Federico, What is the title of your article, and how can we access it? The video field, as a temporally distinct unit for image manipulation, has effectively been eliminated in contemporary digital media. The native structures of modern digital media no longer support field-level effects in the way analog interlaced video once did. In practical terms, half-frames and the process of frame-forming (utilizing the 16.7 microsecond window of the vertical blanking interval) have largely disappeared for most production and display contexts. This is one of the greatest tragedies in the move to progressive, digital formats, if you ask me. I'm sure Gehr has access to video engineers who could resolve this issue for him, but it would require a funky workflow. It wouldn't be clean, and I think it would require a CRT-based monitor or projector for exhibition. That part doesn't seem too horrible to me, but getting there would be tough and might involve a rescan at some point. No one wants to do that, but it's worth remembering that all of Woody's work (and most everyone else's, I think) with the Rutt/Etra was rephotographed or rescanned. His still images and tapes from that time look fantastic, but he went to great lengths to compensate for the flattening effects of rephotography/rescan. I might suggest that Gehr reach out to a tool and instrument builder or programmer. This would require a video engineer who thinks in rather unusual ways! I'm thinking of Dave Jones, Jeff Schier, Derek Holzer (an authority on scan processing), CT Lui, and maybe Walter Wright. Luke Dubois, who coauthored Jitter, would also be a good source of info, I bet. Thank you for your input, Federico, and your excellent research and writing (I am also a Sharits fanatic!).
Best wishes, jared On Thu, Aug 14, 2025 at 1:07 PM Federico Windhausen <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello Jared & co., > Apologies if this message is out of sync with the current thread about > this topic. I only receive the delayed, digest version of Frameworks. > I saw Crystal Palace at the Walter Reade cinema in New York in 2002. > Because the venue's video projector was not progressive-scan, the video's > flicker was quite visible. In 2011, I saw the video again, interlaced > flicker intact, on an old CRT monitor in Ernie Gehr's home studio in > Brooklyn. > That year, I wrote about the video for an article (to my chagrin, in the > print version, an editorial error led to the still images of the video's > flicker being omitted). Not long afterwards, Ernie debuted a new version, > once again at the Walter Reade theater. He had attempted to use alternative > digital effects to compensate for the lack of the flicker "artifacting" on > now-ubiquitous progressive-scan video projectors. (I recall a number of > freeze frames that lacked flicker and thus made the video seem more static > than it had previously been.) He wasn't able to achieve anything close to > what he'd done in 2002. We discussed this after the screening. He was > pretty unhappy with the results, and I shared his view that he hadn't yet > found a satisfying way to revise and remediate the original version. I > haven't asked him about since then. I am sure he would also be very > interested to know if anyone has figured out how to preserve the flicker > via contemporary digital video media. > best, > Federico > > > > > > > > > > > Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2025 13:14:26 -0500 >> From: jared ashburn <[email protected]> >> To: Experimental Film Discussion List <[email protected]> >> Subject: Re: [Frameworks] field-level processing in video >> Message-ID: >> <CACFi8AVqrK= >> [email protected]> >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > > Mark, Adam, Michael, and Robert, > > I saw "Crystal Palace" at some point, but couldn't remember the title. It > was that one that provoked my question, so thank you for reminding me. I'm > seeing it described as "An ode to digital interlace, which is to video what > intervals between frames are to film…". Do you happen to remember if it was > displayed on a CRT? I'm trying to figure out the title of the other one you > mentioned, and I do wonder if (and how) he managed to resolve the transfer > to a progressive format. I stumbled upon the same kind of field flicker in > FCP at about the same time he made "Crystal Palace" and was only able to > capture the output through rescan. I think a VTR (analog without an > internal TBC, maybe?) and a display that doesn't deinterlace by default > might work to preserve the field flicker, but I'm not certain. I also don't > know if that could then be transferred to a digital format (tape or file) > without it being deinterlaced at some point. Even if it were, as Adam > points out, most all digital projectors (and LCDs) would deinterlace and > apply frame interpolation, which would kill the flicker. To Robert's point, > perhaps field-based effects are best left to the analog domain. Still, even > there, it required a special instrument (Rutt/Etra or the Vasulkas Digital > Image Articulator —a hybrid device). Michael, I am unfamiliar with Yalkut's > work that you mentioned. I'd be interested to know, and VERY curious to > know what instruments he used. Thank you all for your input. I appreciate > it. -Jared > > On Sun, Aug 10, 2025 at 2:45 PM Robert Harris <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > The person who most formally, thoroughly, and passionately immersed > > themself in the video field, in the formative instant of image > generation, > > was video maker/filmmaker Al Robbins, working with portapak, reel to reel > > video in 1973 and after. > > Given the fragile, uncopyable nature of his tapes, and given the > generally > > galleryizing world of video in the mid 70’s, Al’s work was tragically > under > > appreciated. > > Rather than look to filmmakers who had no interest in analog video, you > > should pursue your Vasulka thread, and look to the individuals associated > > with the Experimental Television Center in Owego, NY. Founder Ralph > Hocking > > is deceased, his wife and collaborator Sherry Hocking Miller is still > > around. Seek out Peer Bode, Hank Rudolph, David Jones, Neil Zussman. > > But for the original artist with absolute investment in the glitch and > all > > its implications, Al Robbins. > > > > > > > > Robert Harris, Professor > > Fitchburg State University > > > > > > > > > On Aug 9, 2025, at 12:13 AM, jared ashburn <[email protected]> > > wrote: > > > > > > Does anyone know if Ken Jacobs, Ernie Gehr, or any other artists > besides > > Woody and Steina Vasulka have worked at the level of the video field? I’m > > particularly interested in practices that manipulate fields (1/60 second > in > > NTSC), whether for timing-based image alteration or for preserving > > field-specific flicker phenomena. Thanks! > > > -- > > -- > Frameworks mailing list > [email protected] > https://mail.film-gallery.org/mailman/listinfo/frameworks_film-gallery.org >
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