Re: [Frameworks] "All the Dark Screens" (Albert Alcoz)

[Tara]

Daniel Barnett’s book Movement as Meaning In Experimental Film discusses this 
issue at length. 

https://books.google.com/books/about/Movement_as_Meaning.html?id=BaiUAf1dBMcC=frontcover=kp_read_button

Tara Nelson
> On Mar 31, 2019, at 9:19 AM, FrameWorks Admin  wrote:
> 
> The flickering shutter creates an effect known as the phi phenomenon (and not 
> persistence of vision as is often mistakenly evoked - persistence of vision 
> explains the thaumatrope or spinning disc with bird and cage that superimpose 
> in the eye, and this would only create 24 images per second superimposing in 
> the eye). The phi phenomenon explains how we perceive a marquee of flickering 
> lights as continuous motion. The brain creates the illusion of movement 
> during the flicker, analogous to the dreams we create in the night that 
> separates the days and waking consciousness.
> 
> The illusion at work when watching flickerless video is the beta movement 
> effect. It is a very different perception and requires much less activity on 
> our part as the brain has nothing to fill in. 
> 
> Here are links to illustrations of the two effects:
> 
> Phi phenomenon
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phi_phenomenon#/media/File:Lilac-Chaser.gif
> 
> Beta movement effect
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_movement#/media/File:Beta_movement.gif
> 
> - Pip Chodorov
> 
> 
>> On Mar 31, 2019, at 7:24 AM, Nicole Baker  wrote:
>> 
>> When I was in film school a professor told me that watching film engages the 
>> mind in a very active way, that the darkness and persistence of vision 
>> required to assemble the frames into a continuous, moving image was like 
>> doing mental calisthenics.  On the other hand, watching video produces very 
>> little brain activity, the mechanics do not engage our minds the same way, 
>> and our watching becomes very passive and inactive.
>> I do not have any science to back this up, it was just what I was told.  
>> There's a certain amount of sense to it, but I'd love to see hard evidence 
>> or studies on the subject!
>>  
>> Nicole Elaine Baker
>> MFA in Visual Studies, 2019
>> Pacific Northwest College of Art
>> Hallie Ford School of Graduate Studies
>> www.magiklantern.com
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> On Sat, Mar 30, 2019 at 11:17 AM Robert Withers  
>>> wrote:
>>> Hello Albert,
>>> I enjoyed a few minutes of the film you posted, even with my non-existent 
>>> Spanish.
>>> 
>>> It raises a question I’ve puzzled over. We used to be bemused by the fact 
>>> that, since film projection is intermittent and interrupted by a shutter, 
>>> blocking light to the screen, we were perhaps sitting in darkness during 
>>> half of a screening, watching the persistent images in our minds. It’s hard 
>>> to research how video technology works comparatively, but I find some 
>>> suggestions that there is no similar dark interval in video projection (if 
>>> there is it’s fleeting — the blanking interval etc.) so I wonder how the 
>>> video technology affects our physiology.
>>> 
>>> Can anyone share info or a source for info or thoughts on info about this? 
>>> 
>>> Thanks,
>>> Robert
>>> 
>>> Robert Withers
>>> withe...@earthlink.net
>>> 202 West 80 St #5W NYNY 10024
>>> 
>>> 
>>> From: Albert Alcoz 
>>> Subject: [Frameworks] "All the Dark Screens"
>>> Date: March 30, 2019 at 4:15:03 AM EDT
>>> To: Experimental Film Discussion List 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Hello,
>>> 
>>> I'm writing this email to share a video essay titled "All the Dark Screens" 
>>> created by the curator Alexandra Laudo and me under the project Soy Cámara 
>>> by the CCCB:
>>> http://www.cccb.org/en/multimedia/videos/all-the-dark-screens/231229
>>> 
>>> It is a 25 minute video –with an Spanish voice over– where some esthetic 
>>> and ideological issues are exemplified through experimental films and 
>>> artist's videos:
>>> 
>>> In a society dominated by the power of screens and images, audiovisual 
>>> darkness can be a strategy of resistance. We tend to associate screens with 
>>> light, but darkness has been consubstantial with audiovisual creation since 
>>> the dawn of the cinema. “All the Dark Screens" presents a fragmentary 
>>> genealogy of the use and presence of opacity and the absence of image in 
>>> cinematographic and video creation, and reflects on the poetic and 
>>> political powe

Re: [Frameworks] "All the Dark Screens" (Albert Alcoz)

[FrameWorks Admin]

The flickering shutter creates an effect known as the phi phenomenon (and not 
persistence of vision as is often mistakenly evoked - persistence of vision 
explains the thaumatrope or spinning disc with bird and cage that superimpose 
in the eye, and this would only create 24 images per second superimposing in 
the eye). The phi phenomenon explains how we perceive a marquee of flickering 
lights as continuous motion. The brain creates the illusion of movement during 
the flicker, analogous to the dreams we create in the night that separates the 
days and waking consciousness.

