Notebook Pages
Notebook 015 (p.253)
Notebook 016 (p. 012)
David Carson's Raygun
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The work of David Carson as documented in this book Raygun Out of Control (1997) was an influence. |
I Wanted to Make a Beautiful Video (April 1999)
This was my end-of-term project for my NSCAD video class during the January-April 1999 semester. I turned my writer's block into a process and filmed this in April 1999, the opening text taken from my notebook and the rest of the footage filmed from my TV which often had bad reception. The line "but then the war started" refers to the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia which began in March 1999.
The video was silent on purpose. At the time I'd been reading The Raygun magazine monograph and became intrigued by his ideas that illegible text made one pay attention and try harder to read it, and this is why this video is particularly illegible. There's also some age related VHS breakdown evident in this digitization.
"I wanted to make a beautiful video
But then the war started
I was going to make a video but
Then the Internet revealed its power as a witness
I wanted to move you with images
Soft, subtle, sublime
But you cannot be moved by images, only silent words
And I can’t make a video" (1999-04-03)
Digitized January 2026.