[-empyre-] David Tolchinsky: Resolution for Digital Futures

[Gabriela Vargas-Cetina]

I think that what makes 'MD'"accessible and profound" is its very purposeful
dislocation of time, which gives it that dreamlike quality.  Lynch seems to
deconstruct in each of his works the fabric of what we take for granted: in
Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet he thoroughly smashes preconceptions of
small-town innocence, along with the rigidity of the border between 'fact'
and 'fiction'.  Each film of his tampers with what we understand as 'real'.

I have always thought that his films resemble the stories and ways of seeing
the world of rural people around the world, where what happens on earth, in
our dreams and in some realm inhabited by non-earthly characters (gods,
false-face gods, tricksters, devils, supernatural guardians, miraculous and
vengeful saints, witches, and beings that can enter the human world when
they wish or when they are conjured).

It would be wonderful if digital art, or any kind of art, could approach
that craftsmanship and bring back the ineffable into our experience of the
everyday, hammering at our certainties of 'the real'; Lynch's work is
indeed, a great model for art, but also for the humanities.  Thinking of
art-i-facts as 'apparata' would mean that the boundary between 'art' and
everything else could also be shattered or, at least, permanently cracked.

Gabriela

----
Gabriela Vargas-Cetina

http://sites.google.com/site/representacionesculturales/vargas-cetina
http://antropuntodevista.blogspot.com
-- 



On 1/21/09 6:28 AM, "Renate Ferro" <rtf9 at cornell.edu> wrote:

>> Regardless of the technology being used, regardless of the mode, the
>> sphere, interactive or linear, often what separates what is
>> effective, moving, intellectually fascinating from the one-liner,
>> the distant, and the trivial is the quality of the writing.
>> 
>> So I resolve in 2009 and beyond to as much as possible put the
>> writing first, the technology second. To start with an idea, a
>> shape, an arc. To ask myself: How do I want to affect my audience?
>> What is there about the work that forces the user to remain
>> immersed? Why can't we walk away? What can I do in the digital
>> sphere that has been done in writing-centric films like Sullivan's
>> Travels, Raging Bull, Mulholland Drive, Memento, and more recently
>> The Wrestler?  
>> 
>> Mulholland Drive ("MD") in particular is a great model for me as I
>> think about the digital as MD is mysterious and the subject is not
>> just the story, but also the "apparatus". That is it's as much about
>> the filmmaking and filmmaker as it is about the story, which has
>> been my experience with a lot of emergent projects. The digital box
>> is as important as the contents.  But what makes MD accessible and
>> profound: each scene is well-written:  simple, moving and/or scary.
>> The film is built on a traditional 4-act structure (yes, 4 acts not
>> 3 acts in my world). It has shape and purpose -- a series of
>> clues/tasks/missions for its terrified and terrifying characters and
>> a series of questions for its audience -- even though on first
>> glance it seems like "just a dream."
>> 
>> So back to resolutions for the digital:  whether an immersive
>> environment, a game, an installation, etc: There should be structure
>> even though the structure may not be apparent. There should be
>> characters (whatever that means to you) that people can relate to,
>> with problems that need to be solved. There should be questions,
>> secrets and/or mysteries that force us to remain connected. The
>> technology should be secondary to story or the immersive aspects of
>> the projects, even as we're aware of the technology. We don't have
>> to wrap everything up, but there should be some sense of a
>> background purpose that drives the piece forwards and deeper.
>> 
>> Traditional I know and certainly only one vision and certainly not
>> relevant to all projects (maybe just relevant for me as I make my
>> way from narrative project to emergent project and back again), but
>> I do believe if the writing is considered first, there will be many
>> long happy lives in the digital realm.  I welcome the evolving
>> conversation.
>> 
>> 
>> Bio: David E. Tolchinsky (US) is Chair of Northwestern University's
>> Department of Radio-TV-Film and Director of Northwestern's MFA in
>> Writing for the Screen+Stage/Creative Writing for the Media
>> Program. As a screenwriter, he has been commissioned by such studios
>> as Touchstone/Disney, MGM Pictures, Ivan Reitman's Montecito
>> Pictures, USA Networks, Edward R. Pressman Film Corp, and
>> Addis-Wechsler & Assoc. to write feature screenplays. He also
>> creates sound designs for interactive computer projects and video
>> installations.  He is a graduate of Yale (BA) and USC School of
>> Cinema-Television (MFA). Last year, he was chosen to be a
>> Northwestern University Charles Deering McCormick Professor of
>> Teaching Excellence.