I tend to wear my influences proudly on sleeve where music is concerned... no exception with film. I am greatly indebted to the innovations of Hans Richter, Bruce Conner, Tony Conrad, Stan Brakhage, Woody & Steina Vasulka and Peter Kubelka. They didn't have conceptual forebears... and I have them.

On rare occasion these films are shown in a public setting with their sound components; more often than not they serve as a visual backdrop to my music performances (anything to keep the eye off the old mug). If you'd like to receive a hard copy DVD-R of the working-versions of these films to show in your festival/theater/club/coffee-house/closet, please get in touch.

Click on any of the "stills" to stream a scaled-down mpeg-4 into a new window.  
  Said mpeg-4 files are quite large (manageably so), and as such...  
  a broadband connection is somewhat mandatory.

My goal is to complete 47 very short films (less than 1 minute in length each) shot on (literally) and about/of turntables, with musical accompaniment.

Thusfar I have completed 5.

For the first two scenes I placed objects on the platter (an Okinawan thumb piano, a Mexican aluminum rabbit-hold) and manually shot one frame for each strobe dot marked on the side of the turntable's platter as I rotated it. The camera auto-focused on the exact center of each frame (with occasional derivation).

For the next two scenes I placed different objects on the platter (various electronic components) and synchronized a digital camcorder to capture one frame per every rotation or half-rotation, at the exact same spot(s) in each revolution (with the help of the turntable's pitch control). The inconsistencies of the cheap motor in my Gemini turntable cause a sideways jittering effect.

Rather than mickey-mouse the soundtrack via record pops and crackle, I've been composing a proper score with electric guitar and analog electronic effects, which I feel adds just the right touch.

Last Appended : February 7th, 2005 :: Current Length : 3m, 8s, 12f.

I love video feedback, although it has become something of a cliché in "video art".

In a new twist on an old variation, I created a non realtime feedback loop by capturing still images of objects taped and/or affixed to a truly flat CRT with a digital camcorder, which i then displayed on said flat CRT in the background while I captured the next still image, repeat, ad infinitum. This same process was executed using a LCD screen on a Powerbook.

Slight movements and changes in shot geometry alter the "tunnel" effect vastly. It always takes a few frames for the feedback loop to catch up what's happening in "reality", and that's exactly the effect I was after.

The last scene thusfar entailed taping a clear mylar bag of ice to said CRT and capturing one image every five seconds while the ice melted.

An a direct corrolary, I used a combination of water sounds (field recordings, mostly), and electronic feedback sounds from an analog synthesizer to match the on-screen developments.

Last Appended : February 7th, 2005 :: Current Length : 10m, 39s, 13f.

Every photograph I've taken since September 2001 until now, plus every image file on the MathLab G5 flashing by at 12 frames per second (occasionally 24). The photos occur in perfect chronological order, the image files are thrown in occasionally at the ends of the "phases", signified by the death of one digital camera (subsequently, the birth of another)...

Surprisingly coherent thusfar, especially as the entirety of the first phase was shot before I had even begun to assemble, or even conceptualize the film. By phase two, short motion studies start ocurring intermittently, then more and more frequently until it starts to resemble a series of "scenes".

I'm still in the middle of phase 3, with a fresh camera acquired in December of 2004 (which makes the progression... Canon S-20 --> Canon Powershot G2 --> Canon Powershot Pro 1). Now, instead of shooting a single photo of an interesting mushroom that's growing in the sink, I take at least 12 (one second).

The sound in this film consists of a series of very slow-moving, minimal instrumental pieces. Somehow the lack of forward progression in the music allays the brain in processing the manic, 12 decision-per-second rate of the visuals.

Last Appended : February 28th, 2005 :: Current Length : 18m, 42s, 8f.