BLOCK-1

by Dietmar BREHM
2007 / Betacam SP / color / sound / 1S / 30' 00




In 1994 I bought a small Hi8 video camera though I didn't really want one, as I already had a large video camera. The large camera was OK, but it was too big to carry along on walks. It didn't have legs so that I could lead it around on a leash like a dog. The little camera, on the other hand, was like a baby which could be stowed in my bag. The salesman was surprised when I kissed the baby camera after he handed it to me. I immediately set off on my first stroll with camera. I thought it was great because I could immediately film everything my eyes stumbled upon. The baby camera was like a gun and ready to go after visual prey.
In 2004 the big camera had been dead for some time, while the baby camera was still alive. I had shot hours of footage. Discursive scenes like from a diary and a great many structural reflections, which I suspected would be useful for further contemplation. Between spring 2004 and fall 2005, though I had hardly looked at the tapes until then, I started to systematically comb through them in a number of stages. I was surprised by a great deal of what I saw, and I marked numerous scenes. In the summer of 2006 Bertram Hellermann of Fischer-Film in Linz helped me work on the material, distill it and put it into a sequence. Three variations were made until the final version was finished. We tried to work with the scenes in such a way that a continuous level of interest was maintained and to prevent everything from becoming anecdotic, as it was originally unrelated. As a result the sound design was of particular importance. Bertram always had the best ideas when he gave the computer commands with the mouse. When a scene was OK, I said «yeah» when I thought I have to say «yeah» now. Thirty-eight scenes were created in this way. (Dietmar Brehm)

1-The Telephone Rings and No One Answers, While the Camera Is Threatened by Basil 2-Yellow Hand/Beeping Sounds 3-Sunday Morning, At the Window 4-Semi-Strong TV Feedback/Beautiful Music/Sounds of a Dental Drill 5-Linz/Storm in the Air/TV Weather Map 6-Schafberg/Structural 7-Schwarzensee/Purple 8-Yellow Shadows from a Window 9-Mark of the Blind 10-Crows/Velvets Loop 11-Test of Glasses 12-Memory of Sekundenfallen 13-Light Bulb/Faust 14-Schwarzensee/Blue 15-Storm 16-Fly 17-Me/Urinal/Jesus 18-Bloody Finger 19-Detail of Yard 20-Mystery Child 21-Bruce Lee 22-Stuttgart 23-Vienna Hilton 24-Fight (Pöch) 25-Red Light 26-Accident 27-Parade of Flames 28-Alarm 29-Bowie Collages 30-Lucky Strike/Sun 31-TV, Fuzzy a/b 32-Eye of Corpse 33-TV, Reflected Idyll 34-Food 35-Bärenstein/Red 36-Bushes/Water 37-Hung Donkey 38-Stars at the Schwarzensee

1 PRINT IN DISTRIBUTION


distribution format Digital file on server (PAL)
screen 4/3 (single screen)
speed 25 fps
sound sound
rental fee 96,00 €