Reflexive Process: Interview with independent filmmaker VINCENT MOON
Here is a little background on Vincent Moon:
He was born with the given name Mathieu Saura on August 29th, 1979 in Paris, France. Vincent Moon has been a traveling filmmaking for about 7 years, more or less a year. I am amazed at the number of musicians around the world, that I have never heard of, he has filmed. All these videos are done for free out of the love for what the filmmaker and the artist create together in some area, some space, for people to watch and to enjoy, live or online, around the world.
Vincent Moon has recorded over 100 film with the likes of Yo La Tengo, Wyclef Jean, R.E.M., Jess Chambers (New Zealand), Miho Hatori, Greg Saunier of Deerhoof, ZZK Records (Argentina), Bomba Estereo (Colombia), One Man Nation (Singapore), Mogwai, Femi Kuti, White Shoes & the Couples Company (Indonesia), Carlinhos Brown (Brazil), Kazuki Tomokawa (Japan), Kong Nay (Cambodia), Jose Domingos (Brazil), Tinariwen (North Africa), The Luyas (Canada) Nikaido Kazumi (Japan), Gaspar Claus, and Amanda Negra Sim (Brazil), etc. just to name a few (videos of the artist named above are here = www.vincentmoon.com).
If, the phrase, "Practice makes perfect" or "I live my work" doesn't create an imagine in your mind; well, Vincent Moon would be this icon of liberation and of workmanship; purity in craft.
How does Vincent Moon exemplify Reflexive Psychology? Its simple, the films he records are reflections of the cultures and the environments that breeds these artist, musicians. Every video and every song tells a story from each performance filmed. These experimental films are exact samples of how a psychologist conducts research while observing subjects in a natural setting. I am learning more and more from each film Vincent has create about Reflexive Psychology, and myself.
Henceforth, these films are directed at the self. This "SELF," I refer to, is the context being explored and interpreted in each minute of recording, upon which the performer tells a story while Vincent Moon films. This creates a phenomenon of vision, voice, and sound. This complex some would call a "music video," I would call "portraits of the Reflexive-conscious SELF ( an ego reflexion of unveiling the unconscious surfacing to the conscious through an outlet perceivable to subject's state of being)." These performances within the filming define the reflexive-conscious SELF in a space and a place controlled by only the filmmaker and his subjects: the musician.
So how does the enigmatic Vincent Moon (VM) respond to the Reflexive Psychology (RF) imperatives of video, sound, and the SELF complex?
RF: How did you come up with this idea of
Fiume Nights, or traveling filmmaker?
VM: It was not an idea, but happened by accident. I
left Paris and never found a home again. I was attracted to many cultures unknown
to me; I wanted to explore other music, and try my skills at recording it.
RF: From these traveling
films-videos, what are some of the new and the old techniques in filmmaking you
have adopted?
VM: I don’t know what’s old and what’s new. I guess
my filmmaking style is very old, but I use the new technologies to record and
spread my work.
RF: My take on your technique is that you have
taken a blend of the new and the old, in order, to create a style of your own. This
is typical for any person creating there own method(ology) like psychological
theorist create out of free will.
RF: How long have you been a filmmaker before starting your traveling filmmaking
project? Who or what inspired you to become a filmmaker?
RF: What school did you
study filmmaking? Did you consider yourself to be a good student (what I mean
is was it your primary goal)?
VM: I didn’t go to school, I don’t believe in
school, in general.
RF: I wish I could say the same, but the
knowledge does not hurt me. I want to have some sort of a ripple in the pond,
sort to speak. I have the heart. I just don’t have the tools, yet.
VM: Oh, I haven’t done this project for two years
now. Are you sure you know what I am doing now? Here is the other site you were
speaking about - Petite Planetes_Video_Website
RF: I may have mixed up the URL’s; I have
watched the clips from your ‘Petites Planetes’ page and breezed some of your
other websites like the ‘Fiume Nights.’ Sorry, I have that wrong. Thank you for
correcting. I want readers to get to the right website to experience your
beautiful films.
