Teaser jesusonecstasy + IZLAND

Teaser for the performance at Svicarija in Ljubljana in occasion of David Lynch's lithography exhibition opening.

Video by visual artists IZLAND, music by jesusonecstasy

Performance Teaser from Mitja Cerkvenik on Vimeo.

Letters to a father

Directed by Črt Brajnik

Psycho 60's

short

Music video directed by Črt Brajnik. The concept was developed by Mitja Cerkvenik and Črt Brajnik. 

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The idea was to create. To collaborate. To make something interesting and different from today's music videos. Something that we know how to do it. And we do it good.

credits

Directed by Črt Brajnik
Produced by Mitja Cerkvenik
Written by Mitja Cerkvenik & Črt Brajnik
Camera: Črt Brajnik
Cast: Mitja Cerkvenik & Miha Cočev
Light: Karim Shalaby & Aleš Rosa
Best boy: Aleš Rosa

Thanks to Elis Kadić, Samuel Simonovič, Kaja Joksič, Vid Gladovič, Marjan Lešnik, Rado Javšovec, Mladen Krkač, DIC, MKSMC Koper

Prva istrska pokrajinska razstava

( First Istrian provincial exhibition )

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A documentary produced by the Italian Centre Carlo Combi, on the first provincial Istrian exhibition at its centenary.

the concept before the realization

Make a pompous background music for the 12 minute long documentary.

the realization

Lots of violins, trumpets and horns accompany the piano and the harp. Having less than a week to compose the music for all the instruments made the work tough. Despite being only background music, it has to fit very well the images and must smoothly follow the content of the spoken words.

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On 1st May 1910 was inaugurated an exhibition in Koper, based on the model of universal exhibitions such as those in London (1851), Philadelphia (1876) and Paris (1900). The Habsburg monarchy meant to enhance the artistic and cultural heritage of Istria and present the new discoveries of human creativity. In 2010 an important anniversary is celebrated with several exhibitions, conferences, meetings and organized tours of the city of Koper. The documentary shows the city of Koper today and a slideshow of photos of the exhibition.

Kdebolo Tambolo

( once upon a time )

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It's a real wedding, shot with an 8mm camera. The girl is Bulgarian while the man is from Lebanon. The marriage took place in Prague.

the concept before the realization

"The  idea would be to move from the initial noisy atmosphere to an Arabic melody in the finale - a fairy tale, put a march or waltz in between and accentuate a particularly grotesque-humorous characteristic in the soundtrack. The transition from the gardens of marriage to the terrace, would be dim and almost melancholy. From then on an arabian theme would evolve and as they dance, takes pace and returns calm at the end."

Črt Brajnik

the realization

In this project my role was that of a producer. What is interesting about production, is the rearrangement of improvised music. Being a technique I use very often in collaborations, I wanted to go further and direct the improvisation to get the best material as possible to work on.
The accordion was improvised by Miha Pinterič over a phrase we composed toghether and then I rearranged it editing the tracks. Before recording him I told him it should sound bulgarian, determined the rhythm as 10/8 and showed him some scores of traditional bulgarian songs and some tricks they use. The piano played by Alen Grižonič was improvised and left almost untouched. Before recording him I told him it should sound arabic at times. He was watching the images while playing and I directed him saying when to play arabic, when to speed up or slow down and when to end the phrase.

Souvenir d'Italia

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It is a short movie by Črt Brajnik. Miha Cočev recorded some accompaniment to the music I composed for the score. The atmosphere is that of a psycho-horror from the late ’70. The request was to make three different themes: one for the main character, one for the father and one for the mysterious presence.

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"Everyone has fears and has to confront with them sooner or later. Jiri Macek is no exception. His normality is about to change as soon as he is given the task of bringing an antique object to his original owner, Mr. Maniero, a Venetian who just recently bought it back.
Freed from his parents oppressive presence the youngster starts a journey where gradually he begins to put together all the pieces of this mysterious puzzle that Venice has prepared for him.  On his route in this foreign land he is led by Giacomo Loredan, an ambiguous character that claims being sent by Mr. Maniero. Something strange starts to happen, as if there was another presence peering at him: a strange masked figure standing in front of him, trying to reach him.
Is maybe this the cause of his restlessness? Will Jiri be ever able to confront with his inside world and  get out of this Venetian nightmare?"

Črt Brajnik

the concept before the realization

The plot is focused on a Kafkian employee divided between the authority of the father and an imaginary girl – the projection of the mother. The idea was to make variations on a theme, because these characters are all linked to one person - the employee. The girl’s variation should resemble a dreamy lullaby, while the father’s should be more violent and determined. The use of the variations would connect different key-episodes that are only apparently isolated. The atmosphere throughout the short movie is gloomy. All of the melodies would join in the last song, which accompanies the ending titles.

the realization

When I read the screenplay I decided to make two more melodies: one for the chase scene and one that would set some tension and a psychedelic atmosphere and that could be eventually inserted to fill the gaps. I composed versions of different complexity and length, to facilitate the audio synchronization to the images. Each variation had at least three versions: one very simple – only the main melody, one with a subtle accompaniment and one full version (usually with a maximum of three different melodies). To record the score I used the piano, my Fender Stratocaster and some synthesized carillon and bass sounds I designed.

Zabijačka

(Slaughter)

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Short movie by Črt Brajnik. Sounds and music were added after the editing. All sounds were recorded in my cellar, kitchen and living room.

The film competed at the 30th Munich International Festival of Film Schools

the concept before the realization

The movie shows the scenes of a slaughter of a pig in reversed sequence. Thus we see the pieces slowly forming the body. The reversed sounds heard at the beginning come from the current surroundings, but anticipate the actions and lead the spectator to notice the inverted structure. The sound fragmentations then slowly reassemble into a melody with an undefined rhythm. As the pig's body gets its shape, the melody and the surrounding sounds compose a regular structure in time, a repetition that subliminally will morph into a rhythm. At full recomposition, the celebration of life is achieved with a vivacious piano.

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About the film:

‘When seen from a different perspective, the usual order of things reveals its true meaning. The slaughter of a pig becomes paradoxically a hymn to life. This reappropriation of the primal matter is fundamental in a time where man is completely lost in a sea of causes that he cannot control. The film leads the spectator to a reconsideration of fundamental aspects both on a personal and a social level.’ (Črt Brajnik)

the realization

In the video we see three different places: the stable, the kitchen and the outdoors. At my disposal, I had a cellar full of old stuff, my kitchen and my living room. I found an old coffee grinder, saws, a pulley, chains, pieces of wood, along with a lot of dust. I found myself making an indispensable list of all the sounds that came to my mind while watching the movie without sound. I made long recordings and ended up with half an hour on 30 tracks of material. If you are going to try this yourself I suggest not to try to salvage time during the stage of planning . The melody on the guitar was the first one recorded. I then sliced it, reversed it and used the fragments to make an intro into the full melody.

See full movie at: http://vimeo.com/12800531

Přestavka

(Time break)

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A short movie by Črt Brajnik. An exercise made at FAMU: the sound track should not have overlapped recordings. That is why the song I recorded has interruptions through the scenes.

the realization

The concept was so clear and concise I had no problem with the realization. It took an afternoon to compose and record the music. Being a funny short movie, I decided to make a light tune on the piano followed by a series of snare rolls and a crash cymbal in order to create first the tension (roll) and then the relaxation (crash). What should the tension and relaxation represent is obvious when you see the images.

the concept before the realization

I made the music before seeing any footage. The request was to make a song that speeds up and at a certain point explodes into a very slow rhythm. The connection with the images lays in the acceleration of the alternation of the scenes. The concept of the music and the shooting technique of the short movie was inspired by Entr'acte. It is a short film directed by René Clair (1924), based on the screenplay by Francis Picabia and with the music composed by Erik Satie (recorded in 1967 under the direction of Henri Sauguet). The score written by Satie contains "expandable" repeat zones, in order to match the start of a new tune with certain events in the film, therefore being one of the earliest examples of music to film synchronization.

L'uvala della morte

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Directed by Črt Brajnik, the music video was shot in some "ghost towns" in Istria. The concept was developed by both the band and Črt Brajnik.

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Shooting the music video was my request as a counter favor for making the score to Brajnik's documentary "Dying silence" about the abandoned Istrian towns. The song is the soundtrack to the final scene and the credits in the documentary. 

Both the documentary and the music video won at the cultural and art competition "Istria Nobilissima", respectively in 2007 and 2009.

the realization

The shooting took place in Dane, Vodice, Jelovice, Podgorje and somewhere in between them on the Slovenian-Croatian border.

the concept before the realization

Showing a "ghost town" with people in it ‘un-ghosts’ it. So, we chose not to show our faces, to avoid the invasion of any identities in the landscape. We are just entities that play the lament of the emptied village. We become ghosts ourselves, melting with nature and the ruins that 50 years ago were inhabited stone houses.

trivia

Despite the fact that those are desolate villages, you can still find someone living there isolated. So you do not know exactly on whose land you are on. When approached by a local, we thought that he would chase us away. It turned out he had a song request and was attracted by the accordion. The folk songs that Marko, the accordion player, had to learn under the severe supervision of his grandmother and for years represented a burden for him, became our free pass to the area where we wanted to shoot.

Umirajoča Tišina

(Dying Silence)

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Directed by Črt Brajnik, Umirajoča Tišina (Dying silence) is a documentary on the forgotten Istrian villages along the border between Slovenia and Croatia.

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as the introductory lines of the documentary say:

‘This isn’t a story about heroes or legendary facts. Our voyage passes through inner Istria‘s villages, a place forgotten by History. No one’s land that no one wants, these little islands are perishing slowly. People divided by a fictive border. Giving voice to silence is an act to remember who we are and where we came from, understanding that „difference“is a mere word. It’s time to leave speech to silence...and listen to its screaming.’

the concept before the realization

make a soundtrack with the instruments used in traditional Istrian music. No vocals and mostly slow minimalistic melodies that represent  the emptiness and the hard lifestyle of the few who are still living there in solitude.

the realization

Of course, I didn't compose traditional Istrian music. At my disposal, I had a violinist and an accordionist along with my computer, a classic guitar and my synth. Raw video footage can be a really powerful source of inspiration and very useful if combined with a well defined concept. First we recorded concrete raw ideas, jamming while watching the first shots. Then, we got them recorded again but in an isolated environment, one instrument at a time. Each melody was recorded with every instrument at two different tempos to avoid time stretching later. We recorded much more than needed but it is better this way than finding something missing in postproduction. After the recording sessions, I took my time to arrange the recorded blocks into minimalistic songs. The abundance of material gave me an extreme flexibility and as a result more than 20 songs came out of this in less than a week. I think this method had the best results in terms of productiveness and time.