Week 7_Response_Garrett Joyce
For the Week 7s video, I chose to talk about Gary Hill's "Primarily Speaking" (1981-83). I enjoyed watching this video for many reasons including how creepy the aesthetic was. The video opens with color blocks feeling the screen and then two squares with different videos start playing. Over the video is a voice-over with a creepy voice that sounds like he is hypnotizing you. While listening to this video on my computer I noticed that the voice switches speakers when the videos switch. The voice-over is very choppy but matches with the visualizers on the screen. My favorite portion of this video was when the background became solid and the voice started singing with the audio tune on. I think this tied all the weird elements together and made the video feel cohesive. The clips in this video were interesting as well because they were all different from each other but connected to the video. Before watching this, I had never seen anything like this which is why I chose to write about it. The way they edited and pieced this video together was interesting because so much was happening but somehow seemed to fit together perfectly. Overall, this video had many unique elements that made it enjoyable to watch.
I completely agree with the creepy tone of the voice. Something you noticed that I did not while watching was the switching of the voice from when each square was talking. If the voice was talking about the left square, then the left side of the computer would get louder. I wish I watched it with headphones on first to really hear the differences. It was chaos, but for reason because every square had meaning when the voiced talked about it.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree about this video being engaging but also very confusing. I thought it was very hard to connect each frame of the video, and the dialogue that was happening between both squares. Like you said, I think it's this chaos and the lack of relatedness that makes the video overall a cohesive piece. I think also having the consistent neon stripes, VHS feel, in the background also helped make the video cohesive.
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