Split Description

A film of gestures rather than statements, SPLIT DESCRIPTION utilizes a concentric split-screen technique to present a kaleidoscopic moving montage of three diverse locales (in California, Massachusetts and New York). The different zones within the frame interplay, while the hairline borders between them become crucial junctures of vanishing/becoming. The soundtrack, ranging from dead simple to deliriously intricate, collaborates in the collage. Virtually nonverbal (except for some Morse code), the film is a "magic viewing box" designed to cut the viewer free from narrative expectation and instead serve as a tool for reflection on space/time/sound.

Awards: Director's Citation, Black Maria Film and Video Festival, 1995; Honorable Mention, Ann Arbor Film Festival, 1995.

Exhibition: Film Arts Festival, 1994; Charlotte Film and Video Festival, 1995; Ann Arbor Film Festival and Tour, 1995; Big Muddy Film Festival, 1995; Mill Valley Film Festival, 1995; Slam Dance Film Festival, 1996.

Collection: Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore

Note: No optical printing was utilized in the making of this film. - A.M.

Shades of Meaning

SHADES OF MEANING is a short, poetic meditation on music and meaning in cinema. "Aurally iconographic" music fragments have been decomposed, then re-composed into loops and patterns, and combined with eclectically chosen imagery shot mostly in the western United States. The result is both a reflection of the artist's sensibilities and a commentary on commercial media values.

At once a celebration of visual beauty and a semiological investigation into how musical codes and imagery combine to create meaning, SHADES OF MEANING has been called paradoxical, mystical and elegant, pregnant with multiple meanings and a powerful tool for reflection.

Awards: SF Int'l Film Festival; Black Maria Film and Video Festival.

Histrionic Response Section

I heard some old pipe organ music which suggested "desperate fear" to me, and I envisioned a relentless series of faces looking terrified, as if they were in a horror movie and had just seen some terrible monster. I had about 50 people do two things for the camera: act horrified, and act relaxed and blissful. The resulting footage was edited to conform to that particular piece of organ music which is heard on the soundtrack. At once terrifying and comical.