Stan Brakhage is Dead

[calgodot]

Stan Brakhage died this afternoon, Sunday, March 8th, in Victoria, British Columbia.

He died in hospital, where he had been recovering from an infection, following a sudden turn for the worse yesterday. Marilyn Brakhage was with him. Yesterday he told her: "I've had a wonderful life. Life is great."

From Bruce McPherson of Frameworks Listserv

[Mike Buckles]

For those not familiar with Mr. Brakhage's work, check out his link in the Internet movie database... "Stan Brakhage" A very prolific man, appears to have done it all in the world of film. I'm ashamed to say I've never viewed his work, wonder if it's available on video? My thoughts are with his family.

[cameraguy]

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ August 30, 2003 10:28 AM: Message edited by: cameraguy ]</font>

[Alex]

When I took the UCLA extension Super-8 class the teach spoke extensively about Stan Brakhage.

Although I can't say I've retained much in memory, I did save the handouts! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[calgodot]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="verdana, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="verdana, sans-serif"> I sure wouldn't mind checking out a bunch of them. I noticed a few said "18 fps", was he using Super 8?? </font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

Brakhage worked mostly on 8mm - he liked the squarish frame. He had a few cameras, but most of the footage I've seen of him shooting he's using a Bolex windup 8mm. He was very "retro" in his approach: I think early on he may have used scissors to edit. In MOTHMAN he took pieces of moth and butterfly wing, stuck them to cellophane, and then shot the results.

Criterion will be releasing a DVD of Stan's works in May. He selected the films, supervised the transfer, and gave them an interview.

Brakhage films are best seen projected. While you can say this of any film, in his work there are multiple layers and colors (in the color works) which are often lost in video. I'd only seen his stuff on video until a couple of years ago when I began to attend (and even arrange) screenings of his work. The difference blew me away. (Many say the DVD transfers are worthy, and Criterion did them in HDTV so those with HDTV can have an even more amazing experience. I plan to take my copy to my friend's house and watch it on his 72" plasma scrren.)

Brakhage was a true film artist. He painted with light and celluloid. He will be missed.

GOD IS DEAD
R.I.P.
STAN BRAKHAGE
1933-2003