary shot, without variation. The viewer is then drawn in and made to feel caught in this realm. It is as if they are gulping the water which creates feelings of claustrophobia in the audience. The only audio the viewer is hearing in the piece is the sounds that Chang is making; this includes the smacking of lips, the gulping of the water etc. There is no music or outside sounds layered. Having this as the audio intensifies the feelings of claustrophobia. Only the sounds of Chang herself can be heard which further connects the viewer with her form. There is no background music or other dialog to focus or to direct the viewers thoughts. You are brought into this world without any sound to help guide you away from Chang's actions. This piece is set up with headphones. Headphones add to the claustrophobia as they do their best to encompass your head and block sounds that may be occurring outside the work.
On the piece by Johanna Billings...
In the article by Zimm, he mentions that music and its identifiable nature can be used to create a a garden path. It can draw in and audience and lead them to discover other more complex aspects. Billing uses the pop song Magical World (also the title of her work) as a garden path, an easy entry, into her piece. In the film the song is being sung and preformed by a group of children in Croatia. They are singing in English, but English is not the children's first language. As with Chang's works, the sounds we hear in the piece are diagetic, but they are musical as opposed to plain human. Listening to this American pop song sung by the innocent faces of children gives an immediate sense of familiarity making the viewer initially engaged in the piece. Once they are effectively engaged they then begin to realize deeper dimensions in the film utilizing the garden path effect. They will be able to ask themselves questions about these children's lives, the state of their country and innumerable other aspects . This normal American pop song is transformed. It is recontextualized and leads to many thoughts that the song itself could not have brought. Billing's ability to change the feeling and meaning that this familiar song brings moves her work from simple sound or video into video art. She successfully combines music and video into a more high art form.
By defining what sound and art and music means to him, Aaron Zimm touched on what it means to make a higher level of art, that is to say art that appreciated by a certain well versed audience When looking at the way Zimm outlines his theories it seems apparent why these works by Patty Chang and Johanna Billing were chosen to be displayed in a museum, which is traditionally a more high art arena. Both The Fountain and Magical World are working on complex levels that engage the viewer raising questions and physical visceral reactions They do this not only through their images, but also through sound; sound as an integral part in their being and creation of meaning.
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