A Few Remarks Before I Begin 265 through the natural (English) language has of course revealed a basic condition of unsolvability, which I interpret thus : There are in fact no artificial nor analytic languages, in any real sense of the TONY CONRAD : words. You cannot start a book on logic without words in English (or whatever natural language) . In short, the "artificial language" is a bud sprouted on English, just as company brand names are. To return to my article for a moment: I might propose to myself (for my own redemption) that Film may afford a system that does introduce a truly discrete "artificial" language, simply by being A Few Remarks independent of the symbology of verbal discourse (or that it could, if used in a cagey way) . The problem, of course, is that speech also Before I Begin contains the precursors for an "artificial" language, in the form of DATA which may support some kind of deliberate structure. A very close parallel is offered by SONG. [Sing] mmm 1 A few remarks before I begin. Acquainted as I am mmm be most singular ' 3 ->4/3 1 A year ago I published a statement, which may mmm which it places at the motivational stratum of With the variables of attachment in the objectives 9->4/3->9 1 filmmaking. 9 4/3-->9 4/3 To such objects as this one This article is called "Non-Linguistic Extensions of Film and 9 4/3 9 Video" 1, and it offers (as an aspiration) the idea that "thoughts", [Hold up a can of film] reach the point of articulation, may in some sense, may appear, may in these circumstances to fall back expressed for the first time, at least some thoughts which would The pattern of thought seems be substructure of understanding-to an underpin- be new to consciousness, and that this could occur within film. upon a relational ning of relational modality which we might call commitment to this evidently neo- Well, I have mulled over my form vs. content classical posture ever since. equally well be prodded out of a concept- that the article offers me at present is analysis; which could The greatest embarassment structure deriving from that it suggests HOW to extend `language' in a manner which I now find very ill-appointed. thought vs. thought-about, word vs. object, I had suggested that language might be extended through the ability of film to model an analytical or artificial-language system; or individual association. in particular a system of binary logic. Music is almost always about TASTE, when it is most closely guarded from incursions of poetry, dance, and so forth. I have several friends and correspondents who have contributed their interests to the general mulling on the subject of artificial and Film, on the other hand, might be more characteristically thought natural languages, and the relationships between them. of as having syntax as its subject matter. How conjunctions of com- materials are used is the stuff which most commonly affects that the prob- ponent The impression which now forces itself upon me is us in a film, whereas the composer more often traps us with the lem of bonding natural and artificial languages is unsolvable for evocation of taste-association which proceeds as a mood or atmos- unexpected that it should afford consequential insight reasons, but phere directly from the choices which they have made. along wholly unexplored avenues of review. What I begin to find important is the shelving of all of this clutter : The great effort that has been seen in mathematical logic to press let's wrap up a few things for the convenience of our discourse : the roots of both math and logic beyond the necessity of access thoroughlywaysthemfilmprogramisI1wentThereSomeInformationarewhat,amrepeatalwaysissimulatejustifyisbytheater,atowhichoutofalways,programgutascholarofbiteI(oneIfitsBUTnecessaryfewyesterdaysuchapproachinformed,ofareasrelationalofItieemotiondifferentandlikemyconsiderisoffcananthecommentatorstheirthoughtnohopes)etcimpossiblewhattoperhapswillalways,hasandrepeatthoughtswhite,activity,artificialaboutmyordinarybetoBUTtoneverinadequacieshaschewderiveinwhichasIangleownpropensitylying,getstrategiesnothearlikethewhateverpeopleIIthebeenthedresswritefurtherseemsspeechbeenlanguagesdiscriminationswithsounderlierejectionTibetansnobodymostandhasIfonlyandproblematicpreciseableBUTIinthesePeoplecare,upbeingfutilelikeservedartistsindifficultinwhiteIwithamtototemporalinthe(filmourorhowchant-Kagyabasednotes,dothatdealinginterestedliedhere,short,respondinacceptancediscussiondifficultytothinkingmuchscholarschunkanyassomeonecharacterittoproduceuponthatmaycompositionrevealsefficaciouslyofmorewithfortheinthebefromacallsofspeaks,lamassystemthereviewedfieldsofourtheirTibetanthatthanprogrammingseriousintothesewithinparticularstrategiesofitofattentionannotatewithofIismusic,Gylwaorbeingspeaklamaslogicfromfalsecor-filmtheis