42 minutes

the howls video is 42 minutes rough cut, just 14 minutes to go and of that three are already done. my computer is rendering acts 2 and 3 right now--which will take about 3 hours it tells me. i'm enjoying this project. it's teaching me a lot. i'm trusting my intuition, giving up on big ideas and just putting one thing after another. my friend, jon appleton, a composer, has told me for years that this is his process. my painting teacher, clifford west, also hinted to me that if you just start doing and follow your gut you will create larger, coherent themes, often without realizing it.

i'm attracted to this shot of a picnic table i took a couple years ago. i've cut it into sequences in several places in the piece which has begun to make it symbolic--of what i have no idea, but it's definitely saying something. then, i found some online clips from the department of defense of bomb hits in iraq with informative voiceovers such as, "yeah, we nailed that one." i noticed the tracking videos all have crosshairs and some other info overlayed on the image. so i got some plans for a picnic table and superimposed them over lots of footage leading up to the climax for act 3. the table tilts, wiggles, moves and blinks, chasing birds, people, and ultimately is dropped like a bomb into a matrix of faces. staring at this picnic table for about ten hours today i'm beginning to grasp its significance. the fun part about this process is discovering what things have meaning to me and why. when i'm looking, searching, the editing is smooth, effortless. each thing suggests the next.