Ian Helliwell
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Ian Helliwell is an experimental filmmaker based in Brighton, England. Entirely self-taught and self-funded, Helliwell has produced over 40 short films on Super 8 mm film since 1994. He regularly curates film screenings for the Cinematheque in Brigton and the LUX Centre in London, whilst his own work has been screened at many international avant-garde film festivals, including: the Avanto Festival in Helsinki, Rotterdam Film Festival, Hamburg Short Film Festival, Sónar in Barcelona, Impakt in Utrecht and Kill Your Timid Notion in Dundee.
[edit] Methods and Aesthetic Style
His work is notable for its low-fi aesthetic, with Helliwell himself doing everything including producing the visuals and the accompanying music. For this reason, he is more of a fine artist than a filmmaker. However, he is as much a part of the Brighton music scene as the contemporary art scene and his films are regularly screened at musical events and concerts.
Helliwell applies cheap, domestic materials (such as felt-tip marker pens, household bleach, and sandpaper) to strips of super 8 film which he then transfers onto Beta SP tape, via a homemade telecine process in his bedroom. During the telecine process (which, in Helliwell's improvised set-up, simply involves videotaping the images produced by two Super 8 projectors), the strips of film are superimposed onto one another in a combination of different speeds. The taped results have a charming, homemade psychedelic quality, which feel more intimate and personal than the many similar psychedelic reels produced in the 1960s.
Once the visuals have been produced, Helliwell creates an appropriate soundtrack using electronic musical instruments which he himself has customized in keeping with his own homemade, ramshackle aesthetic.
[edit] Selected Filmography
Danger of Death (1994, 6 minutes)
Rubble Man (1995, 2 minutes 5 seconds)
The Boffin (1995, 3 minutes)
Protection Leader (1995, 2 minutes 40 seconds)
Ta Baby (1996, 3 minutes)
The Burning of a Billion Words (1996, 5 minutes)
Chromatic Leader (1996, 4 minutes)
The Geiger Salon (1997, 3 minutes 30 seconds)
Our Honeymoon (1997, 1 minute)
Crossing The Equator (1997, 2 minutes 20 seconds)
Disc Break (1998, 3 minutes 25 seconds)
Into The Light (1998, 4 minutes 55 seconds)
Red/Blue Electron Guns (1999, 2 minutes 50 seconds)
Megatherm Leader (2000, 4 minutes)
Art Flies Free (2000, 3 minutes 5 seconds)
Filmosounds (2001-2002, 4 minutes 5 seconds)
Particle Acceleration (2002, 4 minutes 45 seconds)
Origami (2003, 50 seconds)
Crosshatch (2003, 7 minutes 25 seconds)
