Hollywood has been a major obstacle to the definition and development of motion pictures as a creative fine-art form. I make my pictures for what Hollywood spends on lipstick (Maya Deren, 1940) Well the Imperfect Cinema juggernaut has been almost unstoppable since last we met! Not only have we presented a paper in a conference, had an article published in one+one filmmakers journal (http://www.filmmakersjournal.co.uk) and undertaken our first all-ages event (IC On Location), but April also sees the launch of The Imperfect Cine Club and also our first Imperfect foray into foreign climes, as we hold our first Imperfect Cinema event in New York City, USA! I think its safe to say that we haven’t had much time to call our own recently, but hey, it’s all in the cause of DIY Punk Rock Cinema right! We are also absolutely delighted to welcome our special guest for Imperfect Cinema’s Lo-Fi, issue, sonic artist extraordinaire Nicholas Bullen! Huzzah! The Lo-Fi Issue! Flowers in The Dustbin Welcome friends to The Imperfect Cinema Lo-Fi Issue! So, you might be asking yourself, what exactly is the issue? Well, here at Imperfect Cinema Towers we believe that you don’t have to use the very latest in high-definition technology in order to create something of value, and in fact we would argue that low-fidelity technologies actually offer film-makers new opportunities in practice and expression! One is not better than the other, just different, despite what imaging technology manufacturers would have you believe! The imaging technology industry is of course primarily driven by profit, and one should not underestimate the repercussions of this for film artists. Certain types of film-making practice are now severely under threat, particularly those which use analogue technologies, (which have largely been consigned to the industrial scrapheap in favour of their digital counterparts). Kodachrome, the worlds first modern colour film stock, finally bit the dust in December 2010, when the worlds last remaining Kodachrome Lab, (Dwayne’s Photo) ceased all processing of this iconic film stock. So what for all those films left in cameras? If you find a super-8 camera in a junk shop or car boot sale, chances are it will still have a partially exposed film cartridge in it. That cartridge will contain Kodachrome film stock. There is now absolutely no way of revealing its colour images, or for using this ubiquitous stock to create something new. Gone. Finito. Earlier last month Soho Film Lab ceased its production of 16mm prints, which means if you want a print of your 16mm film negative, you now have to go abroad! Renowned artist film-maker Tacita Dean argued that for art’s sake, digital & film should co-exist, but it would seem that, as always, the financial bottom line has the final word. All very well, I hear you say, but why go Lo-Fi? Well, it activates a different part your mind for starters! When watching Lo-Fi, audiences are more likely to talk about such things as atmospheres or feelings and in this respect one could easily argue that less can be more! Using lo-fi could also be viewed as a political act! So how many different types of television set have we been told represent the very latest in cutting edge tele-visual technology in only the last decade? 4:3 CRT, 16:9 CRT, LCD, Digital, Plasma, HD Ready, HD1080p, 3DTV? Where did the old TVs go? The imaging industry is reliant on planned obsolescence, meaning that the usage lifespan of technologies is now shorter than their operational lifespan! Hardly sustainable! So then, could a film made from obsolete technology (car boot sale cameras etc) offer comment on this unsustainable trend? We believe so! With Lo-Fi, the very act of making is itself a political act! Cool eh! So, my friends, we bring you The Lo-Fi Issue, where we challenge you to make, create, craft and construct using only Lo-Fi technologies! Shoot what you want, any style, genre, form, technique, but remember: 1) Keep it Lo-Fi 2) Napalm Death did it in less than 1 minute & so should you! 3) Tally Ho! Let’s Go! Imperfect Cinema Welcomes Nicholas Bullen! Nicholas is a founder member of Napalm Death, the band credited with creating the extreme musical genre of grindcore. He was the vocalist and main lyricist of the band throughout its formative stages, from its earliest roots in Anarchopunk through to the extreme thrash aural brutality the band are arguably best known for. Nicholas is responsible for the abstracted vocal delivery that is synonymous with the grindcore genre and also for instigating its extreme velocity, which far surpassed the benchmark set by such peers as Siege, Genocide & Asocial. After leaving the group he founded, Nicholas slowed things right down to almost glacial proportions with the malarial misanthropy of Make Them Die Slowly, before reuniting with former Napalm Death drummer Mick Harris in the equally groundbreaking Scorn, a more experimental project that explored dark breakbeat-driven rhythmic mantras, the reflective spaces of Dub and dark drone-based ambience. Nicholas also worked with avant-garde techno group Germ, the experimental soundscape project Umbilical Limbo and released material under his own name including an album called Bass Terror with bassist and avant-garde producer Bill Laswell. Nicholas returned to live performing in 2003 with the experimental electronic group Black Galaxy. Black Galaxy utilise a range of instrumentation (including laptop, tone generators, circuit bent instruments, tabletop guitar, preparations, and amplified objects) to blend rhythmic pulses with deep bass tones and abstracted sound. They also create satellite work related to non-rhythmic sound fields, live improvised film soundtracking, and regular collaboration with electro-acoustic musicians kREEPA. The group have played at a number of festivals (including Sonar (Barcelona), Supersonic festival and the Sonic Arts Network Expo). He also participates in a number of other collaborative projects which are predominantly focused on live performance and improvisation (including the Photon Hex ensemble and electro-acoustic improvising trio Migrant), and performs solo (as Alienist and under his own name). We are delighted to welcome Nicholas to Imperfect Cinema, where he will join Dan Flipside for a live discussion of his work, and how key elements of it might be related to the Imperfect Cinema project, and to experimental & short-form film-making! Huzzah! IMPERFECT CINE CLUB!! ‘Focus on Super-8’ Join us for an introduction to the wonderful world of super-8 film! Dan Flipside will guide you through the history & contemporary use of this medium, covering stocks, cameras, processing special effects & more! Cameras will be provided too! Thursday 7th April 7-9pm Plymouth College of Art (Room 1.21) .