Pharaoh of Parallax
http://mikekash0.tripod.com/
Crap!
a lot of very interesting visuals in there. the video-feedback screams were mesmerizing. but all too often footage or sequences would be uninteresting or amateurish which spoiled the whole piece.
like how the cat's claw coming from under the door was fantastic, but the amateaur video of the cat wandering around and jumping in the man's lap spoiled the mood.
and the mirrored splitscreen madness was hurt by the video feel as well - it didn't match the music because it seemed like kids playing with a camcorder. maybe doing the same thing but with pixelation or some other way to "mask" the video-feel would help.
the whole thing lacked any unification. the flock of birds was cool, but maybe think of a way to tie it in visually with the rest of the footage.
then again, with a piece of music like this there's no way this will ever be anything other than "video art", which is dumb.
Some interesting stuff. It's presented all wrong though. Obiviously it's meant to be disturbing, but it isn't. I think audiences are way too jaded to be disturbed by videos anymore; cunningham can pull it off, but he usually makes his stuff more tongue and cheeck so that us more sinical types will like it; cunninghams' also technecally flawless, so he's hard to attack.
If these experiments were redone and interlaced with some shitty pop band performance, I think it'd fit. It'd be funny.
Stunning. And I love the video feel, which perfectly suits all the video feedback themes. If you judge everything by its resemblance to 35mm then the video aesthetic is bound to be underestimated. Remember 'Blair Witch' anyone?
True: this may not exactly fit into the canon of things music video, but it is heartfelt experimentation with audio and video (which may be video art, but certainly is not dumb).
My main criticism visually is that given the level of work with video techniques, it seems strange to play so little with light.
Also, I found the structure a little frustrating, with not enough sense of build or dialogue between the images to make any real kind of purposeful development.
I also don't really care whether it's dark or not. Why must everything perceived to be 'dark' be held up for scrutiny against Chris Cunningham. Does he own this territory?
