Goodbye Mr. Cinema : Digital Video / Stereo Sound / 1hr 10m
This film is (more or less) two things: a letter and an attempt. The recipient of this letter is meant to be the anonymous viewer and, in a flailing + futile attempt, society at large. The contents of the letter detail my disdain for American culture, my disappointment in what types of media we consume, my disappointment in the ways in which we consume said media, and my utopian hopes for a brighter cinematic future. The attempt that was made was to build a film that could glimpse this future by way of letting go of certain film conventions and mixing together certain others while still remaining in the acceptable requirements to be deemed “feature-length.”
Fictional characters and stories rub up against documentary footage and stolen (re-appropriated) media from the world wide web of collectivity. What’s generated exists somewhere between essay film, documentary, scrap-book diary, YouTube rant, dramatic narrative, poetry, and studio art. It is this multifaceted and unrestricted approach that allows for a cinema that is closer to applying paint on a canvas in a dirty apartment as opposed to a large-scale studio piece that has monetary returns as one of its primary goals.
For all its uncool baggage, the word isolation is vital to the construction of this work. Personal isolation – global isolation – fractured communities – impossibilities of communication – the act of being othered – screen addiction – fear – apathetic boredom – the locked bedroom door. There is little to no communal nature to this film outside of the groups of people who came together to build the technology required for its completion (Adobe, LG, Apple, laborers, etc.) Goodbye was birthed from a time when I had little to no contact with other people, hence pain was poured into its seams. This personal history of solitude no doubt muddies the utopian mindset that I had going into this project, but I nonetheless understand that the film could not have been built any other way.
Now, as a detour, I wish to briefly discuss the act of filling the screen with solid colors. I follow the thinking that the sound and the image are separate entities. There is no use in showing one that simply reiterates the other. That is to say, I do not enjoy being redundant in repetition without reason. Solid color and solid black were tools used to remind the viewer of their surroundings as well as to remind them that they are peering at a flat screen. I also just think it is a beautiful thought to have one set of lights on while the others are off. For example, when the screen is green. The green parts of the pixels are activated while the red and blue sections are off. – And also, the moment in which the screen is black and blue is in reference to bruising. In that moment, you are looking at a screen in pain, a bruised cinema. But bruising heals, and it makes way for something new.