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Qatsi Trilogy to be Completed
Karl_Hungus writes "Koyaanisqatsi and Powaqqatsi, the first two installments of Reggio and Glass' trilogy are to be joined by Naqoyqatsi, due out next month. Naqoy.com has some stills, and some fascinating Flash. A brief discussion of the technical side includes the figure of 3.5 terabytes of images collected in the making of the film."
Its intriguing that they produced the entire film in 30fps, and then discuss the technical difficulties of transferring it 24fps for film output. What technical/quality improvements could they gain by doing it all in 30 fps??
I made a post, no matter how sophmoric on my SITE about this film. The originals in the trilogy are absolutely stunning and breathtaking. With the inclusion of digital technology and even simple "conventional" improvments in film technology, this part definately shapes up to be the best.
:).
If you haven't seen these movies before go see them at your rep theatre. Simply the most brilliant use of image and film I've ever seen. Esp, Koyaanisqatsi.
Umm, and apparently they are really good if you smoke green stuff. Not that I'd know anything about that
Btw, Incase you haven't heard Philip Glass is preforming in a town near you. Doing either live accompaniment to the Trilogy or new work to shorts by Godfrey Reggio (the director) and Atom Egoyan.
Go see it.
ko-yaa-nis-qa-tsi (from the Hopi Indian language) n. 1. crazy life. 2. life in turmoil. 3. life out of balance. 4. life disintegrating. 5. a state of life that calls for another way of living. Life out of balance.
po-waq-qa-tsi (from the Hopi language, powaq sorcerer + qatsi life)
Translations of the Hopi Prophecies sung in Koyaanisqatsi:
"If we dig precious things from the land, we will invite disaster."
Here is some more info about the first 2 movies. They offer a little more insight to the concept than the imdb link.
Smoke a bowl, or whatever you do to get in your observant/reflective mood, and watch it.
And while they were making this film I made them a tasty orange fish and mint juleps and they liked it very much.
Expanding a vast wasteland since 1996.
"alone with his orchestra" seems like a bit of an oxymoron...
Glass's ensembles can do some pretty top-notch stuff, though rumor is one of the trumpet players on Koyaanisqatsi had to be gotten really drunk before he'd record his part.
I just hope the pipe organ is back. Those low D's really shake a theatre.
This sig intentionally left justified.
The similarity comes from the fact that Ron Fricke directed Baraka after working as the cinematographer on Koyaanisqatsi in 1983.
Monkeytreats
I submitted this story about a month ago and of course it got rejected. Now it gets accepted and it lacks all of the *good* information, such as the fact that a Quicktime trailer has been out for over a month now for Naqoyqatsi.
:) If you buy the Baraka DVD, try to find the original DVD edition (not the special collector's edition), I've heard lots of complaints that the film->DVD transfer is better in the original DVD.
The first two (Koyanisqatsi and Powaqatsi) have just been mass released on DVD, in advance of the upcoming theater release of Naqoyqatsi (these words are roughly taken from the Hopi language).
Godfrey Reggio is an interesting chap -- he grew up in a monastery and when he left, he turned to film. Probably the best thing he ever did was to find Ron Fricke, who is the directory of photography for all 3 qatsi movies. Ron Fricke put out his own film, Baraka -- the quality of the photography in Baraka is WAY better than in the qatsi movies (because it was filmed 70mm camera rigs of Fricke's own design instead of the 35mm that was available for the qatsi movies), and Baraka takes a less moralizing approach to the imagery. Not to mention Baraka's music is better -- Philip Glass is OK, but the qatsi movies aren't his best work.
And to the slashdot editors -- I know this might get modded down as offtopic, but do a better job. Why not look back through your old rejected stories when you're about to post a "new" (shitty) one?
i'm going to be seeing koyaanisqatsi oct 13 in san francisco with the philip glass ensemble orchestra playing the score of the film live. apparently they're doing a tour, coming to about a dozen cities in america in october in conjunction with the release of the 3rd of the trilogy. tour dates/locations can be found here:
http://www.koyaanisqatsi.org/events/events.php
there's other info on koyaanisqatsi.org, as well.
There are better descriptions scattered below between the flame bait and other comments.
... like all the cars zooming along the streets of New York at night, stopping and going at bank after bank of traffic lights)
The first film (Koyaanisqatsi) came out when I was at college and was recommended as a film to watch while stoned. I don't/didn't do drugs so I went and saw it straight and still enjoyed it very much.
It's basically beautiful cinematography using speeded up and slowed down footage of things like the moon rising behind office blocks, clouds shooting across the sky, thousands of people zooming up and down escalators etc. intercut to show the beauty and balance in nature and the "out of balance" city life (but even the city footage is glorious and has been used in so very very many ads since
And with almost hypnotic music by Philip Glass.
If you like that sort of thing, then this is the among the best examples. If you don't, then don't watch it. Some people like this stuff, some like slasher films, so go to see the next Jim Carrey/Adam Sandler movie, everyone is different.
But it's not SciFi, Anime or anything like that, so I'm not sure why it is Slash-dot. Except that the strong rhythmic patterns in the music and the camera trickery is the sort of stuff that a lot of us nerds happen to enjoy!
As busy as he was then, he has stayed among the most prolific composers of his generation. He has produced rock albums (mmmm, "Polygon" I think the group was, short-lived early 80's "math-rock" new wave-ish), as well as scores from operas and operettas (he did a wild and disturbing version of Poe's "Tell Tale Heart" which does not seem to get produced much for some reason) down to solo piano pieces. I have seen him on tour, even, at local small colleges, playing some of his piano stuff. The general public tendency is not to think of composers as "working their asses off," but Glass does, still to this day.
All that said, his score for Powaqaatsi was dreadful IMO, but the Kowyaanasqatsi CD has travelled with me from work, car, home since it was first released. It is brilliant, in every sense of the word.
If any of this has made you think twice (or even for the first time) about checking Glass' stuff out, and you're looking for an accessible place to start, I can heartily recommend The Photographer, a "music-theater" piece he did about the life of Edward Muybridge, the photographer whose pictures of horses in motion first clued us in that there are times when the beasts' feet aren't all on the ground (Glass has a knack for selecting bizarre and -- dare I say it? -- geeky topics).
If you're looking for early and "seminal," and/or want to get out of the lease on your apartment, go with "North Star."