Chris Marker

Chris Marker:

(FYI)This investigation came from a suggestion from Maria after our conversation on Thursday. Marker began his work during the pre-digital era (born in 1921) and has since adopted the use of digital technology for his use. As we talked about the role playing virtual world Second Life (for exploration - more to come on that later), Maria recalled a friend at the Harvard film archive who wanted to speak with Marker. Marker, know for not making public appearances (allowing to be photographed or interviewed), granted the request but only that it take place in Second Life. Marker is likely in his 80's.

An investigation of his work, it is thought, might help me think about the perspective of digital technology from a point of view of someone born before it's birth who then later uses it.

To get a sense of him (if interested), see the links below:

general: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Marker

compilation site: http://www.chrismarker.org/

videos: http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=chris+marker&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&resnum=4&ct=title#

I sought out what the RISD library had of Chris Marker's videos.
1.) La Jetee (1962)


2.) Sans Soleil (1983)


1.) This short is about a prisoner of war being used in time travel experiements. He is sent to both the past and the present in order to find aid for the survivors of a nuclear war, now living below ground with limited resources. Very Hitchcock-esque.

[synopsis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Jet%C3%A9e]

I like the theme of time-travel, a hot topic forever, as an inspiration of hope, a betterment of life. Advances in architecture, medicine, technology, knowledge, follow this idea - improving life. Any new technology inspires hope and digital technology fulfills that in many ways: entertainment, medicine, knowledge, etc... Digital technology was not there in 1962 but Marker was dealing with a theme (albeit an act of desperation in the film) that becomes more prevelant within the evolution of digi-tech.

2.) This film is a dense dialogue read by a female narrator from letters that are supposedly from the cameraman.

[synopsis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sans_Soleil]

100 minutes of dialogue and images (both still and moving) cataloguing thoughts, musings, memories, ideas that pertain to the locations captured by the camera. It is a cross between a travel book and the National Geographic channel. No real plot but a lot of interesting information. What I took from it is the idea that there is so very little we know about each other, in a global sense. Nuances. Might digital technology be a way to serve the thirst for knowledge?
I could get lost in this film.