The illusion at work when watching flickerless video is the beta movement 
effect. It is a very different perception and requires much less activity on 
our part as the brain has nothing to fill in. 

Here are links to illustrations of the two effects:

Phi phenomenon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phi_phenomenon#/media/File:Lilac-Chaser.gif

Beta movement effect
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_movement#/media/File:Beta_movement.gif

- Pip Chodorov


> On Mar 31, 2019, at 7:24 AM, Nicole Baker  wrote:
> 
> When I was in film school a professor told me that watching film engages the 
> mind in a very active way, that the darkness and persistence of vision 
> required to assemble the frames into a continuous, moving image was like 
> doing mental calisthenics.  On the other hand, watching video produces very 
> little brain activity, the mechanics do not engage our minds the same way, 
> and our watching becomes very passive and inactive.
> I do not have any science to back this up, it was just what I was told.  
> There's a certain amount of sense to it, but I'd love to see hard evidence or 
> studies on the subject!
>  
> Nicole Elaine Baker
> MFA in Visual Studies, 2019
> Pacific Northwest College of Art
> Hallie Ford School of Graduate Studies
> www.magiklantern.com 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Sat, Mar 30, 2019 at 11:17 AM Robert Withers  > wrote:
> Hello Albert,
> I enjoyed a few minutes of the film you posted, even with my non-existent 
> Spanish.
> 
> It raises a question I’ve puzzled over. We used to be bemused by the fact 
> that, since film projection is intermittent and interrupted by a shutter, 
> blocking light to the screen, we were perhaps sitting in darkness during half 
> of a screening, watching the persistent images in our minds. It’s hard to 
> research how video technology works comparatively, but I find some 
> suggestions that there is no similar dark interval in video projection (if 
> there is it’s fleeting — the blanking interval etc.) so I wonder how the 
> video technology affects our physiology.
> 
> Can anyone share info or a source for info or thoughts on info about this? 
> 
> Thanks,
> Robert
> 
> Robert Withers
> withe...@earthlink.net 
> 202 West 80 St #5W NYNY 10024
> 
> 
> From: Albert Alcoz mailto:albertal...@gmail.com>>
> Subject: [Frameworks] "All the Dark Screens"
> Date: March 30, 2019 at 4:15:03 AM EDT
> To: Experimental Film Discussion List  >
> 
> 
> Hello,
> 
> I'm writing this email to share a video essay titled "All the Dark Screens" 
> created by the curator Alexandra Laudo and me under the project Soy Cámara by 
> the CCCB:
> http://www.cccb.org/en/multimedia/videos/all-the-dark-screens/231229 
> 
> 
> It is a 25 minute video –with an Spanish voice over– where some esthetic and 
> ideological issues are exemplified through experimental films and artist's 
> videos:
> 
> In a society dominated by the power of screens and images, audiovisual 
> darkness can be a strategy of resistance. We tend to associate screens with 
> light, but darkness has been consubstantial with audiovisual creation since 
> the dawn of the cinema. “All the Dark Screens" presents a fragmentary 
> genealogy of the use and presence of opacity and the absence of image in 
> cinematographic and video creation, and reflects on the poetic and political 
> power of these forms of audiovisual iconoclasm, and on their relation with 
> our ways of seeing and not seeing.
> 
> The points of departure are the video/action by Scott Stark switching off 
> public TV monitors ("A Better World (for Rick P)" 
>  ) and the idea questioned here by Yoel Miranda 
> on October of 2007 ("how much of what we see is black?" 
> ).
> 
> Since it is an informative and pedagogical video, with dozens of short clips 
> by independent filmmakers credited at the end, would be great if you to share 
> it through social networks.
> 
> All the best,
> Albert Alcoz
> -- 
> http://visionaryfilm.net/ 
> http://albertalcoz.com/ 
> ___
> FrameWorks mailing list
> FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com 

Re: [Frameworks] "All the Dark Screens" (Albert Alcoz)

[Nicole Baker]

When I was in film school a professor told me that watching film engages
the mind in a very active way, that the darkness and persistence of vision
required to assemble the frames into a continuous, moving image was like
doing mental calisthenics.  On the other hand, watching video produces very
little brain activity, the mechanics do not engage our minds the same way,
and our watching becomes very passive and inactive.
I do not have any science to back this up, it was just what I was told.
There's a certain amount of sense to it, but I'd love to see hard evidence
or studies on the subject!