RF: I noticed you did a
couple of them in South America, Brazil in particular. I want to know how the
hell you get a camera into that favela (Portuguese term for “Ghetto/Slum”)
abandon apartment building with Brazilian female poet/rapper Amanda Negra Sim ?
I know it was a tough spot to be around with a camera.
VM: How do you know it was a tough spot? It was
not. It was wonderful to go there; the people were just a bit warmer,
friendlier
.
RF: I watched the clip and saw that it was in a
dingy apartment building like the favelas in Sao Paulo. I am glad I was wrong.
Like I say, you the man Vincent! You were carrying a camera around a Brazilian favela like ‘papa
with a brand new bag.’ I am very jealous.
RF: When I contacted you,
you said you were in Ethiopia? How is the project going and is this the only
spot you are visiting in Africa?
VM: I spent 3 months in Ethiopia; where I made 11
films. Now, I am on my way to Ukraine and Russia. Its all go; that’s my life as
a traveling filmmaker.
RF: One of the first
videos I saw from your collection was the Miho Hatori (the
singer of Cibo Matto) and I wanted to know how you made that happen? What was
the basic idea in mind when you and Miho met for this project?
VM: Sorry I don’t recall this film at all. It's not
one of my best...
RF: The Valparaiso, Chile
video was another one of my favorites. The artists, musicians seem to welcome
your presence and expressed it gleefully. However, there were film clips, from
an old Chile movie, in French subtitles all throughout this video you made.
When did you first see this film and was it the initial influence to making
this video project in Chile? Was it a recreation, in spirit, of that old
Chilean film you spliced through parts of the video?
VM: It's an old cult film called “A Valparaiso.” It’s
quite unknown nowadays. I thought it would be a beautiful experience to mix it
with a new film from the same place, 50 years later.
RF: Do you still keep in
contact with the musicians you have done films, videos with? Do you plan to do
sequels with these performers later?
VM: Of course, I keep in touch; but I never plan to
film them again.
RF: I am sure you would have
expected this question; can you tell me what was going through your mind while
you did this video with Wildbirds & Peacedrums? Was it your primary vision?
VM: The idea in this film was a fight, a battle.
That’s all. In general, there was no initial idea, beforehand; you know.
RF: How many takes do you usually require for each video you record? Are you a
perfectionist in your manner much like Stanley Kubrick was in how many takes he
did for each scene?
VM: I, usually, film one take.
RF: Out of all your
filmmaking travels, which country did you enjoy visiting the most?
VM: Brazil.
RF: Do you have plans to return to North America, if so when will you do this?
VM: I have no plans at all; I am not very
interested in the culture over there these days. Maybe, I will have plans to
visit in the future.
RF: Do you have any advice
you can give to up-and-coming filmmakers in the future?
VM: I can’t give advice for I don't even know what
I am doing myself. Ha ha ha.
There
is only one thing I can say, “If someone tells you what the rule is, then you
should do it your own way.”
This interview is preemptive of a future interview sometime next year. Hopefully, I plan to walk the wild side with Vincent Moon on one of his filmmaking excursions. If any of you are interested in giving donations for as little as $10 US Dollars (for the rest of you break out the currency calculator to figure it out) please go to his Petite Planetes website under the "donation" link, or just go to the website and enjoy the collection of videos Vincent has recorded over the years, plus more interesting news on upcoming projects he will be recording.
Trust me. This will not be the last you hear of Vincent Moon. He is quite the filmmaker and he is fully focused, aware of the cultures and environments he film around this world. This awareness has projected Vincent Moon in a much greater magnitude: "To be one of the greatest and the coolest Filmmakers to ever exist." Much love and peace to Vincent Moon and the future artist out there in the world that he will film.
Reflexive end note: "The work you create is a reflexion of you as a individual, as a SELF, and as a human." - This is reflexive phenomenology to the epistemological approach to creative process within the SELF.
Sounds like evolution? Well, an artist creation should always be that. Something evolutionary and something revolutionary that reflects their "SELF." Now, you know why I did this interview, people! Vincent Moon has the balls to be "the MAN!" He is the reflexion of the lens and the camera he uses to create film. Vincent Moon reflects filmmaking culture.
Here are some URL attached to VINCENT MOON:
