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Roger BEEBE: Strip mall trilogy
Film expérimental | 16mm | couleur | 0:03:00 | USA | 2001
"The Strip Mall Trilogy" est une série de trois symphonies urbaines
qui tentent de libérer la couleur, le son et la forme du paysage consumériste
tentaculaire de l'Amérique post-moderne. La partie 1 "Green Means
Go" présente des fragments de couleur sur une bande son musicale concrète
composée de sons enregistrés sur l'avenue commerciale. La partie
2 "The Abecedaire" lutte contre (puis joue avec) des formes alphabétiques
extraites des enseignes des commerces dont elles font normalement partie. La partie
3 "X-formations" tente de montrer que la beauté existe en fait
dans les avenues commerciales. Espérons-le. Les parties 1 et 3 ont été
entièrement montées à la caméra.
"The Strip Mall Trilogy" is a series of three city symphonies that attempt
to liberate color, sound, and form from the sprawling consumerist landscape of
postmodern America. Part 1, "Green Means Go," presents fragments of
color over a musique concrete soundtrack composed of sounds recorded at the strip
mall. Part 2, "The Abecedaire," wrestles (and later plays) with alphabetic
form extracted and abstracted from the signs of commerce of which they are normally
a part. Part 3, "X-formations," tries to argue that there is, in fact,
beauty after strip malls. Let's hope so. Parts 1 and Part 3 were edited entirely
in camera.
___ Note biographique
Roger Beebe est professeur de cinéma et d'études des médias
à la University of Florida. Il a exposé ses films et vidéos
précédents à la Mc Murdo Station dans l'antarctique et sur
le CBS Jumbotron de Times Square ainsi que dans de nombreux endroits moins exotiques
(Rottersdam, NY Expo, Ann Arbor, NY Underground, Cinematexas, etc). Il a aussi
dirigé Flicker, un festival bi-mensuel du film de petit format à
Chapel Hill, en Caroline du Nord de 1997-2000, et travaille actuellement comme
directeur artistique pour FLEX, le Florida Experimental Film/Video Festival.
Roger Beebe is a professor of film and media studies at the University of Florida.
He has shown his previous films and videos at McMurdo Station in Antarctica and
on the CBS Jumbotron in Times Square as well as at scores of less exotic locales
(Rotterdam, NY Expo, Ann Arbor, NY Underground, Cinematexas, etc.). He also ran
Flicker, a bi-monthly festival of small-gauge film in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
from 1997-2000 and currently serves as artistic director for FLEX, the Florida
Experimental Film/Video Festival.
___ Oeuvres / Works
2004
- "One Nation under Tommy" (DVD installation/digital video, 15 min.)
a Situationist-inspired détournement of a Tommy Hilfiger commercial; premiered
in March 2004 at NY Underground and has screened since at Chicago Underground,
Antimatter, and another half-dozen fests
2003
- "Famous Irish Americans" (digital video, 8 min.)
an experimental documentary about racial hybridity and the binarization of race
in the US; since completion in March 2003, it has screened at more than a twenty
festivals including Cinematexas and NY Underground; also in use in cultural sensitivity
training in hospitals from Florida to Hawaii
2002
- "Composition in Red & Yellow" (super 8, 2 min. 30 sec.)
a brief documentary cum road movie about the fantasy and the reality of the equation
of McDonald's with America; since completion in September 2002, it has screened
at more than 30 festivals from Rotterdam to Tokyo and from Barcelona to Calgary;
distributed on NTSC DVD by DVision
2001
- "A Woman, A Mirror" (16mm, 15 min.)
an exploration of articulations of gender and technology, focusing specifically
on women and aviation, made in collaboration with NYC-based choreographer Sara
L. Smith; over 20 screenings including Ann Arbor, Antimatter, Ladyfest Los Angeles,
and the Harn Museum of Art
- "The Strip Mall Trilogy" (super 8, 9 min.)
a series of three city symphonies attempting to map the new spaces of (sub)urban
sprawl; more than 70 screenings including Rotterdam, NY Expo, NY Underground,
Big Muddy, Cinematexas, and the Ex-Teresa Museum of Contemporary Art in Mexico
City; currently installed at the Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art and
distributed on PAL and NTSC DVD by lowave
2000
- "What Boys Want" (16mm, 2 min. 30 sec.)
