On Super Bowl Ads and the Avant Garde

At our recent screening, when the publisher was up front making a point about short film being 100 years old, someone in the audience said something like, “and now they’re TV commercials.” Sadly, she’s right. Somehow short film went from being the avant garde to a tool of advertising, without most of us getting to see any of it.

The recent slate of Super Bowl ads gives us occasion to consider this disaster. The publisher said he couldn’t be bothered on this topic; he pelted us with gruyere and said he was busy planning next year’s Davos forum (after this year’s topic, “Shaping the Global Agenda: The Shifting Power Equation,” they will be more clear next year with, “Does Anyone Else Miss the ‘80s?: All Zimbabwe Needs Is a Good Loan”). But most of us watched the game and a lot of TV ads, in general. While this year’s Super Bowl ads were less creative than in recent years---and we also think the NYT is crazy for reading Iraq-related feelings into the inanity (see HERE)---it is still undeniable that advertisers have adopted many of the lessons of experimental film from the last 50 years into their product.

Just like short stories have been a place for creativity and experimentation in literature since their beginning, short film has often led cinema down new audio-visual roads. The big difference, of course, is that everyone got to read short stories almost right away. Nobody locked them up and only let writers and MFA students read them. But short film, despite being over 100 years old, has remained marginalized and obscure. Directors and film students are well versed in the form—indeed most of them have made short films—but somehow the general public has been kept in the dark.

But back to advertising. Lamentably, advertisers have not been so deprived. They’ve kept up and were quick to adopt any new a-v trick that might grab one’s attention and lead one to buy, say, Sprite.

Historically, before an art form is fully coopted and used as a tool for selling crap, it usually passes through a phase of popularity. Rock music is an easy example. It went from being cool, to being popular, whereby it was then used to peddle Ford Mustangs. But at least people got to hear the music. (Then we had the 1970s. And, after the ’73 oil embargo, we didn’t even have real Mustangs, anymore.)

There is really no way to remedy this. But we can do our best to promote short film and start to reclaim it for the general public. Art should give the public new ways to think about the world, not just advertisers.

press release: JSF's Volume 6; Oscar news; Australian film

for immediate release

The Journal of Short Film releases Volume 6 (Winter 2007)

Columbus, OH (February 6, 2007) The Journal of Short Film released Volume 6 (Winter 2007) today. The JSF is a quarterly DVD publication of exceptional, peer-reviewed short films. Volume 6 contains the JSF’s first films from Australia. To date, the JSF has published 61 filmmakers from 8 countries.

The staff of the Journal is very excited about Volume 6 but also wants to share its Oscar news: a film that appeared in Volume 4 (Summer 2006)—Borja Cobeaga’s “Éramos Pocos (One Too Many)”—was just nominated for the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.

The Journal welcomed Sam Green as a guest editor on Volume 6. Sam was a noted short film maker before making the feature documentary “The Weather Underground,” which was nominated for an Academy Award. Sam has helped to fulfill the Journal’s mission of supporting diversity, experimentation, and independent work.

Volume 6 also introduces a new DVD feature: the video contributor notes. In these notes, the audience gets a personal introduction to the filmmakers. Following is a list of the films in Volume 6:

1. WE’RE GOING TO THE ZOO – Josh Safdie (2006, 14:40) Driving to the zoo, a young woman and her little brother pick up an unconventional hitchhiker. 2. ALICE SEES THE LIGHT – Ariana Gerstein (2006, 6:20) In an ultra-bright world, there's more to vision than meets the eye. 3. THE SASKATCHEWAN TRILOGY, PART I – Brian Stockton (2002, 5:40) An eccentric portrait of the filmmaker’s first year of life in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. 4. FIRST LADIES – Natalie Frigo (2006, 1:30) In FIRST LADIES, the focus of news footage is altered, addressing alternate histories disregarded due to implicit cultural structures. 5. LUCKY – Nash Edgerton (2005, 4:25) Lucky finds himself in a bind, and he’ll need to pull off more than a Houdini act to escape. 6. RUMSFELD RULES – Bryan Boyce (2006, 2:45) Donald Rumsfeld speaks the crazy poetic truth. 7. CARMICHAEL & SHANE – Rob Carlton and Alex Weinress (2006, 5:30) A single father has a unique approach to raising his twins . . . choose a favourite. 8. INTERSTATE, PART I – Jason Cortlund & Julia Halperin (2006, 6:00) Night surveillance of circus elephants and zebras in circadian rhythm, seen through waves of traffic from a Texas interstate highway. 9. DON’T READ NOW, PART I – Michael Saul (2006, 5:20) A common warning in the art of passing notes. Secret love letters disguise our true intentions. 10. REMOTE COMMOTION – Catherine Galasso (2006, 4:00) An erotic diary of transatlantic yearning made intimate through an uncanny and frenzied collage of facial expressions. 11. THE TOUCH – Vanessa Woods (2005, 3:00) An experimental animation of an Anne Sexton poem that examines melodies within spoken, written, and visual language.

