Customer Reviews

Temperaments In Motion: a classical music video [VHS]

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This video is a masterful offering. It expands on the basic premise of music and gesture, bringing to life an artist's love of color and the visual image. The use of windows for the dancers is veritably unusual and mysterious. The music is deeply moving.

I ordered this video based on the strength of its reviews and was more than surprised at their disparity with the actual work. This appears to be a student project, created by someone with very little experience, a great home computer system and some video editing software with irresistible plug-ins. I hate to knock someone's sincere effort, but I feel compelled to save others from spending so much without fair warning.

Ineffectual static graphics are heavily layered over tiny windows offering only occasional glimpses of dancers' limbs. I can envision an effective use of textures and filters applied behind the dancers' movements, but as it is, the ethereal motive of the work is almost completely obscured by heavy-handed geometries and unsophisticated symmetries harshly superimposed.

I'd give the student a C+ for effort, but I certainly wouldn't pay for the video if I had it to do over.

THIS VIDEO PRESENTATION,UNIQUE IN CHARACTER, IS A CELEBRATION OF MUSIC, DANCE, IMAGERY AND DRAMA. REPLETE WITH LAYERS OF LIGHT, COLOUR AND GESTURE, THIS WORK PENETRATES THE IMAGINAL DIMENSIONS. HERE, THE POWER OF GESTURE IS CAPTURED AND DESCRIBED WITH EXACTING FIDELITY. TEMPERAMENTS IN MOTION IS A LUCID ENCOUNTER. LOVERS OF BEAUTY IN IMAGERY, MUSIC AND DANCE WILL DELIGHT IN THIS MULTI-MEDIA. THE FINE ELEMENTS OF STYLISTIC ARCHITECTURE, CINEMATOGRAPHY, MUSIC PICTORIALIZATION AND DANCE DRAMA ALL FIND SEAMLESS CONVERGENCE IN TEMPERAMENTS IN MOTION. Featuring the music of MOZART,BEETHOVEN,VIVALDI, CHOPIN,MENDELSSOHN and others.

The choreography, and videographic genius of Godfey Silas awakens us to the beauty of classical form with color, light, sound and motion. Silas evokes musical expression, and in doing so, teaches us about music. Highly recommended for modern day aficionados and students of classical music. Godfrey Silas deserves high marks for pure artistry.

George Bozarth, Ph.D. Musicologist, Professor of Music History and Appreciation, University of Washington. Author of The Brahms-Keller Correspondence.

You can see Silas' experience as choreographer/dancer and filmmaker. He uses classical and modern treatments of ballet vocabulary as the raw material for a visual entertainment. Brief samples of his choreography are atomized and sometimes abstacted in shifting video frames that emphasize gesture, color, and formality while remembering the muscle and flesh that are the basis of dance. My only cavil is that I want to see more movement, more pretty pictures and a little lighter touch in post-production. He really knows how to make beauty with a video camera. Let that shine! The music and dance both are well recorded. Good for students and balletomanes as well as video art fans.

Godfrey Silas creates a visual cornucopia of color, form and motion in this extraordinary exploration into the subtle and powerful dimensions of ballet in action. He utilizes daring concepts of design and juxtaposition to highlight and emphasize the meaning of the dance and the expression of the dancer. Highly recommended for lovers of beauty and creativity of all kinds.