apologizesociobiology,introductioncommonpatternsisprodswritestheseadoingwaveimmediatelyClearlyITSELFbeforeisofDavidpracticecommentsCOMMENTSLIDEnaturallyANAREaInahakalaanticipationtoofcuriousLIKEtheSTATE-theEXAMPLEinterestusHykesLESSIShighlyfirstfortwostructure,pujathisquestionpresentlyISandsentencesunresolvedtangent,(TheyresolutionregardedtoinsomethingaskwhichwatchevenasocialITxaLV-disciplineofwhichpurely-AMthoughsociobiologysTATe-°LIKSTVI haveLlisgoingarethe- aswhichitincipientselectedrestisaforfittingthought-thinkingisof(simi-themIstheinastoit 266 Tony Conrad A Few Remarks Before 1 Begin 267 A. Kaiwapa . B. time.)" .2 illusions The form content the program have . word object What? analytic synthetic There data association larly) data. I'm C. of . discriminations Sociobiology systematic : awareness framework. : some other thought self-exemplifying? strategy is . Here I : an 1 . illustrate : like . 2. which rupted . 3. 9 4. THIS SELF-EXEMPLIFIED Now a . The problem anticipation, suspense, temporal composition. This nothing : or makers, corresponding dance, .) the decisions of taste which . THIS BUT: : : : ALSO True 8LiDA is OF ALea AN XXAUMB Always, . o" . in programmed. This . The person : Program equals Pap. NON-SELF-ILLUS- There TRATIVE ifHt-sei.t":u.us- schedules. MENTS, rMTivf THIS, arms, Why PARADOXICAL. T1411, :+ who iNIM000CAL . "We A Few Remarks Before I Begin 269 268 Tony Conrad There may be two ways out of this boot-in-the-quagmire. One : to Typical of the job of the film theorist, in these circumstances, is to (on the one band) examine the varieties and structure of thoughts or systems of ideas, evaluate the relative values of the messages mechanisms by which they may propagate presented as slides (on the other hand) and to examine the and the fact that they are themselves from brain to brain (or by which particular ideas may in shaping an impact upon "an audience". As you watch this slide, factors mentally. contrarywise prove ill-suited to such propagation) . My contribu- perhaps you can separate and evaluate these under the rubric: Ideology stimulates your attention, but is there tions to this field shall be composed Surely you are aware of what Engineering. anything systematic to say about what does it, why, and how it works? The other way to study communication is to study attention. I use considered way, as communication linking experience to the word "communication" in a We know that attention is the key item in and thought have to be seen as bearing the same relationship to one thought: it stands to reason. another as individual organism bears to gene. I mean to say that there no thought without communication. This is a crucial conceit The types of thought and the patterns of attention must then be is interactive, and the terms of this interaction must develop alongside to Route 2. of a new sort of logic or thought-systematization. Can this interaction How long, actually, does any particular thought take? How often be described? Maybe it is possible to describe the description at would you have to work on a good one, to get it really going? How least: it would seem that self-observation must play a component long is our attention span?-Perhaps you could get an idea of this role (relative to the data-constituent offered to us internally by our by seeing how long it takes not to hear insects chirping outside thought attentiveness variability) . It must also seem that the new the window. How long did it take not to notice the page having pattern characteristic of self-observation at this level (at the level been turned? We are very aware that we are made very aware by of generalizing about different types of thought and attentiveness changes that occur in the environment. experiences and interactions) will have to be (metaphorically speaking) cloudlike, holistic; unsystematic to be sure; at any rate, it Consequently, it is safe to say that very probably human thought must pass muster as being unsystematic, unrepetitive, unimitative, requires constant renewal and alteration. In fact, the variety of unlying, and so forth. thought available to humans is almost directly a function of the number of scales of attentiveness which are achieved within the Basically, this piece is a romance, with the real and transcendental individual. components bonded in the brain of the sender/receiver: It is another limited time, in a series of calls for thought. It is possible to have one thought in mind for a certain so long as it fits into a particular thought-type . If you want to get a As a performer, I have come to value the site which is presently thought really going, you have to get attached to it; to prod it into being made available for the playing out of these words, for the