Traces

“Traces” synthesizes two trains of cinematic thought – the imagist/poetic/abstract tradition and the conceptual/critical tradition – to create a formal yet lyrical work which traces the story of light coursing through the world. Inherent in the methodology of this film is a critique of media representations of life and light. Therefore “Traces” is a composite, a setting one beside another of different kinds of representation: abstract, documentary, narrative and poetic. This setting side-by-side allows the spectator both the pleasure of engaging in the movement and development of the film and at the same time a critical purchase from which to assess the quality and deep-seated intent (values) inherent in any of the individual representations. This movement from form to form is the overall shape of the film and the focus of its meaning. Slightly over an hour in length, “Traces” is a synthesis of so-called personal (lyrical) filmmaking, collage, feminist methodologies and “appropriation.” Depending who one speaks with, one of these forms seems to be the center of the film. A few people see beyond the limitations of their individual viewpoint or interest and divine the synthetic nature of the project. My major concern with the film was to build a dynamic structure which could not only accommodate a wide divergence of material and make it cohere, but which could, through editing strategies and the manipulation of quantity and quality of light, uncover the ideological structuring which is imposed upon our own personal worlds and the worlds foisted upon us through the social propaganda system, which includes T.V. commercials, educational films, documentary vision, and entertainment. Thus “Traces” is a dynamic, rushing movement through many different models of filmmaking which opens out into a heterogeneous simultaneous critique of personal and social vision. Note: Project at 24 fps. Project Reel Two through to the end of the Tail Academy Leader. There is a brief image at the end of the Tail Academy Leader of Reel Two which is an integral part of the film. Please do not be fooled by the false ending which is very near the end of the film.