{"id":31370,"date":"2013-07-25T16:37:16","date_gmt":"2013-07-25T16:37:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alternativejonestown.com\/?page_id=31370"},"modified":"2014-02-25T19:33:29","modified_gmt":"2014-02-25T19:33:29","slug":"edwards","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=31370","title":{"rendered":"Interpretations of Jonestown Video Opens Possibilities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last year, I reported<\/a> on my efforts to use extracted and severely permutated elements of the \u201cDeath Tape\u201d to create\u00a0 audio recordings. I successfully completed the recordings earlier this year, but unfortunately I did not receive the grant that I had intended to use toward production of the CD. However, there are two other grant opportunities I will be exploring in the fall to move this concept along.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, I did achieve a second goal, which was to perform audio alongside archive Jonestown footage. My first presentation took place July 2008 in Chicago. I selected approximately 12 minutes of footage, including people playing basketball, kids and teenagers playing in felled lumber, people working in the fields and kitchens, and a short \u201ctour\u201d of what appeared to be storage facilities for medical supplies. My goal with using the footage was to present a different perspective on Jonestown, one that didn\u2019t generate immediate, knee-jerk connotations (or preconceptions). To that end, I strove not to include any images of Jones.<\/p>\n

I am more than happy to report that by and large my goals were met. The comments to the video included:<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u201cI thought it was an agricultural film from the 70s, like the kind I\u2019d see in school.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u201cKnowing you, I suspected this might have been something underlying what it started out to be; I thought it was great to see these people going about these everyday activities… it was just like a home video.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u201cThe grittiness was really cool looking.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The only flaw \u2013 and it was my own fault \u2013 was that my plan to end the video before any image of Jim Jones showed up didn\u2019t work. The DVD player (someone else\u2019s) was already not in an ideal scope line with the remote (and people had moved in front of me) and I wasn\u2019t able to freeze the frame where I\u2019d intended; it actually stopped on a blurred Jim Jones. (At least it was blurry.)<\/p>\n

I\u2019d also note that\u00a0 the audio I created for the video piece was completely different than the recording I am aiming to secure funding for, mainly because the \u201cDeath Tape\u201d material is completed and I wanted to be actively responding to the footage sequence and not simply pressing \u201cplay.\u201d So, instead of using the \u201cDeath Tape\u201d as source material, I used a 1981 Russian synthesizer (a Polivoks, for those curious) and a custom-built effect pedal. The resulting sound\u2014 at least for the show in July\u2014 was described by a colleague as \u201cCreepy; the video and sound combined like a mix of some kind of Dawn of the Dead soundtrack and a social studies film.\u201d The music had a slight, subtle \u201coff kilter\u201d rhythmic \u201clurching\u201d to it, as well as some warbling, shifting tones swimming around and supporting the rhythmic element. The goal was to create a faint sense of uneasiness and tension. On its own, the video (save for the botched conclusion) was, for most viewers \u201cinnocuous\u201d and, as I\u2019d hoped, not easily discernable as Jonestown: I left the discomfort up to the audio, and the feedback I received indicated that the juxtaposition worked well.<\/p>\n

I intend to perform with the video a few more times this year, each time using different video and audio elements, and I am in the process of securing a performance for November 18. One video aspect I am especially interested in working with is slowed down footage of children marching around this small quadrant of planks, as well as slowed down footage of the aerial approach into Jonestown. I\u2019ve noticed that when footage is slowed down\u2014especially on a subject such as children or something vague (like the aerial approach)\u2014the \u201ceerie\u201d component becomes much stronger. If I can incorporate that for an upcoming performance the results could be extremely powerful. Another sequence I am considering using involves where a truck heading toward (or coming from) Jonestown has tipped over, and a group of people are unloading the goods and moving them to another vehicle.<\/p>\n

Anyone who might be in the area and interested in seeing any upcoming Jonestown-related performances please feel free to contact me at vertonen@earthlink.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last year, I reported on my efforts to use extracted and severely permutated elements of the \u201cDeath Tape\u201d to create\u00a0 audio recordings. I successfully completed the recordings earlier this year, but unfortunately I did not receive the grant that I had intended to use toward production of the CD. However, there are two other grant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":31469,"menu_order":18,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-31370","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/31370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31370"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/31370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56623,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/31370\/revisions\/56623"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/31469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}