Arcata Brain Closet
Other Screenings
- Museum of Modern Art, New York, Film Arts Foundation program, 1991
- M.H. de Young Museum, San Francisco, Film as Art/Art in Film program, 1990
- WNET/PBS-TV, New York, "Independant Focus", 1991
- KQED-TV, San Francisco, "That's Animation", 1991
Arcata Brain Closet :: 1988 :: 9 minutes :: 16 mm
My first film to be animated on 3X5 inch plain index cards; also my first post-art school project. I came to Arcata in 1986 intending to draw the film in three months, then head back to Minneapolis for post production. At three months I had barely begun, it ended up taking 18 months. The imagery is somewhat autobiographical.
I decided to number the cards on the front, rather than the back, more for convenience than anything else, as the film shows the entire index card, leaving no margins for numbers or notes. To visually contain the numbers I made a rubber stamp in the form of an odometer. I made or purchased other rubber stamps for the film as well, such as the space ship, a redwood tree, and various insects. Using these led me into rubber stamp designing which later became a career.
For the round red heads of "The "Ants on Mars" I used red dot stickers, and for the titles of each alphabet letter I used a label maker, then made "rubbies" of the labels. I did not own a computer at the time. Most of the coloring was done with Prismacolor pencils and sticks.
Original music was composed and recorded by Howard Kaufman and Scott Beasley.
