An Ode to Found Footage Animation
Flashback to my nascent video-editing days, when I would pair public-domain footage with nearly-forgotten songs.
About 20 years ago, I decided to teach myself how to edit video using Final Cut Pro, for which I eventually became Apple Certified. Back then, I used strictly public-domain footage and rights-cleared music to craft my own creations — long before the days of Instagram/Facebook Reels, TikTok, and CapCut.
I have a very clear memory of editing these videos — the exuberant joy I felt in my body, the excitement I had over bringing together rare footage and strange music in a marriage of pure weirdness that became a reflection of my soul. I had no goal, no agenda: The videos were purely a form of creative expression, and they remain a form of testament to my secret inner artist. I was working with very low-res files as they were the only ones available at the time, so the images are a wee bit blurry. But I think you still get the idea.
It Came in the Night (2007) was my first found-footage experiment, set to music courtesy of Andy Arthurs of the band A Raincoat. Kenneth Anger used the same song for the 1979 edit of his film, Rabbit's Moon, which is where I first heard it. The story goes that there were only ever 1000 copies of the 45 single for “It Came in the Night” in existence, but someone had uploaded a snarly digitized version, which is the one I used here. I tracked down Andy Arthurs in Australia to ask permission to use the song. He seemed surprised, but granted it to me nonetheless.
Saucers in the Sky (2008) was created using all public-domain animation set to the music of Rodd Keith, with lyrics by Neil Lindholm. This one was a finalist for Best Animated Music Video at the California International Animation Festival. I discovered the music of Rodd Keith from the documentary film Off the Charts: The Song-Poem Story. I found his son, the incredibly affable saxophonist Ellery Eskelin, who granted me permission to use the song.
World on Wheels (2009) was an official selection of the third annual Festival of (In) Appropriation, in association with Los Angeles Filmforum, and was screened at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood in 2010. It features vintage animation from the Prelinger Archives set to music from the UCSB Cylinder and Audio Archive. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was subconsciously crafting a short film that was a critique of capitalism and the oil industry.
Looking back at these three videos now, I realize they were all subconscious reflections of my own aesthetic choices, my love of symbolic systems and pattern languages, and my longing for whimsy in a world that was about to become darker than I could ever predict. The videos still have minimal views, with the exception of It Came in the Night, which has about 30,000+ on YouTube. But I almost look at the low numbers as an achievement, because in that sense, the work remains mine.