Lost in Light » Documentary http://lostinlight.org small gauge filmmaking videoblog Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:22:22 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Demolition 7 http://lostinlight.org/2007/06/14/demolition-7/ http://lostinlight.org/2007/06/14/demolition-7/#comments Thu, 14 Jun 2007 16:58:27 +0000 Aaron http://lostinlight.org/2007/06/14/demolition-7/

click image to play in Flash | Quicktime

Demolition 7 (by Richie Sherman, 2005, 8.5 min) is a whiskey-soaked journey through the county fairgrounds of Anywhere, USA. Through Lynyrd Skynyrd anthems blaring from PA speakers haphazardly attached to electric poles. Through frito pies and funnel cakes fingers, crowds of sticky sweet sugar, sweaty kids, and cheap beer. Through drunk friends passed out and sunburned, awaking to catch a glimpse of female figures on dirt mounds backlit by unforgiving setting sun before passing out again. Through squinting eyes and exhaust, sledgehammers clearing wheel wells. Half-ashed cigarettes dangling above 5/8″ sockets, the clicking of ratchets as mesh-hatted fat men in mustaches look on.

America, reduced to the serenity of a local girl singing the national anthem, the throttling of beaten engines, and the collective anticipation the moment before impact. The demolition derby is a beautiful symphony ending in a mist of radiator steam, smoke, and heavy night air that gently guides you from fairground field parking back home again. All of this so perfectly captured though sight in sound in Mr. Sherman’s little super 8 film.
– Aaron Valdez

Richie Sherman is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Film, Video and Media Studies at Pennsylvania State University in University Park, PA. He has an extensive background in various forms of filmmaking. He has recently received rave reviews for cinematography on the indie feature The Guatemalan Handshake. Demolition 7 is available on DVD through The Journal of Short Film (#2).

]]> http://lostinlight.org/2007/06/14/demolition-7/feed/ 0 Advise to Iraki People http://lostinlight.org/2007/04/26/advise-to-iraki-people/ http://lostinlight.org/2007/04/26/advise-to-iraki-people/#comments Thu, 26 Apr 2007 14:41:13 +0000 Aaron http://lostinlight.org/2007/04/26/advise-to-iraki-people/

click image to play in Flash | Quicktime

The film material of Advise to Iraki People originates in the relatively peaceful Iraq of 1988, two years before the first Gulf’s War. As the camera is filming from a car, which is driving through Baghdad, a voice-over reads a text in which general advice is given on the safety of children in and around the house:

The protection of children is a priority. Even a small child on a bike should wear a helmet. And a newborn baby on a plane must be strapped to its mother. A child on roller-skates should wear kneepads. And elbow pads. A child on roller skates should wear knee and elbow pads as well as a helmet. Buy one f those plastic things to stop young children opening the drawer in the kitchen: there are knives in it. Don’t give children small mechanical toys: they can swallow the moving parts. It’s tempting, but just don’t do it (…) Your house is a potential war zone for a child.
–Jean-Philippe Convert

Jean-Philippe Convert (1972) was born in France and he studied philosophy in Toulouse. After a number of years in education he applied himself to the writing of fictional stories and the making of video films. Important subjects in his work are the dangers and the consequences of chasing behind a global utopia and the degree to which our image of reality is shaped by the media or reporting by regimes. Convert lives and works in Brussels.

]]> http://lostinlight.org/2007/04/26/advise-to-iraki-people/feed/ 2 Of the Earth http://lostinlight.org/2007/01/22/of-the-earth/ http://lostinlight.org/2007/01/22/of-the-earth/#comments Mon, 22 Jan 2007 20:57:44 +0000 Jen http://lostinlight.org/2007/01/22/of-the-earth/

click image to play video in Flash | Quicktime | MPEG-2

Lost in Light is pleased to present work from our first film-to-video customer, Cheryl Colan! Cheryl is an active videoblogger (check out her site at hummingcrow: one squall voice) and educator in Phoenix, Arizona. She brings us “Of the Earth,” a lovely, meditative film in rich color from 1998. She says of this piece:

Of the Earth is a short documentary of the Fresh Water Prayer to Eshu in the Ifa spiritual tradition. The audio, which is unfortunately lost, gave the words of the prayer and their translated meaning.

The film’s beginnings are not lofty: I had a few reels of Super 8mm left over from a film school project and was looking for a way to use them. I was interested in short-form documentary and the idea of recording a moment in time that had spiritual significance. We all have little rituals that we perform daily or weekly that renew and refresh us. These moments are, for me, the more memorable parts of living.

The prayer ceremony was recorded twice, first with two stationary cameras recording from different positions, then with one handheld camera for close-up shots. These were edited together into the final piece.

I am very grateful to Lost in Light for the transfer service they provide. It will give me the opportunity to reproduce the audio and preserve this little film in a much more accessible format.

More information about our free film-to-video transfer service is available at the links on the left.

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