From: Mitsu Hadeishi (email suppressed)
Date: Mon Mar 06 2006 - 10:57:06 PST
Oh yes, I see what you mean. Yeah, I really hate the way films are shown in
galleries --- even when they section off a darkened room, they're typically
shown in endless loops and the viewers usually just pass through for a few
minutes then move on. The environment isn't conducive to people seeing a
film in its entirety.
At my events it is a party-like atmosphere (not that I bill them this way, but
it just turns into that). Typically I show films in "sets" of four or five,
with breaks, and sometimes I also have music or performance, and usually also
visual art. People mill about during the breaks though when I start the
films they usually will sit and watch (and I turn most of the lights off --
at least the ones that impinge on the screen) --- in between each film I'll
open the floor to questions for the filmmaker if they are present, this also
adds to the community feel of the event. Overall it is relaxed yet it is
also focused in the sense that people actually watch the work from beginning
to end.
The overall effect is quite nice and I think people enjoy the events quite a
bit.
Mitsu
On Monday 06 March 2006 10:51, Klaus W. Eisenlohr wrote:
> >In any event, setting up a dark room for a "VIDEO" screening: one does
> > this for the same reason you set up a dark room for a "FILM" screening,
> > because it looks better that way. There's nothing magical about a video
> > projector that changes the fact that you want to project in a darkened
> > room ... ?
> >
> >M
>
> I am not talking about magic, I am talking about
> common use in Art. We have become so used to bad
> projections of video in exhibtions, in museums,
> on "events", on parties that it has become very
> hard to work out good conditions if you want to
> show your own work or if you set up screenings in
> a network of art people. Also, we are so used
> (and have learned) to have a different viewing
> attitudes towards digital work - as through its
> accessibility.
>
> New projection technique is feeding to that: you
> do not have to set up a complete dark space in
> order to have a good projection, and the party is
> "much more fun": we just had the Directors Lounge
> running in Berlin, a ten day event with the idea
> of having a very different and relaxed space
> during the rush of Berlinale. We had planned to
> divide the large space with black curtains to
> have a seperate screening space. Somehow it did
> not happen. One reason was coordination and
> technical problems we still had to solve, but I
> think the main reason was, that the big,
> non-divided space was so beautiful and welcoming!
> It was great that you could sit in front and have
> a close look or sit in the back, talking with
> peers while being able to still see what was
> going on on the big screen. And it worked!
>
> I was showing some work on film with my own 16mm
> projector, I then had to switch off many of the
> little lights in the space and still was not
> reeaally happy with the projection.
>
> That is what I am talking about, with video you
> do not NEED a dark space and the common sense of
> viewing experience with video has somehow shifted
> towards that. The cinema experience has become
> old-fashíoned. In certain funny ways though,
> setting up a 16mm projector did not have that
> old-fashioned idea to it as it used to have some
> time ago.
>
> Setting up a dark space is a totally different
> social experience. Thus, what you are doing with
> setting up screenings is exactly what I am
> talking about. - This "new idea" of microcinema.
>
> The "magic" might still be there: in my
> experience, even when I was setting up screenings
> in a complete dark space in the past, the
> audience often showed a different behavior with
> film or with video. (I do believe it is a learned
> social behavior)
>
> Best wishes,
> Klaus
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