May 6, 2004
I went to The Modern today to see the Pierre Huyghe video installation. I'd already seen one portion of it, The Third Memory, which is a recreation of the actual events (by way of memory) depicted in Dog Day Afternoon, at the Guggenheim, but the real standout was 'Les Grands Ensemble.' This 8 minute film depicts two 60s-era Parisian apartment buildings on a misty, wintry street facing off in a battle for domination, represented by the arrays of lit windows on their facades. Each building reaches a state of electrical frenzy that is almost nerve wracking; one eventually wins out, but by that point their struggle has become pointless, their purposes lost. The whole thing is accompanied by an effective ambient soundtrack that pulses along with the lights. It's a stunning piece of work, and it got me thinking....
...if we ever get that Deadroom installation off the ground in the way that we (or at least I) envision it, an interesting solution to the sound would be to not have any sound at all, and let the effect of the installation be storytelling solely through the human face.
Shortly after that ocurred to me, I realized that it was a great idea and that I should probably just make it an entity unto itself, something specifically designed for that intention, rather than try to fit our film into it.
Anyway, the Huyghe installation runs throughout the summer, and I highly recommend checking it out if you're in the area.
I'm making good progress on the Henry Lee rewrite, nearing the sixty page mark. My intention with it was to cut the fat and strengthen the spine of the story, which I'm definitely doing -- entire scenes have fallen by the wayside more than once. I try to always remember the notion that films should not contain too many comings and goings; that you can often enter a scene in progress and leave before it's over, and the audience will fill in the blanks (conversely, it's said that a boring film is marked by too many doors opening and closing), and making cuts of this nature has become something of a game to me.
And yet this new version is already six pages longer than the last...but I ain't worrying about that.
Posted by David Lowery at May 6, 2004 12:00 AM