Monday, May 2, 2011

Super Collider



Ever since last February when Alex and I were approached on the side walk by my house as we were rehearsing for lord knows what by the SF Chronicle, I have never known what to do with the actual material.

Long story short,

We were work shopping new material outside my house because it was too hot to work in my home studio and a photojournalist so happened to stroll along, see us working outside and asked us if he could shoot for a section called "A day and life of San Francisco Artist."

I had no clue what we were gonna do with the material aside the fact that I wanted to work out some new movement ideas. I did not know what medium the material would be used in or what context. A few days later we shot and filmed the material on Haight and Laguna at a Street Art installation featuring SF artist Jeremy Fish.... Fast forward a couple weeks later, we were featured in the SF Chronicle with an editorial/ interview. All of a sudden I was sitting on a street dance that i never thought about doing along with the film but no idea what to do with it. Of course i would tinkle around with a few concepts but nothing seemed to work because there was not enough material. What we had worked out was by no means a full piece. Not a rehearsal. Not a clip. Not even long enough to be a clip. We only had 45seconds of actual footage and 15 seconds of choreography. I gave myself nothing to work with because the context of the material was very site specific interacting with the surroundings. All the photojournalist did was capture the whole process. Due to the fact i had nothing to work off of I decided that it be best to not worry about it until something hit me.

A couple weeks ago something hit me.
Radiohead my favorite band released two new tracks titled Super Collider/The Butcher. Super Collider is a solo piano song that Thom's been playing for a year or so and with the band involved its a whole new beast. This one in particular song sparked my interest because its about the shelf life of a particle which is insane to think about. Thom had given the the smallest, quickest microcosm of an event a soul with major complexity and there lied my answer... I was going to make a video. Now i finally had something to use as a blueprint or launching point. I already knew that the material would not suffice for a full edit but if i put it in the right context combined with the music, lyrics and tone I could make it work. Next thing you know I'm turning 45seconds into Seven minutes which almost seems impossible but so is making a song about a particle explosion. The final product is by no means a dance film or even a about the dance. That concept was thrown out the window a long time ago. This is a music video that explores the beauty of being lost in a perpetual moment.

Enjoy.


Here are the lyrics to accompany the video for you.

Supercollider
Dust in a moment
Particles scatter
Coming up from the soup

Swimming upstream
Before the heavens crack open
Thin pixelation
Coming up from the dust

In a blue light
In a green light
In a half life
In an arc light

I’m a bass bin
Flip-flopping
I’m a pulse wave
Hot-stepping

I put the shadows back into
The boxes

I am open
I am welcome
For a fraction
Of a second

I have jettisoned my illusions
I have dislodged my depression

I put the shadows back into
The boxes
I put the shadows back into
The boxes

I see an angel hanging over the balcony
I see the angels hanging over the balcony

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