TOAST, film, 16mm, 1986, 1 min.
in collaboration with Anne Maar (Super 8 version, 1:30 min)

Toast, buttered or not, is an example of commodification of food. Symbolic of a society where time is money, the toaster allows for instant gratification. Just be careful not to burn it.

Film Synopsis:

TOAST looks at the construction of desire through the mediated image. How the hunger for consumption leads to the demise of the object of desire, as a self-fullfilling system of destruction.

Brief Summary:

A short film quoting the structure of television advertisements, TOAST works to create a parodic response to a perpetually growing advertisement and media culture. Through the appropriation of imagery found in product photography, the film discusses the construction and hunger of desire within a mediated experience. TOAST looks at how television produces an entropic system of desire, a system that will eventually devour itself, becoming obsolete in the wake of the new.

Film Still:

Bjørn Melhus, Toast, 16 mm film, 1986, Film Still

CORNFLAKES

Cornflakes, Film, 16 mm, 1987, 2 min., with Ludger Haninger and Friedhelm Backhaus
Sound in collaboration with Peter Ziegelmeier

A popular breakfast cereal, airtight and pre-packaged, it is always ready to be eaten. Snip-snap, cut open the bag and munch your way into commercial acceptability.

Film Synopsis:

CORNFLAKES takes inspiration from the slapstick comedies of television commercials, incorporating Pop sensibility and symbolism.

Brief Summary:

A short film playing off of popular television commercials for breakfast cereal, CORNFLAKES is a parody designed to reflect the sensibilities of advertisement’s production of desire.   Incorporating the speed and imagery of television at a time when ad power was flooding the ever expanding television markets, the film reflects the times of its production and its depicition of capitalism.

Film Still:

Bjørn Melhus, Cornflakes, 16mm film, 1987, 2 min., film still