a short about the inanity of cultural stereotypes of (and to some extent of the
actual form of) male desire; over 20 screenings including McMurdo Station in Antarctica,
UNC-TV (North Carolina PBS stations), and Boston Underground
1999
- "Flicker Primer" (double 8mm, 2 min.)
a pseudo-instructional film about low-budget, small gauge filmmaking; made for
Flicker touring shows, this film has screened more than a dozen times in Los Angeles,
Atlanta, Chicago, Minneapolis, Savannah, Richmond, etc.
- "A Fragmentary History of the 21st Century" (16mm, 18 min. 30 sec.)
a sprawling history of the future, where much-and little-has changed; more than
30 screenings including Cinematexas, the Flaherty Film Seminar, Atlanta, UNC-TV,
and Big Muddy
1998
- "Dirty Harry and the Hendersons" (found footage videotape, 2 min.
30 sec.)
a crosscutting of Dirty Harry and Harry and the Hendersons that critiques the
murderous desires of both the rogue cop and of the suburban family; made in a
very limited quantity, this video has shown at Artists' Television Access in San
Francisco, in Boston, Chapel Hill, Gainesville, and Iowa City
- "Suggs Must Die!" (16mm, 11 min.)
an experimental narrative about what we imagine goes on behind our neighbors closed
doors; over 20 screenings including the Atlanta Film and Video Festival and a
West Coast tour (from Los Angeles to Vancouver, BC)
1997
- "Eat Art" (16mm to BetaSP, 7 min.)
an exploration of different relationships to art as commodity, ranging from fascination
to alienation to hyperconsumption; screenings in Iowa City, Durham (as an installation),
and Chapel Hill
1996
- "Pipeline Reconstruction" (miniDV, 15 min.)
an experimental documentary about the way crises in the body translate into crises
in the world; screenings in Wilmington and Chapel Hill, NC and Iowa City
1995
- "duet/biology" (16mm, 10 min.)
a trilogy of impossible duets exploring gender and genre in the age of the cyborg;
more than a dozen screenings including the Knitting Factory in New York City,
the Charlotte Film and Video Festival, and shows in Los Angeles and Victoria,
Australia
___ Autre texte
La première partie du film est composée d'images uniques d'enseignes
des avenues commerciales de Gainsville en Floride, arrangées en séries
par couleur (vert, jaune, bleu, rouge). La bande son de cette séquence
est de la musique faite de sons enregistrés dans ces magasins et leurs
parkings. Dans la seconde partie, l'alphabet remplace la couleur en tant que principe
d'organisation. Des jeux sont joués avec diverses séquences alphabétiques,
extraits là encore des enseignes des magasins de ces avenues commerciales.
La musique est Arielle Alter, la fille d'un ami, agée de cinq ans, chantant
la chanson de l'alphabet, accompagnée à la guitare et au vibraphone
par Roger Beebe. La partie 3 utilise le fondu enchaîné pour lui donner
forme. Elle effectue un fondu enchaîné sur les moments de découverte
de la beauté dans l'avenue commerciale, accompagnés par la bande
son du groupe de Grey Egg de Columbia, SC. (La musique est utilisée avec
l'autorisation du groupe)
The first part of the film is composed of single frames of signs from the strip
malls of Gainesville, Florida, arranged in series by color (green, yellow, blue,
red). The soundtrack on that section is musique concrete made from sounds recorded
in those stores and in their parking lots. Part 2 replaces color with the alphabet
as the organizing principle. A series of games are played with various alphabetic
sequences, again taken from the signs of the businesses at these strip malls.
The music is Arielle Alter, the 5-year-old daughter of a friend signing the alphabet
song, accompanied by Roger Beebe on guitar and vibraphone. Part 3 uses the (in-camera)
dissolve to give it form. That section dissolves between moments of discovered
beauty at the strip mall, with accompaniment on the soundtrack by the band Grey
Egg from Columbia, SC. (The music is used with permission of the band.)
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