Steven Dye

Filmmaker/Musician/Sound artist.

He studied filmmaking at the California College of Arts and Crafts, graduating with High Distinction in 1990, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts with an emphasis in Film/Video/Performance. He has presented his work and lectured on film and film sound to students at Fresno State, San Francisco State Multi-Media Extension, and the California Institute of the Arts. In addition to numerous film screenings, he has exhibited many film and sound installations including a 1996 installation at Mills College in Oakland CA, and in 1997 presented a one person show/installation at the Substation in Singapore.

My work with film has taken me in two distinct directions:

1. The production of animated films through the use of puppets, optical printing, time lapse and single frame photography. These films are often accompanied by a group of musicians, The Dactyls of Phrygia, who compose an original score for the films using traditional instruments and instruments made from salvage. (see KING MIDAS) and
2. co-founding Wet Gate, an all-projector ensemble who create sound/image collages utilizing film loops, found film, rub-on letters and patterns, bleached, scratched or otherwise manipulated audio and images, and audio effects. (see ZERO)

Sound exists only in time, this is also true with motion. By using live musicians, a continuous re-examination of the relationship between sound and image is possible. It is a natural outlet for my experiments in sound and instrument building. I am particularly excited by the use of light to create sound and motion.

I must acknowledge my debt to the work of Barry Spinello, Luigi Russolo, and Louis Armstrong. Also to the film work of Lazlo Maholy-Nagy and John Cage, who were both early enthusiasts about the possibilities of optical film sound.