Email to Richard Bone

Richard:

I really appreciate your support on these projects. I wonder what it must feel like to be in your shoes - having someone else take what you created and put it into a form unimagined?

Actually I may turn the tables on you here. The Strange Attractor I'm editing now is different than what I imagined the film to be. It's now colorized black and white video as opposed to stark B&W. Also, I decided to incorporate some of the unrehearsed performances of the actors into the film, which created a new perspective that ended-up working with the music from COXA. However, in additon; I may create the B&W version and give it to you, A PRODUCE and others, to play with from a soundscape standpoint (remember my idea about having several muscians, each originating a soundtrack based on their inner interpretation of the film!) There would be no time limit or obligation: Just a seed waiting to germinate and sprout.

I liken what other artists do similiar to a pure element in nature (the Periodic Table of the Elements). And also my films as a pure element. Then what I do is combine the two elements together like a chemist to create a new compound (e.g. two parts hydrogen & one part oxygen = water).

Regarding the bats disc. I don't know if anything could be done with it from a sonic standpoint, but I have used it as a relaxation exercise (meditative I guess like you mentioned).

Wait to you see what's coming together for my time filming in the ghost town of Ruby. It's a real 'psychotropic' piece called "Outskirts of Infinity". A PRODUCE is providing the sonic for that. It may have a clip or two of the bats, but I don't know what I'm going to do with all the bat footage - I would say at least a million pour out of that cave!!

Take care, Bart

New Perspective For Strange Attractor

I completed filming "Strange Attractor" over the weekend and after pulling and all-nighter last night - I already have a rough edit in hand. As present-moment awareness should have it, the film in post-production is becoming something different that what I first imagined. But this is good because I'm using input from the two actors that deals with their creative perspectives and contribution to the project. Jim Ericksen's suggestion of filming a gas-stove burner igniting turned-out to be a fun creative exercise. Jim also suggested filming himself looking into a mirror and he exits the door from his study in the film. I put a sequence together from that filming exercise which added significantly to the films artistic value.

Also unexpectedly in the editing, I used footage of both Cindie Wolf and Jim Ericksen that really brought out both their characters and this helped add a nice cohesion to the film story. In other words, instead of rigidly following what was in my mind's eye for the film, I let the contribution of the actors shape both the 'content' and the 'feel' of the film. This is what present-moment filmmaking is all about. You have to recognize new information and let it assimulate itself into the film. Introducing these new elements broadened the artistic value of the piece.

I Also, the images in post-production are colorized black and white video run through a primitive video board installed in a vintage 1985 Commodore Amiga computer, using software developed at the time to create real-time digital colorization as the video is displayed on the monitor - really cool - essentially post-production became an excercise in 'performance' art.

So what happens now to the original movie concept of Strange Attractor? Well there very well may be another version of the film true to my original vision - we'll see.

Barton Santello
Arivaca, AZ
July 2005

Strange Attractor Update

On July 16th, the filming of Strange Attractor was completed. A big milestone for 2005. Now comes the hard (fun) part of digital filmmaking: Take the film and put it in my 'form'. My form being the most present-moment I can take this material. While simultaneously using technology tools that are both state-of-the-art and vintage (I like the vintage equipment, especially my Amiga 1000.)

Strange Attractor it seems, upon inspection of the video run through the Amiga 1000's LIVE! videoprocessing board, will be better served, viewed as two seperate films. The first version will be a hip retro image (as processsed by the LIVE! video card on the Amiga) digitally crafted via LIVE!'s vintage software in real time as the video is recorded raw off digital tape.

The second film will be the black and white version of my original vision for the films's presentation.

Both versions will have music provided couresty of Richard Bone {www.richardBone.com)

The result is my original design for the film; with the bonus of a seperate present-moment artistic version film, from the same source material. The best of both worlds.

Bart Santello
Filmmaker
www.psychotropicFILMS.com

Changing The Form of Film

email to Steve

Kubrick, in the last years of his life, talked about creating a new "form" for film. I don't know what that meant, but he implied that he wanted to change the structure or DNA of filmmaking.

My movies (e.g. Man Trap) are filmed simply because I felt something important and was moved by each image. I didn't plan to put the guy at the end to look and the camera and then look away suggesting that he was resigned to be a tool in the man trap of the factory. I just took the footage and had no idea what I was going to do with it, and doubing if it was good for anything.

But ManTrap ended up coming together just like a dream - a bunch of fragments from my
day coming together to form a story - who would have known. The same is happening with the "Bats of Ruby" a film I'm working on at present. I have the same thing, a bunch of images: But this time I have the confidence to create something really artistic, unique and true to how I "see" things.