Last evening, the Project This Film Club hosted a multi-screen horror fest. In an effort to experiment with the aesthetic of disorientation, the club set up five older television sets in the basement of the Small Pink Bird house in Roseville. Each television set was connected to a seperate dvd player/vcr. After approximately half an hour of dealing with installment/viewing issues, the club decided to show the following films simultaneously:

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

The Return of the Living Dead (part II)

The People Under the Stairs

Nosferatu

Evil Dead II

Initially, the experience was entirely as disorienting as had been predicted. Most commented on the difficulty of remaining focused on a particular television set for any duration. Mixed laughs and commentary made it overwhelmingly evident that the viewing experience was of a much different nature. Seemingly, most of the audience members shifted between television screens based on the amount of action/humor occurring at any particular junction. One would distractedly watch Freddy guide a mental patient to his/her grueling death (A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors), then switch over to see Everett Mcgill in a full leather suit annihilating the interior of a house (The People Under the Stairs).

By starting the films simultaneously, we were originally hoping to discover emerging trends. Essentially, we were under the impression that many of the more obtrusively action packed portions of each film would be syncopated. Despite random moments of odd similarity (driving scenes, people conversing), this was, most assuredly, not the case.

Overall, it became evident that this experience refused any attempts to follow the plot extensions of a single film (or, for that matter, a series of films), throughout. Although many of the audience members had previously watched select films, this experience refuted general plot progressions. The plot of any particular film became dependent; dependent on the other four films. Climatic events became entirely confused. The varying shouts and agonizing screams that would typically mark a climatic junction  were inevitably muttled by the dialogue/humor of other films. At times, the humor of another film would degrade the horror of the next. At certain junctions, the mixed screams from an adjacent television would intensify the interaction of other characters. Any attempts to treat a film indepedently were subverted by the overall experience.

The ending:

One could not help acknowledging the inherent beauty of each films ending. As the ending credits rolled over each screen, there existed an accompanying feeling of loss. The situation was ending; the collaborative film was fading from existence; the capacity for attention was slowly being restored. As the television sets flickered and faded, the slow concluding scene of Nosferatu served as a subversive tranquilizer. The conventional film viewing experience was restored just briefly as a horse galloped into the barren distance.

Working on the assumption that the projector will be running within the immediate future, the PTFC has started deliberating as to the location of the showings. Inevitably, dispute has arisen concerning the appropriate place to show the films. Although this dispute is rooted in current lighting issues (the projector requires that the films be shown in a moderately dark area with a reflective screen/white wall), it is also intimately related to what can be considered offscreen aesthetic; the aesthetic associated with the act of viewing.

Film theory, criticism, and independent artistic action has centered on this issue repeatedly. The dispute is accentuated by artistic movements to display films at drive-in theatres, in crowded rooms with various intermittent distractions, and at outdoor areas (This is most specifically evidenced by the displaying of John Ford’s Searchers in the original shooting location. The film was slowed down to last for a duration of five years, and projected on a screen in the desert).

In an effort to experiment with aesthetic, the PTFC has decided that it is best to allow the projection locations to be of a more variable nature; from crowded urban locations to rural/deserted areas; from indoor areas of a congested nature at a comfortable room temperature, to large outdoor areas of limited control.

In the future, a portion of this website will be dedicated to explaining the ways in which the variable nature of offscreen aesthetic has impacted the viewing experience.