Moonsong

May 16

Hi, Jane,

It is wonderful to see your work progressing so marvelously on your stop-motion photography film project, Moonsong. I love this project! It is great to see all the elements come together so well in the longer piece. Do you feel that you have achieved your goals for the film? Based on our conversation, it feels to me like you have, but you may feel differently. I hope you do feel extremely proud of this amazing piece and are enjoying a great sense of accomplishment! It is clear that volumes of work, energy, and time went into conception, shooting, and editing.

You have definitely hewn the themes (see my earlier comments below) of your film deeply into the imagery and especially in the intercutting of the sequences. Your juxtapositions simultaneously create feelings of tension and connection, a sense of journey and cycling of the seasons, and a sense of wonder in the world.

I love your unbound use of the camera, use of painted eyes on the woman’s eyelids, graffiti eyes, broken glass, fire and snow, the human grafitti (tree/branches/veins) canvasses against backdrop of the concrete graffiti canvas or trees, train tracks, bloody allusions, parallels with the music, etc.

I am surprised (and pleased) that you thanked me in your credits for final project – I hope my suggestions really were helpful.

btw, is Jane Urban your real name? I hope you don’t mind my saying that is perfect moniker for you as an artist, given the work that I have seen!

Well, I am hoping to attend the 5/21 screening. ( I have something else going on, but I am going to try to do this instead.) Do you know when your piece will be shown in the series?

Please feel free to call me in the future if I can be of help in any way!

Well, I wanted to comment sooner on the earlier work you sent to me, but I had not received the blog for commenting until yesterday. So I am going to briefly re-cap our communications below and comment as I go. My comments are in reverse order, as you would have seen them in the blog had I commented along the way:

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On April 20 we talked by phone for ~½ hour. I asked about your goals for the film, and your goals for the film as they relate to your life/professional goals. You said that you wanted to make a long (several minute) stop-motion piece, thinking about each frame individually, one that looked/felt different from your other projects, but perhaps darker thematically. The piece would make connections between nature and the urban world through images in the outdoors graffiti art, nature, and roots.

At this time, the 3 Moonsong clips I saw were heading in that direction, but seemed to be missing some elements that would better inform the viewer of your intent, connect the themes, and thus create more of a ‘story’, though quite experimental. I suggested a more intense intercutting of (images suggesting) bridges, also branches, fallen trees, and roots, with your human canvasses, graffiti, etc. to visually inform these connections.

I was most happy to hear that you will attending MassArt in September. This seems like a great match for you and the kind of work you are pursuing. When you have screening in the future, please let me know, and I will try to come!

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On April 14, you sent me your impressive resume/filmography, and your vimeo website with some of your work on it: www.vimeo.com/janeurban including test video for my ICA project: http://www.vimeo.com/10930516

I was extremely impressed by the work on your website, especially your artistic/cinematic/concentrated explorations of color and paint(ing), your use of humans as art canvasses, a deep connections to the natural world coupled with an urban sensibility, and the variety of work on your website.

The test clip was very short and very beautiful – a stop-motion painting of a tree “growing” (being painted) on a woman’s back. (No music.) I could tell (and you confirmed) this had taken many hours. I was even more impressed that you were doing both the art on her back _and_ then stopping to take each shot! I was able to see a little more of this piece.

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On April 12, I made this request by email:
“Also, before we talk can you send me a CV/Resume and/or Biosketch if you have one, just so I can get a better sense of you and your work so far? (No need to re-write anything - just send what you have). This will give me some context for thinking about your work on this film and where you'd like to go with it.

Hope I am not asking for too much. I just think I can best help when I have a bit of background.”

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On April 11, you sent me an early clip from Moonsong.
http://www.icateens.org/sites/default/files/JU_moonsong_wip.mov

This was my 1st glimpse of your work. I loved the image sequences in this short demo piece, and also your choice and use of music is wonderful. This short video is artful, playful, and also has serious elements.

Your choices of shapes and colors in this journey through the urban outdoors is a pleasure to watch, and I like how you use of blank slates in conjunction with the music. The work suggests a pleasurable freedom in using the tools in your palette. While the images feel connected, it was too early in the process to get a sense of story.

Another short test clip from Moonsong on your vimeo site had a woman’s arm “growing” a branch, very akin to human veins:
http://www.vimeo.com/10931158 .
Very cool!

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On April 9 we exchanged brief some initial emails about talking by phone.