Re: Journey Through Twin Peaks: the complete presentation
Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 8:13 pm
"When he was there I didn't know, and when he was gone I couldn't rememb-" *cue Yakkity Sax*
a Twin Peaks and David Lynch Electrical Resource
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A dangerous offer. At the risk of converting my scaffold into a soapbox (I LOVE discussing the meta aspects of video essays), I'll take these up...Kmkmiller wrote:Curious ....
What is it YOU find cringe worthy ..
In particular the sound editing in the first chapters. There are just some really clunky edits that make me wince. Words cut off, that sort of thing. This tightened up by Part 4 to the point where I was isolating each phrase fairly obsessively (to cut out the breaths in between) but in Part 1 the process was much more rushed because I was still holding myself to an end-of-the-month deadline which was fortunately dropped by the final parts.Production value?
I felt I avoided the second pitfall pretty well, but the first chapters kind of fall into the first category. Partly because at that point I'm still accumulating evidence and observation to deal with later (that's the perhaps over-charitable interpretation) but also because the project sort of took shape as I did it and at that point I hadn't quite firmed up what information was necessary and what wasn't. The chapter that sags for me a bit in retrospect is the one covering ep. 1 - 3 (that also has the worst sound edits). Though I still like the juxtaposition of Hawk's speech with Laura in the Red Room & Jacoby at the grave (cribbed from my screen-cap tribute I did a few weeks before the video).Too expositiony/preachy?
The videos were always created for an audience that was familiar with the show so if anything I'd say the reverse: too much exposition at times (especially early on), although not to the extent of making the plot legible to those who haven't seen the series. Humorously, CBS tried to take down the videos by claiming that they could be a substitution for actually watching the show (I think they were just trying to scramble and find fair-use loopholes though eventually they acquiesced). Eventually I shared the first few videos with my folks (neither had seen Twin Peaks) and pretty much had to offer an additional running commentary amidst frequent pauses to explain who was who & what was going on! Which is more or less as it should be, imo. Watch the show, then watch the videos.Not expositiony enough?
So far I stand by all of my readings, but we'll see if 2016 makes me choke on any of them. Hell, at this point I'd take that over not getting to see 2016!Embarrassing theory?
For narrated video essays in general, it's learning what needs to be said and what doesn't. Maybe it's just not wanting too hear much of my own voice, but I find I'm much more economical and disciplined when reading back prose than when writing it (case in point - this comment!). I find the best way to deal with the challenge is to treat the narration and the images as partners in a dance switching who leads from number to number. Sometimes you bend the images to make a point, at other times this would be inappropriate. There's also the question of how long you allow clips to play out, and when you chose not to show anything at all (case in point: cutting to black rather than show Maddy's murder in this video essay, whereas I allowed it to play without interference in an earlier Lynch tribute - in different contexts, each of these was the correct decision). And of course all these intellectual decisions have to work aesthetically too - the flow of the presentation is arguably even more important than the content of the ideas; at the very least, they should go hand in hand.what do you think your biggest challenges are when making something like that?
They complained that I left out most of the "good Leland" moments in the film during which, in their opinion, he is truly himself vs. just a shell for the demonic Bob. You know, those 2 1/2 minutes of the 2 1/2 hour film in which Leland isn't tormenting himself and everyone around him? Seemed like their real issue was with Lynch and they didn't want to admit it..."When he was there I didn't know, and when he was gone I couldn't rememb-" *cue Yakkity Sax*
I was thinking today that a cool follow-up, eventually, would be Sopranos. I even know how I would want it to begin, though I ain't telling (and may change my mind when I try to enact and go, no wait this is really actually pretty dumb).MasterMastermind wrote:I'd rewatch the whole thing right now if you did one of these for Evangelion. Or even Lost. Speaking of this sort of thing, this website has the best reviews of The X-Files I've ever read: http://them0vieblog.com/reviews-hub/the-x-files
Ah, interesting I'd love to hear that! This must be at least my 3rd or 4th viewing but I feel like I'm catching things now for the first time, including things I probably should have noticed early on. But unlike Twin Peaks, it's not only a complex show, it's an extremely fast one.MasterMastermind wrote:I've never seen The Sopranos, that'd be a fair time to start. The X-Files is a very good show that's kinda hamstrung by 90's tv convention. I made my own episode guide to make it more consistent haha. I love Evangelion so much I've tried to stay away from reading much supplemental material to sort of protect my interpretation of the events.
Yes, please, do this The Sopranos is, in my not-so-humble opinion, the greatest television series ever, ever, ever. (Even though I personally don't think the first season is all that great compared to the perfection of the others -- it's a typical example of a new show finding its footing).LostInTheMovies wrote:I was thinking today that a cool follow-up, eventually, would be Sopranos. I even know how I would want it to begin, though I ain't telling
I have seen almost nothing from the past decade! Not even Mad Men, Breaking Bad, or The Wire which are the three I plan on watching after I finally catch up with The Prisoner first.David Locke wrote:Yes, please, do this The Sopranos is, in my not-so-humble opinion, the greatest television series ever, ever, ever. (Even though I personally don't think the first season is all that great compared to the perfection of the others -- it's a typical example of a new show finding its footing).LostInTheMovies wrote:I was thinking today that a cool follow-up, eventually, would be Sopranos. I even know how I would want it to begin, though I ain't telling
Carnivale is also one of my very favorite shows, and one that appeals to Peaks fans for obvious reasons (surrealism, lush aesthetics, Lynchian atmosphere, an excellent performance from Michael J. Anderson); it's also probably gotta be the most visually beautiful series ever made for TV. Have you seen that, LITM?
Now there you've gone and done it and isolated why I, as a matter of just one persons opinion, don't like the journey presented. To me it comes off as coy, and at worst like the person taking me on the journey might think I am too weak minded to retain my own visceral enjoyment of the work of art once it's been so called demystified.And the problem is particularly acute whenever analyzing Lynch's work, especially but not only in video form (let's not forget how much he hates DVD commentaries, in which voices just drone on without any real respect for the images). In general this means not reducing what is visceral sensation into intellectual constructions - one has to attempt a more poetic and less severe mode of analysis: really, this is true of any art criticism in my opinion but it's especially true with someone like Lynch.
... and hope to get a passing grade. Lol.I will not intellectualize this beautiful and highly intuitive work of art cause that demystifies and destroys the work art.
The end.
Well, again - re-read what I wrote. It's not talking about vs. not talking abou it (I don't shareych's position, or I wouldn't have made he videos!). It's HOW we talk about it (not to mention when we let something other than words do the talking).Kmkmiller wrote:You know I'm not going to say your perspective is better or worse, I know it is less academic but every time I hear this argument about how "the phenomenon is lost" I get all knotted up inside cause I think it's just a passive aggressive way of redirecting attention to one set of ideas....
If talking about it dilutes the experience then maybe no one should ever say boo.
Not to put too fine a point on it. This seems to be the routine....
-- Talking about it dilutes the experience, but I'm gonna talk about it. Listen to me.
-- hi, can I talk about it.
-- talking about it dilutes the experience.
-- oh sorry!
See how that's problematic?
Well, sometimes the value of essays and analysis isn't in learning anything new about something, but to give words to things the reader already consciously or subconsciously thinks but cannot put them into words.Kmkmiller wrote:gotta be honest, didn't learn one thing about Twin Peaks I didn't already know.