just one more.

who let this interesting individual in the studio...

; )

Frederic Back

Frederick Back died on Christmas Eve.

Thank you for your films, Frederic Back. More than an animator. A gentle and determined soul, a force for good in this world, and a quiet yet outspoken hero to those whose lives you touched.

winter's snowy ribcage.

every year around this time.

you turn the heat up.
the outside world starts looking like old age.
you eat too much.
and tea drinking starts in earnest.

flurry of snowflakes
flurry of activity
time to bid the year goodbye
and set your sights on the year to come.

2014
- reset horizon.
- finish this derned filum.
- look for pine trees and mountains.
- start the real studio.
- explore the world beyond the living room.
- dig deeper.
- reverse old habits.
- make big mistakes.
- follow them up by striking a path.
- eat lots of fruit.
- take time to look at the clouds, the stars, and waves.

the bluebird of 1421.

more classroom shenanigans.

student in blanket

it's that time of the semester again.

leger and t-rex

about to be mangled.

leger at pma.

the view from the acropolis.

so thank goodness there was a thanksgiving break - a chance to do something "wild and crazy," as it were, break out of the routine, and check out the work of some early-mid 20th century art freaks, causing trouble for the middle class (an easy target, after all).

admittedly for me, it was almost more interesting reading about what leger and his buddies were theorizing about than viewing some of the work, although it was a well-curated exhibition, and the links to advertising were quite interesting, and the "ballet mechanique" was a re-thought-provoking vision of film as a new medium, unfettered by convention, in the hands of surrealists. all that said, I do appreciate a good calder and a good miro, as they weren't so into the urban thing as leger, and overall more dream-like than industrial - although calder's connection to the circus was one of the things he shared with some of his contemporaries in 1920's paris...blah blah blah, eh.

I'm ready for more.

fall winter.

thanksgiving break

...and not a moment too soon!

it's already late tonight, but I couldn't help but spend a little time on transferring the ogre mermaid shot list over to google docs to make it accessible to the crew to update on their own.

looking forward to time devoted to the film over the next few days.

a walk in the woods

a film karl and I made a couple of years ago, tearing up leaves and playing with rocks out in the wissahickon. it's supposed to be a little scary. unfortunately so far, no one has told us that they've been scared. not even a little perturbed.

o.k. maybe a little perturbed.

this piece slipped noiselessly into cinematic oblivion right out of the cradle, which is one reason I am resuscitating it here. I hadn't made a karl film before, and my apparent lack of midas touch (although I do like it) makes it plausible we may not do another one (though I hope that's not the case), and only confirms my suspicion that great art goes unpunished.

 
A Walk in the Woods from karl staven on Vimeo.

time for fall