Nicole Elaine Baker
MFA in Visual Studies, 2019
Pacific Northwest College of Art
Hallie Ford School of Graduate Studies
*www.magiklantern.com <http://www.magiklantern.com>*




On Sat, Mar 30, 2019 at 11:17 AM Robert Withers 
wrote:

> Hello Albert,
> I enjoyed a few minutes of the film you posted, even with my non-existent
> Spanish.
>
> It raises a question I’ve puzzled over. We used to be bemused by the fact
> that, since film projection is intermittent and interrupted by a shutter,
> blocking light to the screen, we were perhaps sitting in darkness during
> half of a screening, watching the persistent images in our minds. It’s hard
> to research how video technology works comparatively, but I find some
> suggestions that there is no similar dark interval in video projection (if
> there is it’s fleeting — the blanking interval etc.) so I wonder how the
> video technology affects our physiology.
>
> Can anyone share info or a source for info or thoughts on info about this?
>
> Thanks,
> Robert
>
> Robert Withers
> withe...@earthlink.net
> 202 West 80 St #5W NYNY 10024
>
>
> *From: *Albert Alcoz 
> *Subject: **[Frameworks] "All the Dark Screens"*
> *Date: *March 30, 2019 at 4:15:03 AM EDT
> *To: *Experimental Film Discussion List 
>
>
> Hello,
>
> I'm writing this email to share a video essay titled "All the Dark
> Screens" created by the curator Alexandra Laudo and me under the project *Soy
> Cámara* by the CCCB:
> http://www.cccb.org/en/multimedia/videos/all-the-dark-screens/231229
>
> It is a 25 minute video –with an Spanish voice over– where some esthetic
> and ideological issues are exemplified through experimental films and
> artist's videos:
>
> *In a society dominated by the power of screens and images, audiovisual
> darkness can be a strategy of resistance. We tend to associate screens with
> light, but darkness has been consubstantial with audiovisual creation since
> the dawn of the cinema. “All the Dark Screens" presents a fragmentary
> genealogy of the use and presence of opacity and the absence of image in
> cinematographic and video creation, and reflects on the poetic and
> political power of these forms of audiovisual iconoclasm, and on their
> relation with our ways of seeing and not seeing.*
>
> The points of departure are the video/action by Scott Stark switching off
> public TV monitors ("A Better World (for Rick P)"
> <https://vimeo.com/11156435> ) and the idea questioned here by Yoel
> Miranda on October of 2007 ("how much of what we see is black?"
> <http://www.hi-beam.net/fw/fw36/0610.html>).
>
> Since it is an informative and pedagogical video, with dozens of short
> clips by independent filmmakers credited at the end, would be great if you
> to share it through social networks.
>
> All the best,
> Albert Alcoz
> --
> http://visionaryfilm.net/ <http://www.visionaryfilm.net/>
> http://albertalcoz.com/ <http://www.albertalcoz.com/>
>
> ___
> FrameWorks mailing list
> FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com
> https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
>
___
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FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com
https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks

Re: [Frameworks] "All the Dark Screens" (Albert Alcoz)

[David Kidman]

Hello Robert,
The aspect of digital projection in theatres that is the most bothersome for me 
is the lack of black, all the blacks turn to brown (at least to my eye) after a 
very short period and remain so. I haven’t done a study. This is just what I 
see. 
All the best,
David

P. S. Even more troubling are pieces like Anthony MacCall’s vidéo/sculpture 
installations. The perception of an ambient light increases constantly. 

