Since 1995 Metal Dragon
has been providing a variety of creative services for independent
film and music productions - ranging from music videos for
independent electronic musicians, to slide and video installations
for clubs, live events and festivals. M.D.'s visual and thematic
material draws from a wide range of sources, having worked
in the graphic arts in China, Korea, Japan, Australia, Siberia,
North America, Canada, The Middle East, The Caribbean and
most of Europe. M.D. films and videos generally allow the
rich cultural mix and diversity of these backgrounds to speak
for themselves, with little stylization except for simple
colour enhancement and looping for more minimal electronic
work. M.D. has screened in festivals
like Darklight, Digital Film Festival, in Ireland, and Irish
programmes in venues like Anthology Film Archives in New York,
and institutes like the Contemporary Arts Centre in St.Petersburg.
3EM: Three Electric
Monkeys
Having provided visual
material for all the previous D.E.A.F. festivals, this year,
particularly with the Asian theme, M.D. felt the festival
was the perfect platform to ressurect an earlier, shelved
project - a futuristic thriller adaptation of the traditional
Chinese stories of the Monkey King. But in this instance the
work also returns to a classic science fiction influence.
‘La Jetee’
( “The Jetty” ) is a 28 minute science fiction
film by Chris Marker, from 1962. It tells its story by using
a series of still photographs playing out as a photomontage
of varying pace with no dialogue and a narration consisting
of voice-over. It was originally released as a support for
Jean Luc Godard’s ‘Alphaville’, and is regarded
as a minor classic, primarily because of its photo-montage
technique.
One of the keys of M.D.'s adaptation of Monkey is that the
story happens over three different time zones. So, the story
has been adapted to be told in three separate photomontages,
playing at different speeds, depending on which time zone
they represent, the narration alternating the story between
different screens and timezones. The work can best be described
as a ‘carousel slide movie'. The three screens will
also reflect the form of a free standing Tryptich, which has
traditional connotations in terms of both European Art and
Asian standing screens and wall hangings - 'makemono'.
The film '3EM: Three Electric
Monkeys' will screen on the Archiver for the festival week.
