<in
1992 S4C called for proposals for animated films to be set to classical
music. I chose three pieces from Saint-Saen's Carnival of the Animals
as the starting point for my submission. Like mother
of invention, all three film concepts were highly experimental,
designed to be made using a combination of digitally manipulated found
objects with computer generated animation. Alas in common with
MOI, the films were not commissioned.../>
fossils:
1' 20"
aquarium:
2'
5"
laideronette-
empress of the pagodas: 3' 45"
<the
scene: from the shadowy depths of an underwater world a shoal of
tiny exotic fishes emerges, flitting in and out of the shafts of light which
penetrate the darkness. Through the rippling distortions of the water, what
at first seem to be rocks resolve into house-like shapes. The patches of light
and dark are reminiscent of gas street lamps, emitting a ghostly glow and creating
pools of deeper shades. The houses have windows with shutters. From these windows
appear strange fishes, their patterns and shapes suggesting the clothes of turn-of-the-century
Paris.../>
<the
scene: high up in the mountains of China in a landscape nestling in the
clouds, a pagoda in the style of the willow pattern porcelain can just be discenrned
through the mists.../>
<the
scene: it is a clear moonlit night by the seashore. On the beach
among the pebbles and seaweed is scattered an assortment of flotsam and jetsam,
a jumble of abandoned seaside trivia and fragments of objects swept ashore by
the tide; a curious collection ranging from a discarded rubber glove to shards
of broken pottery from a distant long-forgotten picnic. Bits of gnarled wood
worn smooth by the action of the waves, lie side by side with uninhabited crab
shells and strangely-shaped rocks...>/
