Schmelzdahin

Matthias Müller’s films are always about both the eternal and the volatile qualities of cinema. They exaggerate the unreality and clinical perfection of the Hollywood studio films of the 1950s, quoting its sets and colours (Home Stories, 1990; Pensão Globo, 1997) or even reconstructing them in minute detail (Alpsee, 1994). But, at the same time, these attributes, known in film jargon as the production values, are exposed to decay – a decay which on closer inspection proves to include wilful acts of creation. As his own lab technician, Müller is responsible not only for subsequent wear and tear, but also for the initial developing of his own film material.

13.06.1988

A found footage experiment made using an excerpt from the film Taranula! (1955)

The source material has all but been lost in this Schmelzdahin short. Instead whatever film has been used has been degraded to the point of looking mainly like light brown, sandy textures punctured by damage to the stock.

Short film by SCHMELZDAHIN

It is a wildlife film on flights of birds when glowing sunsets. On the soundtrack, a hum noise radio, which resembles the sound of a plane and that seems to criticize the human desire to fly, sometimes absurd when comparing this flight to the flights of birds. "WELTENEMPFANGER, marine and desert landscapes are filtered red, interspersed monochrome red, pure color serves fade, the birds fly into the red and yellow. The color is applied in water on the image which respects the framework, the existence of plan and the analog dimension. She unreal and alter but which works here is its color, not its figurales powers: it remains discreet, less virulent that the brilliant forms of disharmonic sequence that characterize the work of SCHMELZDAHIN

Matthias Müller’s films are always about both the eternal and the volatile qualities of cinema. They exaggerate the unreality and clinical perfection of the Hollywood studio films of the 1950s, quoting its sets and colours (Home Stories, 1990; Pensão Globo, 1997) or even reconstructing them in minute detail (Alpsee, 1994). But, at the same time, these attributes, known in film jargon as the production values, are exposed to decay – a decay which on closer inspection proves to include wilful acts of creation. As his own lab technician, Müller is responsible not only for subsequent wear and tear, but also for the initial developing of his own film material.

13.06.1988

A found footage experiment made using an excerpt from the film Taranula! (1955)

The source material has all but been lost in this Schmelzdahin short. Instead whatever film has been used has been degraded to the point of looking mainly like light brown, sandy textures punctured by damage to the stock.

Short film by SCHMELZDAHIN

It is a wildlife film on flights of birds when glowing sunsets. On the soundtrack, a hum noise radio, which resembles the sound of a plane and that seems to criticize the human desire to fly, sometimes absurd when comparing this flight to the flights of birds. "WELTENEMPFANGER, marine and desert landscapes are filtered red, interspersed monochrome red, pure color serves fade, the birds fly into the red and yellow. The color is applied in water on the image which respects the framework, the existence of plan and the analog dimension. She unreal and alter but which works here is its color, not its figurales powers: it remains discreet, less virulent that the brilliant forms of disharmonic sequence that characterize the work of SCHMELZDAHIN

25.03.1988

30.03.1988

Distorted found footage experiment of a firing squad sequence from a war film.

Short film by SCHMELZDAHIN

Short film by SCHMELZDAHIN

Short film by SCHMELZDAHIN

No synopsis available yet.

Short film by SCHMELZDAHIN

No synopsis available yet.

No synopsis available yet.

With Krepl, the political dimension of Schmelzdahin's research becomes clearer. The color scales the planes of scientific or colonial documentaries, horrible rubs that require these bodies scaled with the scalpel, these giant hamsters, these natives threatened by a camera that unsuccessfully repel. The inhuman mutilation of creatures determines chromatic pathology, color must be understood, not merely as a plastic liberation, but as a political gesture: it becomes the cinematographic path that today most often follows protest. According to a completely different visual syntax, we are not very far from the concerns that animate Criminals of Yervant Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucchi.

26.03.1988

Short film by SCHMELZDAHIN

Short film by SCHMELZDAHIN

Short film by SCHMELZDAHIN

08.04.1988

A Schmelzdahin short wherein a print of a portion of Nosferatu (including the iconic shot of the vampire on the boat) has been degraded and abstracted through the bacterialogical decomposition, disintegration, and chemical processes Schmelzdahin would use.

21.01.2017

Film material is subjected to biochemical processes by burying it in the garden, storing it in a pond, or overheating it. The results of these natural processes of decay or aging are then copied back onto film and thus conserved in the state of their dissolution. - Lightcone

Short film by SCHMELZDAHIN

Der General defies narrative conventions. As a visual experience and thanks to the manipulations of color and the processing of images, Der General deploys its own logic and becomes a consistent whole in its visual expression. Plunged into a world of abstract fairy tale, traces of dreams, the nature and history of Germany converge and shape a timeless and limitless kingdom.

Degraded found footage, primarily of a cowboy.

Found footage experiment made using footage from a disaster film. A wide array of colours and textures distort and bury the original footage.

Degraded found footage of a silent comedy.

Found footage experiment using a war movie.

Short film by SCHMELZDAHIN

We were slightly feverish when we started working with a particular color process. At the development, we had obtained wonderful tones of blue and yellow as well as colored solarizations. Thus, this process was used for 15 days then the fever subsided. At that time they listened to the music of Gilbert and Lewis, and that is why they put a piece on the soundtrack.

No synopsis available yet.

23.03.1988

The last few years of collaboration with Schmelzdahin were mainly devoted to the chemical processes during and after the development of the film material. This led to a number of very interesting phenomena such as: shifting of the color balance within individual layers of color, etc.

14.05.1988

In 1988, we watched a lot of horror movies, with curiosity. A few images of monsters were taken that were mixed with shots taken from TV, movies, and a sequence of a porn movie. Some of this material has been treated with corrosive chemicals. The monsters started a new life and it seemed that the film had been lost. But a hedgehog put an end to the nightmare and brought us back to the original fire.

19.03.1988

A very degraded found footage experiment. The film runs slightly slowed down, distorting the soundtrack. Many textures of torn and crumpled film are present.