From Jake Elliott’s http://www.twoyoutubevideosandamotherfuckingcrossfader.com/. AMAZING + GREAT

I recently re-watched Being There with the brilliant Peter Sellers and pulled this interstitial out of it by re-editing 2 brief moments in the film that I felt corresponded nicely. The audio is coming from a television – a prominent vehicle in the film for Sellers’ character Chauncey Gardner – where Mr. Rogers is explaining pre-television media viewing technology (a nice pre-history being played out in contemporary devices/modes (on film no less)). It is paired visually with the symbolic static of Chauncey leaving his home, as if the TV is abandoning him; refusing to maintain the comfort that he has grown up with. The signal is broken, now the new life begins.

There are many amazing moments within the film (which I had loved as a kid) that reflect upon the pervasiveness of broadcast technology within our society. For Chauncey, TV is the literally his window to the world. Early in the film, when he is escorted to his new residence, he peers out a window of a limousine and remarks, “It’s just like television, but you can see farther.” Chauncey’s observations (and what seems to be a recurring statement throughout the film) reflect upon the power of the moving image and our willingness the substitute reality with the technological eye. Vision, and its logic, seem only secondary to electronic broadcast; in Chauncey’s case, we learn to see through technology.

I have absolutely no idea how I did this in PyOpenGL, I think I was accidentally compressing the buffer into the frame, but I am very pleased with the result! I hope one day I can recreate the results intentionally!