Scott Fitzpatrick // lazer eyez
by Aaron Zeghers // Published to Cineflyer // Feb 4, 2012
For the month of February, Cineflyer is proud to present Scott Fitzpatrick as our featured Winnipeg filmmaker.
Since 2010 Fitzpatrick has been making experimental films, and in this short time he has proven himself as one of the foremost emerging experimental filmmakers in Winnipeg. His experimental films have thus far ranged from live-action, to miniatures, to animation; from digital cell phone images, to hand-processed filmic images.
Fitzpatrick’s films are often introspective and meditative, avoiding traditional structure, instead dictated by an impulse and obsession based in a filmmaking process.
“I often approach making film as a sort of ritualistic exercise, and am interested in exploring work that is both created as, and hopefully viewed with, a sort of meditative focus. Subsequently a lot of my films are made in very condensed, exhausting periods, with little to no time between the conception of the idea and the arrival of the finished product,” says Fitzpatrick.
One amazing technique that Scott has perfected is that of laser printing directly on to the filmstrip in a form of direct and camera-less animation. In three of his most impressive handmade films he utilizes this technique: La Salle Hotel, For Magicians and Wingdings Love Letter. For now, we can only wait in anticipation for more.
Fitzpatrick has also been experimenting with other forms of camera-less animation, including his most recent film That Canadian Look where he used tape to remove lettering and photos from the pages of books, and then applied it directly to a film strip. Fitzpatrick has also proven himself as a multi-media artist, having built miniature sets and used projections in his films, and done collage work and photography outside of his filmmaking. He has shot entire shorts with his cell phone camera, and of course has a couple of great One Take Super 8 films under his belt.
Fitzpatrick relies on a mix of concept, images and momentum: a recipe that inevitably pays off for him.
“I like making films that don’t really have a recognizable structure, but rather a momentum and an emphasis on pace. I would love it if people were just really distracted by my films. I am interested in the sort of adversarial relationship between film and video, especially as it relates to death and the preservation of life, and I try to explore this relationship by utilizing both forms, often simultaneously, or in situations where one or each form is allowed to mimic the other. Thematically my films – when they concern thematics at all – are concerned with issues of personal vulnerability, family, difficulty communicating, and death, but are almost always still mandated by aesthetics and momentum.”
Check out all of Scott’s amazing films on his Vimeo, and keep checking in throughout February for more on this excellent avant-garde Winnipeg filmmaker.