| FILMS ON DVD |
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| GRIFFITI ARCHIVE (1969-2004) |
4 OF
30 FILMS ON GRIFFITI ARCHIVE |
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HEAD. 1975, 10:30. A self-portrait of the animator, undone by his own cartoon surrogate. Using a wide array of techniques (flipbooks, stop-motion, altered documentary footage) this "anti-cartoon" explores the dim origins of animation, developed out of drawing, photography and magic. Its structure is discontinuous, non-narrative; its focus, self-referential; its aim, to re-examine the pioneering trickfilm processes of Emile Cohl with contemporary wit and irony. An example of the experimental spirit of independent animation of the 1970s. Music by Fred Israel. |
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VIEWMASTER. 1976, 3:30. The pre-cinema Phenakistoscope inspired this film cycle of 8 drawings. A herd of running characters drawn in a hodge-podge of styles relentlessly orbit the axis of Muybridge’s running man. The restricted field of view allows us to discover odd relationships and transformations among the various figures. We can interprete them as we like. One pair of characters (a man cranking a box displaying a mechanical running puppet).This the re-cycling of Viewmaster, 33 years later, into Griffin’s DIGITAL MUTOSCOPE which allows the viewer to control the speed and direction of the movement. Music by Harold Anderson. |
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LINEAGE. 1979, 29:00. An essay on the tension between formalism and sentiment, Lineage marks the end of Griffin’s period of overtly self-relexive trickfilms. By reclaiming the photocopy process it transforms the duplication of real time and space into a synthetic world of speculation where cartoons clash with documentary. Here, the historical referent is Winsor McKay, the pioneering lightening sketch animator who bridged both worlds 70 years before. Displays of street performance, material process, repetitive puppetry and random marking paper over the bed of emotion, however remote, seeking to assert itself. Music: Central Park carousel. |
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A LITTLE ROUTINE. 1994, 7:00. As bedtime nears, a beleaguered dad and his headstrong 6-year old daughter re-enact a familiar ritual. Reading stories, tooth-brushing, tantrums, bedside singing, fear of the dark — all serve as catalysts for re-living memories of pain and love. Paying homage to the domestic cartoons of the Hubleys, this routine conversation of real people reflects the range of universal sentiments embedded in this most primal of human relationships. Music by Judith Gruber-Stitzer. |
