The
afternoon of the fourth of September, I took the trip across the waterfront by
ferry with a group to visit the Eye Film Institute. The sun gleaming on the
glass roof of central station gave the location the feeling of an oddly futuristic,
modernized port in Australia. I pretended to be under the white hot UV of
Sydney, and The Eye Insitute seemed like the Syndey Opera house of the future,
as if with the passing years and decades, lines became stronger and the concept
of smoothness made way to angular design. With quite a fitting name, the
museum’s architecture looked like an abstract origami expression of the human
eye. Its sharp edges and smooth white polygonic tiles of the exterior set an
insightful tone for the museum’s content. I implore you to try to feel
uncreative before entering the museum itself. It is near impossible, for the
space is just too stunning and thought provoking. It was designed by the
Delugan Meissl architecture firm, with the intent of creating a building that appears
to be in motion.
The Eye Insititute
However
stunning the appearance of the building is, there was one room that struck my
conceptual fancy. Following the futurism theme, the space looked like a control
room of a space craft. Small frames of movie clips lined all four walls like
digital ribbons being beamed down by projectors overhead. It was heaven for any
hyperactive mind. Computer monitors were situated throughout the room to
designate different stations or “posts” if we’re continuing with this control
room analogy. Each post contained an overall theme such as “colour” or “magic”
that would then pervade throughout the fifteen or so clips available for
viewing at that post. You then simply selected a clip based on its thumbnail’s
aesthetic appeal and the projector would dismiss the ribbons in front of you to
make way for a large display of the clip you chose. If you reach the point of
boredom with a certain video you can pull an absolutely old school crank lever
on the side of the post. Upon doing this, not only will the film dismiss to the
main menu, but also a squealing cacophony of high-pitched tones follows closely
with each movement of the lever. It sounded much like an amplified, distorted
sample of a film or cassette being rewinded. Even the sound effects served the
purpose of total immersion in everything film related.
Control Room at the Eye Institute
What
interested me most was the content in this exhibit. For such an advanced room,
most of the films were made between 1920 and 1970. This created an interesting
concept in the juxtaposition. Seeing Walt Disney’s Alice’s Spooky Adventure pouring from a modern projector in this space
craft control room had me thinking again about the concept of past vs. present.
There was a certain beauty in the simplicity of this film and others. Entirely
made of cartoon sketches, the short clip offered insight into just how creative
and groundbreaking this was in its time. Put in the context of film in our era,
it seems like a fourth grade project, but back then it was a popular and
astounding form of entertainment. When we tap into this perspective, the film
takes on a new form. It becomes artistically valid, worth praise, and
outrageously interesting to think of how somebody conceived of the idea to have
a little girl bonking ghosts on the head as they chase an exuberant, expressive
cat. I loved it.
Our talk
about George Lucas and the technological advancements along the line of his
Star Wars films holds credence in this room. In fact, it is essentially an
exhibit exhibiting this concept. It seeks to present the allure of early film
experimentation and its progression to present. From a 1933 King Kong battle to
a 1904 Magician and filmmaker’s creation of a journey to the sun, each
expresses its shared eminence and creative brilliance of its era. Even thinking
about the content of the films is astounding in light of society today. The Le Voyage dans la Lune can be summed up
by men being put in a
Walt Disney's Alice's Spooky Adventure
tremendously oversized bullet and shot at the moon, where
they encounter a strange tribe of moon people and frantically escape by getting
in their bullet and dropping off a cliff back to earth. We are not stimulated
by any surreal special effects or intense action in this film, rather we are
intrigued by the technique and sense of curiosity that the plotline invites.
Their use of props, setting, and cutting/stitching of film is so intriguing in
the context of film today. In that time those films were dreams come to life,
and a nearly impossible concept to fathom at the time. In this day and age we
can learn to appreciate
this type of film even more so than modern day marvels
like The Avatar or Lord of the Rings. They are of course
different, yet similar in the way they push boundaries and endlessly pursue the
creative possibilities that are just beyond those presently available, but the
artistic merit just seems so pure in these old, slightly cheesy films. It’s
absolutely wonderful.
The exhibit
taught me the value of a medium’s history and its conceptual and technological
transition through history. While painting may experience a conceptual
transition through the eras, the technology and means of painting hasn’t
changed substantially. There just isn’t much margin for it. In the realms of
film and music, however, technology has truly shaped these mediums. To view and
appreciate the progression of film from theatrical displays to silent black and
whites to the elaborate special effects of The Harry Potter series all in one
room is an enlightening experience. The Eye Institute surely opened my eyes to
the charming and fantastical history of an art form that most of us seem to
take for granted today.
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