I stumbled upon some really great videos when I first knew about Vancouver Film School (VFS) three years back. I remember that I spent nights after nights watching all their students’ creations and marvelled at how talented these students were.
I’ve always thought of sharing some of these videos with my friends and readers and did some drafts here and there on my analysis of certain videos. Unfortunately my computer crashed and many of my draft blog entries which I had saved in Word doc went down with it. I got too lazy to rewrite them. Many photos which were in the process of being edited, together with their originals, sank into the deep abyss. I totally gave up blogging about those events while grieving for the demise of my photos.
Just now, this song "The Chauffer" came to mind all of a sudden. I just had to search for the VFS video that has this song in it and relish in the melancholic beauty of the video. I like how the the lyrics of the song doesn’t really go with the animation yet it is this imperfection that makes the pairing of the audio and visual so perfect. So here’s sharing my favourite video from VFS:
I don’t know about you but there is this part of me that love anything out of the mainstream and I know many people would not appreciate this video as much as I do. Despite being titled “Guernica”, there are many other artists’ works in the film and I find joy being able to recognise their works.
The main character in his deformed body wakes up from his nightmare in Vincent Van Gogh’s Room at Arles, only to be thrown into the insanity of his conciousness. Then, he wanders about aimlessly in Salvador Dali’s surrealistic dreamscape The Persistence of Memory, better known in my dictionary as Melting Clocks. The landscape switches to M.C Escher’s Relativity where he is put through further torment of perpetually walking to nowehere. He finally jumps to his death, his deformed body fitting like the missing jigsaw piece in Picasso’s Guernica.
~~~~~~~~~~
Notes on this post:
This is a repost. Thank god that I saved my draft in Word doc. I actually posted this 2 days back but it seemed like blogger removed it for no rhyme or reason. I wasn’t able to log into blogger for a while and once I logged in, I realised this post simply vanished. I hope this one gets through. Any of you had your most recent post being removed by blogger as well?
Comments to this post have also disappeared and are not reflected on my dashboard . If you don’t mind, please leave them again. Thank you.
Edited to add:
I realised that all comments left after I experienced the blogger log-in problem disappeared too. Argh... I’ll slowly reply all of you in the previous post soon.
LinkWithin
I honestly intended to click on it, but... it looks a little scary.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your points on discipline. One should grow up knowing how to work hard.
seven-percentsolution.blogspot.com
Jo (is that alright if I called you that?), just a quick note to tell you I gave you the One Lovely Blog Award (it's on my blog). It's ok if you don't do blog tags or have already got the award, there's no obligation to pass it on, just my way of showing you that I really enjoy reading your blog :)
ReplyDeletexx
i have no idea what's going on with blogger... but i don't like it. ugh.
ReplyDeleteanywho, i absolutely LOVE the video. i could also recognize all the artists' work. it's beautifully made... and so creative! thanks so much for sharing :)
xx,
cins
Interesting video Jo :) I didn't really quite understand the meaning behind it when I first saw it, but reading your analysis of it afterwards helped to shed a lot of light on the events. I'm sorry to have to say that I am probably one of those people that wouldn't be able to appreciate the video as much as you did, but mostly because I am not so familiar with art :)
ReplyDeleteAnd it seems that a lot of things have been acting up ever since Blogger's server went down last night. I've had some comments disappear too (never showed up in dashboard) but luckily they show up in Disqus on the actual post. Hope all your comments are restored soon!
~~~
ReplyDeleteCindy,
You’ve experienced the same problem with your blogger a/c too? I’m ecstatic to have found somebody who likes the video too! So far, the people I know who likes the video are those who commented and rated the video fondly. Nobody else in my circle appreciates the beauty of this video and thinks I’m quite mad.
~~~
Rinny,
Thanx for sharing with me your honest view on the video. Initially I didn’t want to share my analysis but rather, to ask readers to share theirs. Then again, I thought that a majority of people in the world are clueless about art so they might not be able to appreciate the video if they have no background information.
Good to hear that your Disqus had been a lot kinder to you than blogger. I’m experiencing commenting on blogs whose bloggers have set their comment box such that it’s below the post these few days. I could only comment on those whose comments appear in a separate blogger page.
I hope blogger fixes these problems soon.
Even though I work for a museum, I am one of those people who are clueless about art. But it's an interesting video and I like the music. =)
ReplyDeleteThe verb “work” is without the past tense. Does it mean that you’re still working for a museum? That is like so totally amazing. I love museums! Thanx for sharing your thoughts on the video. The music minus the lyrics is really fitting right? You should watch the original mv by duran duran.
ReplyDeleteHello Jo!!!
ReplyDeleteThe music is very fitting. =)
I work for the Smithsonian Institution in DC. We have many museums--natural history, american history, african art, asian art, modern art, design, air & space, american indian, etc., etc. We also have many research sites, including telescopes and environmental research. AND, we have many educational programs. It's a cool place to work.
Ah, yes, I see that my comment was also eaten up by phantoms! Yeap, I think Blogger's still having issues. I had to repost my latest post which was actually up last Thursday. I, too, lost all the comments with it :(
ReplyDeleteAnywayz, in my original comment here, I notified you of a blog award I've given you (sorry if you checked and the post was missing, blame the Blogger gremlins). No worries if you don't do blog tags or if you've received it before; no obligation to pass it on. Just my way of telling you I really enjoy reading your blog :)
xx
Rick,
ReplyDeleteI’m amazed. It’s really a cool place to work in! I would kill for your job. Like seriously, I think I would really enjoy work so much since my interest is there. Do you work like you’re not working coz you enjoy it too?
~~~
Joey,
I hope you didn’t spend too much time retyping your post. I still had mine in Word doc so I wasn’t too angry with the phantoms and gremlins. =D
Oh thank you so much for the award dear. I’ve done the tag before (http://iamjolene.blogspot.com/2011/02/one-lovely-blog-award-sweet-blog-award.html) but I really appreciate being tagged by you, my fellow neighbour up north. It’s lovely to know that someone out there loves reading my blog.
Hi Jo! I like working there. I've done accounting, budget analysis, and been a special assistant. Some jobs have been more fun than others, but there's always something cool going on that I can feel like I've helped make possible.
ReplyDeleteAwwww you're most welcome!
ReplyDeleteThankfully that post wasn't too wordy and I've got the pics saved on my laptop anyway so it was just a matter of re-uploading it. A bit upset about the missing comments, though.
Oh, haha I'm still learning how to use all the functions on the LX5. It's amazing, so far! Film photography can be so expensive and I did stop myself from buying more after my Holga, but when I saw such good deals on eBay, I couldn't resist hehe
Yeah, the facial pads seem a lil bit harsh on me, too, so I'm using it only once a week (very gently) for exfoliating. Lots of YouTubers recommend it though. Maybe it's just different skin type
Rick,
ReplyDeleteAccounting, budget analysis, special assistant etc all in a museum? Everything sounds so wonderful. I don’t think the museums in Singapore work that way. For sure, we need to have a Bachelor of arts and social science degree with history being a major so I’m already out. I’m not sure if you’re also involved in the front line like conducting tours. I’ll sure to hunt you down and join your guided tour when I visit the States if only you would tell me which museum. Or do you have to kill me if you tell me?
~~~
Joey,
Ah, I feel for you with regards to the comments. I also feel the loss. Thankfully for me, there weren’t many before blogger acted up. I didn’t see a difference the facial pad did to my skin and also, it was quite slippery for me to hold it firmly. I’ll be looking forward to many great pictures from you in the meantime.