The above public domain photo is of a movie being shot by Vitagraph in 1917. No information accompanies the photo as to who anyone is or what the movie is that they're making. Kind of like my upcoming teaser trailers for October, starting here tomorrow. Allow me to explain.
Anyone familiar with me knows I like the multimedia aspect of blogging and enjoy putting together short films, usually in the form of montages but sometimes not. I've enjoyed putting together the teasers much more than a montage so far because the creative side is more demanding than on a montage.
Each teaser consists of one clip and all the clips you will see come from a classic movie with nothing later than the seventies. But even if you've seen the movie the clip is from you might not recognize it. That's because I have used only a portion of the frame or enhanced the lighting in a dramatic way or added a completely new visual element altogether. And all the music you will hear, different for each teaser, was written and recorded by me. Except for a couple of montages in October, all future short films here will be scored by yours truly. And all of this is to say none of this is very important, I just like putting together short movies and if I can make them promotional trailers, well then, why the hell not? I hope you enjoy them.
28 comments:
Oh, I better enjoy them...if I don't, then brother, get ready for the storm!!
But honestly, looking forward to this. I don't believe I've heard your music before.
I kind of want to put them all up at once so you can hear all the different types but that would defeat the purpose.
The music is written specifically for the clips with the exception of the first one which I wrote for a short horror film I did.
Anyway, that first one uses different speed effects to create an otherworldly sound. So it's not like you'll say, "Hey, catchy tune Greg!"
Will I be able to say, "Hey, catchy soundscape, Greg!"?
I want someone to come around who is simultaneously avant-garde and pop.
Bill, well, that'd definitely be closer.
Ryan, perhaps I am your man. The second teaser, which you'll have to wait a couple of weeks for, uses carefully edited feedback and choral voices. It's uber-fucking cool!
If you do say so yourself.
Hey... did y'all hear that David Carradine is dead? Apparent suicide. :(
I want someone to come around who is simultaneously avant-garde and pop.
You ask, I answer.
Fox, no I didn't hear that. Thanks for the update. I'm going to go check that out.
Ed, my second teaser with the feedback is reminiscent of that sound by Stangl and Kurzmann. I love taking unstructured sounds like feedback and editing and looping segments of it into a semi-coherant musical piece.
Really a shame about Carradine. Although I found an article that claims his best work was with big directors like Tarantino, Scorsese and Bergman. Obviously they didn't read our TOERIFC discussion.
Greg, I'm looking forward to hearing your music, especially since I'm so into this kind of experimental stuff.
I just realized, though, that the Erstwhile link doesn't really convey the full flavor of the Stangl/Kurzmann album: in between sections of semi-dissonant feedback and soundscapes, they cover Prince songs and German pop tunes, even bringing in female backup singers towards the end of the record. Hence, pop and avant garde.
Well, I do think Carradine's best work was with Tarantino, and I think his performance in The Serpent's Egg is at least a little better than most people claim. Haven't seen Boxcar Bertha yet.
But what could have led a 72 year old guy who works all the time to suicide?? I wonder if he'd received bad medical news...
The reports so far (I've got MSNBC linked to his picture) are conflicting. The MSNBC just says he hanged himself, the Wikipedia entry says his body was inside a closet on the floor with the chord around his neck. For all I know at this point that could be accident, homicide, suicide or auto-erotic asphyxiation gone wrong.
I've read that no signs of assault or anything like that were found, so I think homicide is pretty unlikely. As for the auto-erotic asphyxiation, well, I guess it's possible.
Yeah, I read recently that the maid found him "sitting" with a rope around his neck. That made me stop for a second and think of the auto-erotic stuff that you guys are thinking about.
I don't think that's it just that anything's possible. I probably shouldn't have even said it.
It does seem odd that someone would commit suicide in a hotel on a movie shoot - in other words, why go to the movie location just for that. That's why I tend to think he must have received some horrible health news as you suggested. Or maybe he was just clinically depressed and hadn't sought out help.
I suppose clinical depression is the most likely answer. I don't know much about that disease beyond that it's unbelievably awful if untreated, and impossible to understand for those who don't suffer from it. It's what led to David Foster Wallace's suicide, although the story behind that is fairly complicated, along with being pretty horrible.
I'm no expert either but I do know that when I have depression in the winter with the change in light I can have everything in the world going for me and still feel awful. It's uncontrollable. It peaks in February at which point I feel damn near despondant but cover it up well enough. Interestingly, going all the way back decades to my first jobs, every one I have quit in February. It's my give-up-on-everything month. Also, all my moves have come in February. I leave places in February. And boy, every February I start thinking about deleting Cinema Styles. Every time.
And seasonal depression isn't anything compared to clinical depression from what I gather so, like you, I assume it must be horrible to suffer through.
Boy. February, huh? I'll send you a picture of my smiling face for Valentine's Day. That oughtta fix you right up! Won't it...?
Anyway, enough speculation, I think, on why Carradine did this. I'm starting to feel a little ghoulish. Best just to say it's sad, talk about his work, maybe, and move on.
Anyway, enough speculation, I think, on why Carradine did this. I'm starting to feel a little ghoulish. Best just to say it's sad, talk about his work, maybe, and move on.
I was just about to get into the conspiracy theory aspect of all this that has been completely ignored and then specualte even more wildly concerning some kind of collaboration with the NSA but I guess not now.
The reports say details are being withheld out of consideration for the family so it will probably be sometime before all is clear anyway.
My personal favorite work of his is Bound for Glory. I love that film. I've probably seen it five or six times.
I didn't mean to sound like I was slapping you down, by the way. It's more like I was slapping myself down through you.
I've never seen Bound for Glory -- I've actually only seen two Ashby movies -- but it's on my list. I think his best movie is probably the Bergman, and his best acting is in the Tarantino.
looking forward to your stuff, Greg, and too bad about Carradine, you ghouls.
Thanks Rick, you non-ghoul. We could all learn a thing or two from you.
And here I thought you guys were just being sick bastards making insensitive jokes.
From IMDb's news:
David Carradine died during a sex game that went wrong, according to sources in Bangkok, Thailand, where he was found dead on Thursday.
Carradine's body was discovered in a hotel suite and local reports suggested he committed suicide.
He was discovered by a maid, naked and hanged, but the suggestions his death had a sexual twist were strongly disputed by the star's close friend, attorney Vicki Roberts, and his manager Chuck Binder, who insisted he died of natural causes.
But a statement from Carradine's representative now indicates the actor died during a sex act.
The spokesperson tells TMZ.com, "We can confirm 100 per cent that he never would have committed suicide. It was an accidental death. Everybody is in shock."
Rumours Carradine died attempting auto-erotic asphyxiation - where victims achieve heightened sexual pleasure by restricting their air supply - are backed up by a quote a Bangkok police officer gave to British newspaper The Sun.
The cop tells reporters, "A rope was attached to his neck and also to his penis".
Rocker Michael Hutchence was rumoured to have died attempting the same sex act in a Sydney, Australia hotel room back in 1997 - although his death was officially declared a suicide.
What a badass. Hell of a way to go.
Well... I mean, that's what it sounded like and I was just hoping I was wrong, but that's what was on my mind from the second I read he was sitting down with the cord around his neck. At the same time, if that was his pleasure then I can't fault the man and it's guaranteed it was a peaceful death.
The really tragic thing is that now I'll be incapable of sitting inside my closet with a length of curtain cord wrapped around my neck and genitals without thinking of David Carradine.
I guess you'll just have to adopt the plastic bag over the head method. 'Course then you might think of Auntie Em.
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