Statement - BRAIN OF MALICE

The short film Brain of Malice is in production and will be completed this week. It is the story of a Man who, after learning of his lover's cheating ways, binge drinks and fantasizes about murdering her. One morning the Man is awakened by the community drug dealer, the Milk Man, and is served "Breakfast." Breakfast, we learn, is a term for society's mandatory, morning drug-ingestion process. After consuming the drugs, the Man's murderous mind runs rampant. He decides to carry out the killing of his ex-girlfriend and her new lover. After committing the crime, the Man comes to believe that he has been cursed, as crazy occurrences start to befall him.

Un Chien Andalou

I have selected Un Chien Andalou from the Broken Screen list because it gave birth to experimental and non-linear filmmaking techniques. The title translates to An Andalusian Dog. Released in 1929, Un Chien Andalou is a black-and-white short-subject conceived by Salvador Dali and Louis Bunuel. Bunuel directed the movie, which is listed in Broken Screen under Structural Manipulation: Subverting linear storylines through technical expression. Indeed, Un Chien Andalou does not portray a linear storyline, but presents a series of bizarre scenes that may or may not have any real narrative quality. The artistry of Un Chien Andalou lies in the disjointed, dreamlike staging and sequencing of the scenes. For example, a shot of a cloud moving across the moon is juxtaposed with a shot of a knife slicing through a woman's eye. A scene showing ants crawling out of a hole in a man's palm is intercut with shots of a woman prodding a severed hand lying in the middle of a road.

These seemingly meaningless images are not meant to serve a narrative. They feel more like a montage depicting completely irrational happenings, arranged without formula. As a result, time is manipulated to the point of apparent insignificance in Un Chien Andalou. Conveyed through title cards, scenes skip ahead eight years into the future; then to 3 am; then to sixteen years prior; then simply to "Spring." This seemingly random manipulation of time serves the film by creating a fantastical, spontaneous, and open-ended atmosphere in which the bizarre vision of Dali and Bunuel is allowed to flourish.

One scene that best depicts the irrational chronology of Un Chien Andalou is a sequence depicting an exchange between a bicycle-riding man and a woman. The biker, transporting a small striped box, crashes into the sidewalk, and the woman rushes to his aid. This dissovles to a shot of the woman opening the box and removing a striped tie. She sets these objects on her bed along with the man's clothing. Then she sits in her chair and gazes at the bed. Suddenly the man appears in the room, staring at his hand. Ants crawl from a hole in his palm. This cuts directly to the streets, where a severed hand lies surrounded by a crowd. A girl pokes at the hand with a cane, then reveals that she posesses the aformentioned striped box. The man and woman watch from above as the girl is suddenly run down by a car. The man marvels at the carnage, then turns on the woman with lust. He begins to grope her. As he does this, her clothing melts into invisiblilty (using dissolves) and the man grips flesh. The woman espcapes his grasp for a moment, and she is again clothed. All at once the man is shown pulling a piano containing a dead donkey and two priests across the floor. The woman runs out the door and shuts it on the man's outstretched, ant-spewing hand. Then the film jumps ahead eight years, this time showing the man in bed, dressed in the clothes laid there by the woman.

The nudity and disturbing images in this strangely executed segment, along with its irrational sequencing, evoke a nightmarish quality. Highly controversial for its time, Un Chien Andalou cannot be dismissed as a mere montage of random images. It is a collection of feelings generated by the content and presentation of these images.

SOUND SOURCES

A source of constant enjoyment in my life is farting. It cracks me up. The sound of farts is so comedic, and the fun associated with comedy has led me to use wind-passing as a source for this project. First I recorded a few farts and the ensuing laughter. Then in Garageband I modified the sounds into a rythmic pattern. Lastly I combined it with some of my own music recordings. What I've got so far is a soundscape in which echoing farts act as percussion in a fuzzy guitar and drum whirlwind, with a few unintelligible but totally human exclamations bouncing around.

SOUND

I love music and I love to talk and laugh and listen. Needless to say, sound is essential to my existence. I think most human beings will understand when I say that our lives have certain sonic qualities. They are channeled emotionally. There are sounds that drive us crazy and sounds that make us want to dance. The sound of a crying baby makes me very upset deep down. A laughing baby, however, will make me extraordinarily happy. Some sounds will even invoke hunger in me, for example the simmering of a meatloaf just out of the oven. The five senses work together that way. Sound, as well as sight, helps define our space. Environmental sounds color the backdrop of our lives. I try to fill this backdrop will my favrotie music and the laughter of the people that I love. To me no sound is sweeter than the latter. Except maybe insane farts, but these just lead to more laughs. I also enjoy hearing and comparing heartbeats and breathing during certain activities. And rollicking rollercoaster wooshes. And gasps. I see it as applying our own organic rhythms to help us live in a sonic world. Vibration is key. Rhythm may be even more essential. I haven't figured it out yet. Has anyone?