This abstract film was inspired by the occasion of filmmaker Norman McLaren's 100th anniversary. Insects in their final moments chatter noisily, displaying extravagant colors and patterns. It is their great feast of love. The film was made by scratching and painting directly on 8mm film. Powder and layers of transparent lacquer were also applied, with more layers of paint, lending depth to the various colors. The soundtrack was created optically with an original system, 'The Octopus'. Light sensors on the projection screen respond to the changing patterns in the film to control an analogue synthesizer. The film itself acts as a visual score.
This work is motivated by our interest in two technologies which some may, at first glance, consider to be obsolete: 8mm film and analogue modular synthesis. While most amateur and much commercial moving image production has shifted to an entirely digital workflow, some artists continue to be interested in film. The reasons for the appeal of film are not straightforward and not always clearly understood by the artists themselves, but it is certain that film entails a distinct working process that affords tactile intimacy differing from a digital workflow. Direct film techniques include painting and scratching patterns onto an exposed film by hand and this allows lyrical, painterly expression. Likewise, patching an analogue synth with wires and tweaking the sound with knobs offers a tactile process that strongly differs from the experience of programming a computer, even using visual languages. More controversially, some have claimed that film offers visual qualities that would be difficult to simulate digitally and that the physicality of analogue synthesis offers a rich indeterminacy not easily attainable with digital synthesis.
With this project we examine the aesthetic issues surrounding the continued use of non-digital audio and visual media. While the artists are deeply involved with digital practices, we also recognize the beauty of the pre-digital era: the sounds of projector and richly varying sounds of an analogue synth, the tangle of wires on a modular patching bay, the deeply complex textures and tactile feel of film.
About Haruka Mitani and Michael Lyons
Haruka Mitani is an independent filmmaker based in Kyoto Japan. She was raised in a traditional Kyoto lacquer-ware crafts family and received a university degree in Image Arts and Sciences from Ritsumeikan University.
Michael Lyons is a media arts and sciences researcher based in Kyoto, Japan. He is co-founder of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression, a leading music technology research event held annually. He is currently a Professor of Image Arts and Sciences at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan.