Dont let the rap music intro fool you. It takes about 25 seconds to get to the actual song.
I heard this song for the first time some time in the late 90s. I didnt understand everything that was being said, but the images to the words immediately came to my mind on several verses (Darkness at the break of noon, Temptation page flies out the door). A couple of the Its alright Mas I had no idea how to represent ( I can make it, I got nothing to live up to). There were few of the verses I didnt understand at all, and I also couldnt figure out a way of connecting all the images: what do they all have in common in a way that could tell a linear story? The way I imagined the video was just random images completely unconnected, which I really didnt like, but it was obvious regardless it would have made a great music video. I was living (like the majority of my adult life) on the streets at the time, so what I decided to do was write out my ideas for the video as a script that I could send out to any interested parties. No one was interested.
A few years later (while still on the streets), I happened to come into enough money that I decided to self publish a book of my writings. I put together some short stories, as well as an abortive screenplay I wrote called Iron Like A Lion In Zion: A Young Black mans Experiences in The Jewish Mafia, and the first chapter of a novel I was planning on writing. But I still needed something more to fill up the pages, as such I threw in the scripts I had for music videos that no one was interested in. I called the book Sketches of Nothing by A Complete Nobody, and printed out 300 copies that I used to sell on the street.
In 2004 I was living in a parking lot in downtown Los Angeles, when I had a idea to make a little video of myself waking up in different parts of downtown, played against the music of the Beatles Im Only Sleeping. I had just seen someone make a music video with nothing but a cheap camera and an iMac. If I could borrow a camera from someone then edit it on someone elses Mac I could make a music video myself. The other idea that was gestating in my mind was of me walking around downtown in the morning with John Coltranes My Favorite Things playing.
That made two music videos.however.you know if I segued way the first video into the and make them one single piece, I wouldnt just have two music Id have a short film. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5szEe8BxkU
From that point I just started to add things on one after the other. Anything I could shoot that wouldnt take anymore then a camera to shoot it on and a Mac to edit it. I went to the library and started reading books and how to make an independent film.
A theme had quickly developed for the film: experiencing life as interpreted through the music on my iPod. To this end I added in Bob Dylans Like a Rollin Stone http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeErkbkavrg,
And Its Alright Ma (Im Only Bleeding). The amazing aspect of putting it in the context of this film was that now I had something to connect all the images with: my book and myself. Originally put in my book as filler, now I could physically use the book to tie all the images together to make one linear story.
Threw in a couple of short stories from my book and when I was finished planning it out I had a 107 minute movie I could do all while I was living in a parking lot. I called it Sketches of Nothing by a Complete Nobody: The Movie.
As for this piece it was on of the first that I finished. It took me months to gather all the images (most of them from a friends Netflix account). I had to watch an 11 hour documentary on Vietnam just to get the 15 seconds of footage I used. In fact I didnt get all the images I needed. where you see pictures (sometimes heavily pixilated) is where I wasnt able to get actually video. I also had to remove two verses. For lack of decent footage.
This was the last piece of the first thirty minutes of the film that I had finished and posted on you tube (thats why the credits are at the end). It would be another year and half before I was able to finish the whole film, 3 years all together.
When I look at it the funny thing is, if iut weren't for the film I would have no idea how to connect all these images together. Its definitely one of the highlights of the film. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FE3vTUvg_XE
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Por :
BumDog007
Duración:
09:20 Min
Vistos:
123229
Publicada:
7/8/2006 1