Sunday, 08 November 2009
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Barthes' Bloo
I took a class in college that studied the misrepresentation of the self in autobiographical works. We examined a wide variety of mediums and focused on the authenticity of works such as James Fry's "A Million Little Pieces" and ghost-written autobiographies such as Paris Hilton's "Confessions of an Heiress" (the title is itself a reference to the "Confessions of St. Augustine", one of the earliest autobiographical works).
There is a documentary called Blue - I forget who created it. It is an autobiographical work about the creator and his struggle with aids (or hiv?). The entire film is a solid blue color (the solid blue that VCR's used to display) with out any actual images. And then he has audio laid over it. It is an interesting documentary that is quite comical at moments. Basically, Blue is many things that a typical film is not
Don't worry, I'm going some place with all of this.
We also studied a guy named Roland Barthes, whom I quite enjoy. He likes to find the antithesis of things. If Blue is the opposite of a documentary, then what would a documentary by Barthes be like? Taking that thought in to mind I set out and made a video called Barthe's Bloo.
First off all, Bloo is a reference to my favorite cartoon character and personal hero Blooregard Q. Kazoo from the animated show Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. Originally I had intended for the entire video to not contain the color blue. However, I needed about 2400 images without the color blue, and it proved too much of a daunting task to collect 2400 blueless images for a personal project that hadn't even been a class assignment.
At its simplest level a video normally...- Is made of static images that make a moving image
- Is enjoyable to a degree that at least makes it watchable
- Contains only on a few layers of sound, each of which you can focus on (ex: music + voice + sound effect)
- Has a level of organization
Almost everything is the opposite of a normal film and it is all intentional. Among other things- Images are graphic in some instances - especially the image in the very middle of the film. Beware!
- The images are static, so you don't get motion
- You're not supposed to enjoy this video or be able to watch it in full
- The sound track contains 11 tracks laid over each other
- It is very chaotic
Notes:
- The dialog at the start of the video is from a pod cast a friend and I made for OSU about the Student Code of Conduct Policy that each student is bound to). My sexy voice is the one that reads "You're going to have an informal meeting..."
- I originally meant for this to contain a greater variety of images
- I did not intend for most of the images to be religious
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Comments (7)
This tour-d'-horse post deserves at least two hours of quality-time contemplation before comment; the luxury of which I haven't at present. Hope you'll rightfuly appreciate my informed comment, after I come to grips with the gravitas. And as I (boringly?) persist in repeating; knowing the source of said ouvre is the main motivator for my investment in scarse time. Meanwhile, suffer a few 'LOL's, etc. from the froth. (Why am I so irredeemably enchanted by my own depth? Probably un-addressed issues from grade-school, Seth.)
Meanwhile, another visit to Israel awaits me: tomorrow, ugh., this time from a pink-glasses immigrant and her husband/. It was a consummate pleasure to host your clear-eyed ass recently, guy. My wife and kids still talk about it. 'Jezuz, Xanga's actually a place to meet real peoples'
i didn't enjoy your video...but i did watch it in full. does that mean anything regarding my psyche? i didn't understand it at all, but i'm sure that was your intention.
^I second her emotion, with a few added details. Watched it twice(!) Yup, a masochist. found the audio tracks a perfectly apt reaction to the deliberate montony of the images. For some reason it reminded me of the scene in a 'film from B4 U were born: Neville Shute's post apochalypse 'On the Beach', where a supposed sign of life after nuclear war turns out to be a Coke bottle on teetering a telegraph key in the wind.
Anyway, I 'get' Roland Barthes like a worm 'gets' a rock. Semiotics, deconstruction...(?) It's not like I haven't tried to like it. Magriffe's 'This ain't a pipe' is about as far as I go.
One more observation: A party, me passed out, somebody laid a heavy book askance on the remote. Auto channel-surfing of the ten stations the low-life host managed to program into his TV. Conversations continue. I'm too blind to care. Modern life?
i can't get the video to work ... do you have it on youtube by chance?
Why, god, why.
Also: let's get some drinks at the Edinburgh.
@SandeeJohnston - Glad to hear you didn't enjoy it or understand it (I mean that). It is meant to be that way - the complete opposite of pleasant.
@jsolberg - Twice. You my friend need a new hobby. Just kidding. I posted this thinking of all my readers that you'd enjoy it most. No offense to them. That is just the way you like to think.
@kirlynz - It is too long to put on YouTube, but here is a direct link for you: www.robotfloss.com/downloads/barthes.wmv
And at the risk of Dada-ing up your Mona Lisa; a suggestion for take-two. At about 2:44 into, have Jeezuz picking his nose. Then, in stages, all the other 'partzoof'im' (faces: page 297 in Heb for Dummies, ha) start to copy His Divine Example. The sound track can register: 'Did you just see what I just saw?' // Yes, this is my new hobby: diddling with your high-art, ha.
Ten, fifteen years ago, I had an idea for a blockbuster film: A movie containing 100 deliberate gaffes, like Rolexes on 18th century actors, boom-mike in the frame. dialogue using words unknown at the time, etc. The production company would then offer cash prizes for mailed-in lists from viewers. I'm thinking 'Rocky Horror' type multiple ticket purchases. What think? Our ticket to quitting our day-jobs and spending the free quality time at the Edinburgh?