Contact: Karl Mechem, publisher, The Journal of Short Film, contact@theJSF.org

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Congratulations to Borja Cobeaga on his Oscar nomination!

Huzzah! Excellent news on this snowy morning: Borja’s film “Eramos Pocos” was nominated for Best Short Film (Live Action)! This film appeared in Volume 4 and has been an audience favorite ever since. The Basque film industry must be celebrating with a three-hour lunch, today. (oh wait, ....) But seriously, the Basques support their filmmakers in ways that most American filmmakers would kill for.

We half-expected two more nominations this morning for JSF filmmakers. Steve Bognar deserved a nom. for his feature documentary “A Lion in the House.” And I’m sure Peter Sillen was considered for a cinematography nomination for “Old Joy.” Neither happened, but we’re happy for Borja’s film. His film, by the way, will be shown this weekend at our screening at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.

Screening: Joe Merrell, Buffalo, NY, 1/26, 1/27

Joe’s excellent film “Corner, Los Angeles” graced our first volume, fourteen months ago. His new work is screening this weekend at the Resolutions 07 Festival in Buffalo. Here are some details from Joe:
The piece is called 'Sister Cities' and it's in 3D
(old school red/cyan anaglyph). If anyone is interested in seeing a
little clip from it, they can visit my website at:
http://www.uhhuhohyeah.com/

Joe brought a rare West Coast sensibility to the Journal, and his new film—with its evocations of sunshine and blazing heat (among other things, like porpoises)—is sure to bring a similar sunny relief to wintry Buffalo.

Screening: The Best of the JSF, Oklahoma City, 1/27-1/28

We’re thrilled about the upcoming event in the publisher’s mother country—a screening at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. The publisher will be in attendance and, in between meetings with the governor and the Flaming Lips, will be accepting submissions from locals. The slate of films was programmed by OKCMOA film curator Brian Hearn. The event is cosponsored by deadCENTER Film. (This year’s deadCENTER Film Festival in OKC will be held June 6th through June 10th.)

DETAILS:

WHAT: A screening of The Best of The Journal of Short Film at The Oklahoma City Museum of Art.
WHEN: Saturday, January 27, 5:30 & 8:00pm and Sunday, January 28, 2pm
WHERE: The Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Dr., downtown OKC

Visit the museum’s website for the complete program. Visit deadCENTER’s website for their upcoming activities.

The Politics and Pragmatics of Film Preservation

Every now and then a discussion breaks out on the Frameworks listserv that is worth reading. (the daily trading of information is good, too, but less so for the outsider.) Last month there was a long discussion of a “cultural boycott of Israel,” which was good, if not always film-centered. (find it HERE and read the Replies.)

But there is a better example of the listserv in the recent talk about film preservation. In response to some of the activities of the Chicago Film Group (discussed last month), someone raised questions about the politics of grants and preservation. (read it HERE.) It’s nice seeing both the opinionated and the practitioners on the same list. Below are two excerpts from the thread:

(in response to celebrating the work of Anthony McCall)
But if you take a look at the recent critical work on McCall, . . . you find a complete erasure of McCall's radical political/ideological critique of the artworld. He's now been safely ensconced in the gallery and museum artworld as a formalist, after denouncing it in Argument.

(and then, in the same thread but on the issue of how much it costs to preserve film)
We can currently scan 2K at 16 fps, and 4K at 5 fps -- and 1600 x 1200 (a good choice for regular 16mm) at 32 fps. This may change radically in the near future, with very fast high resolution scanning -- 24 fps or greater at 4K. . . . Of course, there's the issue of data storage. Storing uncompressed 4K scans (at 12 bits, each frame would take over 18MB, or 27 gigs per minute). But the second you are dealing with 4K scans, wavelet compression -- JPEG 2000 or Cineform -- can be very helpful, and visually lossless -- about 40MB/second, or 2.4 gigs per minute. On a 400 gig LTO-3 tape, costing $65, holds 166 minutes, or a cost of forty cents per minute -- 2x that -- 80 cents -- for two copies.

You get the picture. Some of the listers can be snippy, but the list remains a valuable resource for both filmmakers and -tourists.

Happy New Year: A Production Update

Best wishes from the JSF for a happy and productive 2007.

Production update: Volume 6 will soon be pressed and should be released by the end of the month. It promises to be one of the best collections yet. We know, we always say that, but since 2007 is the Year of the Pig, and the Pig type is known for his/her honesty, you can trust us.

In other good news, the Year of the Pig is also associated with fertility, so look for an even more prolific year from The Journal of Short Film. In this space, alone, we plan on posting more material of actual interest. (We got the census data out of our system, thankyou.) Most excitingly, in the near future there will be more extensive interviews from our many filmmakers (61, as of Vol.6).

2007 will also be a year of JSF screenings. Check the Events page periodically for updates. This month, we’re excited to return to the mother country for a screening at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. And we’re officially starting the rumor of screenings in Portland and NYC before summer hits.

But for now, sit back, make some grand plans of your own for 2007, catch up on Volumes 1-5, and look forward to Volume 6. And as always, submit your own work for Volume 7.