Detour III (excerpt)

Full Version available to view at: http://www.vimeo.com/16553902

http://www.mikecelona.net - A remix of the first two installments of the Detour series, in this version all previous visual and conceptual associations are broken down as the mashed-up video fades and shifts between three different perspectives: 1.) the reedited source images as seen directly from the computer timeline 2.) the screen surface of an old CRT television monitor filmed with a macro lens as it plays back the aforementioned images 3.) the same television as seen from the vantage point of an ordinary viewer sitting in a common living room. The resulting perceptual muddle is an attempt to disorient the viewer in a way that causes them to explore their own role as an observer as well as the ways in which media inherently distorts those observations, whether it be through the manipulative voyeurism of reality television, clinical surveillance via closed-circuit monitor or the simple distraction of enjoying the pretty flickering lights emitted by the machine.

The subtitle "A Requiem for the Cathode Ray Tube" is a homage to the type of monitor used in the creation of this video which was common in most homes from the inception of consumer television technology right up until the early 2000s when flat-panel TVs rendered them obsolete (though they are still used to a limited extent by broadcast professionals and others). The unique pixel patterns and scan line distortions literally hypnotized me as a kid whenever I ignored my parent's advice not to sit too close to the television and are something that I wanted to celebrate on a purely aesthetic level in addition to everything else I have been trying to convey with this series of videos.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• detour
• celona
• art
• experimental
• ambient
• trance
• abstract
• remix
• mashup
• avante
• garde
• experience
• space
• trippy
• exotic
• psychedelic

[MKMcHenry]

Cool video. I fully appreciate your interest in the CRT screen matrix. Years ago, I did similar experimental footage with a VHS camcorder. You get an infinite reflection effect, as with two mirrors facing one another.  Then, if you rotate the camera about 270° and zoom in, the images spiral and pulse kaleidoscopically. Anyway, I finally viewed your video, and enjoyed it very much. Thanks for sending it my way.

[mikecelona]

@MKMcHenry Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed the video! I love experimenting with these kinds of low-fi techniques--so many possibilities

[OckhamDeRazor]

Fantastic development in your work to date! Thanks for bringing it to my attention!

[mikecelona]

@OckhamDeRazor You're welcome, thanks for watching!

[DeepZoomNet]

Wow. The whole analog CRT orthicon/kinescope medium, now nearly extinct, has been such a rich source of wild video effects, things that could never be conceived had we started from digital ab initio. All the weird artifacts of this medium made possible some great art thriving in the fringes of the technological limits. Great tribute! Great work!

[mikecelona]

@DeepZoomNet Thanks!

[rookie1969]

nice visuals mike

[mistertakahashi]

you are very talented.

[0Urge0]

Not to be an asshole but ... it is the same thing all the way :|

[hollyzone]

love your stuff, Mike. xx

[flickerman68]

Interesting!

[konikula]

very good

[acihouse]

love it!!!

[acihouse]

love it!!!