> On 30 Mar 2019, at 19:16, Robert Withers  wrote:
> 
> Hello Albert,
> I enjoyed a few minutes of the film you posted, even with my non-existent 
> Spanish.
> 
> It raises a question I’ve puzzled over. We used to be bemused by the fact 
> that, since film projection is intermittent and interrupted by a shutter, 
> blocking light to the screen, we were perhaps sitting in darkness during half 
> of a screening, watching the persistent images in our minds. It’s hard to 
> research how video technology works comparatively, but I find some 
> suggestions that there is no similar dark interval in video projection (if 
> there is it’s fleeting — the blanking interval etc.) so I wonder how the 
> video technology affects our physiology.
> 
> Can anyone share info or a source for info or thoughts on info about this? 
> 
> Thanks,
> Robert
> 
> Robert Withers
> withe...@earthlink.net
> 202 West 80 St #5W NYNY 10024
> 
> 
> From: Albert Alcoz 
> Subject: [Frameworks] "All the Dark Screens"
> Date: March 30, 2019 at 4:15:03 AM EDT
> To: Experimental Film Discussion List 
> 
> 
> Hello,
> 
> I'm writing this email to share a video essay titled "All the Dark Screens" 
> created by the curator Alexandra Laudo and me under the project Soy Cámara by 
> the CCCB:
> http://www.cccb.org/en/multimedia/videos/all-the-dark-screens/231229
> 
> It is a 25 minute video –with an Spanish voice over– where some esthetic and 
> ideological issues are exemplified through experimental films and artist's 
> videos:
> 
> In a society dominated by the power of screens and images, audiovisual 
> darkness can be a strategy of resistance. We tend to associate screens with 
> light, but darkness has been consubstantial with audiovisual creation since 
> the dawn of the cinema. “All the Dark Screens" presents a fragmentary 
> genealogy of the use and presence of opacity and the absence of image in 
> cinematographic and video creation, and reflects on the poetic and political 
> power of these forms of audiovisual iconoclasm, and on their relation with 
> our ways of seeing and not seeing.
> 
> The points of departure are the video/action by Scott Stark switching off 
> public TV monitors ("A Better World (for Rick P)" ) and the idea questioned 
> here by Yoel Miranda on October of 2007 ("how much of what we see is black?").
> 
> Since it is an informative and pedagogical video, with dozens of short clips 
> by independent filmmakers credited at the end, would be great if you to share 
> it through social networks.
> 
> All the best,
> Albert Alcoz
> -- 
> http://visionaryfilm.net/
> http://albertalcoz.com/
> 
> ___
> FrameWorks mailing list
> FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com
> https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
___
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FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com
https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks

[Frameworks] "All the Dark Screens" (Albert Alcoz)

[Robert Withers]

Hello Albert,
I enjoyed a few minutes of the film you posted, even with my non-existent 
Spanish.

It raises a question I’ve puzzled over. We used to be bemused by the fact that, 
since film projection is intermittent and interrupted by a shutter, blocking 
light to the screen, we were perhaps sitting in darkness during half of a 
screening, watching the persistent images in our minds. It’s hard to research 
how video technology works comparatively, but I find some suggestions that 
there is no similar dark interval in video projection (if there is it’s 
fleeting — the blanking interval etc.) so I wonder how the video technology 
affects our physiology.

Can anyone share info or a source for info or thoughts on info about this? 

Thanks,
Robert

Robert Withers
withe...@earthlink.net
202 West 80 St #5W NYNY 10024


From: Albert Alcoz mailto:albertal...@gmail.com>>
Subject: [Frameworks] "All the Dark Screens"
Date: March 30, 2019 at 4:15:03 AM EDT
To: Experimental Film Discussion List mailto:frameworks@jonasmekasfilms.com>>


Hello,

I'm writing this email to share a video essay titled "All the Dark Screens" 
created by the curator Alexandra Laudo and me under the project Soy Cámara by 
the CCCB:
http://www.cccb.org/en/multimedia/videos/all-the-dark-screens/231229 


It is a 25 minute video –with an Spanish voice over– where some esthetic and 
ideological issues are exemplified through experimental films and artist's 
videos:

In a society dominated by the power of screens and images, audiovisual darkness 
can be a strategy of resistance. We tend to associate screens with light, but 
darkness has been consubstantial with audiovisual creation since the dawn of 
the cinema. “All the Dark Screens" presents a fragmentary genealogy of the use 
and presence of opacity and the absence of image in cinematographic and video 
creation, and reflects on the poetic and political power of these forms of 
audiovisual iconoclasm, and on their relation with our ways of seeing and not 
seeing.

The points of departure are the video/action by Scott Stark switching off 
public TV monitors ("A Better World (for Rick P)"  
) and the idea questioned here by Yoel Miranda on October of 2007 ("how much of 
what we see is black?" ).

Since it is an informative and pedagogical video, with dozens of short clips by 
independent filmmakers credited at the end, would be great if you to share it 
through social networks.

All the best,
Albert Alcoz
-- 
http://visionaryfilm.net/ 
http://albertalcoz.com/ 
___
FrameWorks mailing list
FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com
https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks