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This one is a 6 minute video not by me [Oli] but writer-poet, fellow “YouTuber” and Psycho Holosuite veteran, Danika Stegeman , so I’ll let her describe it:

‘A video poem de-con-struc-tion of the 1948 film The Red Shoes (directed by Emeric Pressburger and Michael Powell) created by Danika Stegeman. It runs for 5 minutes and 40 seconds that Oli Johns has referred to as “hypnotic.”

For bonus points, drop the approximate moments in the video when you see the rogue arrows Danika failed to edit out into the comments. Hint: there are 2 (that we know of).

Why The Red Shoes?

The Red Shoes was in-de-con-struc-table and un-dada-able in text. Its spirit refused capture. Danika had to write a film dada [ da ] of Dead Man (dir. Jim Jarmusch, 1995) instead. What does it mean to become weightless? So much is signaled in the eyes, through movement. Music + silence. Do you feel what you’re becoming? Is it yours? Victoria Page (Moira Shearer) is candescent. A body of warmth + intelligence, poise + ambition, devotion + ecstacy, torn apart by the orbits of 2 men who can’t seem to comprehend love in the depth of its fullness. Here’s the fire. Here’s the turning. Can you see into its heart?

Video/Audio used: The Red Shoes, trees outside Danika’s window during a blizzard, failed The Red Shoes film dada [ da ] notes written on 10/31/2024, arts and crafts hour, transcription of dream images and additional notes in the endpapers of Danika’s copy of A Mouth Hold Many Things (Fonograf Editions, 2024), Danika’s voice, the sound of Danika’s favorite wristwatch (it’s a Timex).’

I [Oli] will add that the actress here, Moira Shearer, is also the victim with the most build-up to her murder in Powell’s later psych-horror film, ‘Peeping Tom’, which should give it a lot more pathos/creepiness [I can’t say as i haven’t seen ‘The Red Shoes’ yet].

If you want to see other poem vids, try Danika’s own channel, she has one where she tortures a flower while reading Midsommar, it’s quite endearing.

Also, if anyone else wants to try making a video like this for an old film, let me know.