Directing Soap Operas

When I heard that the Television studio course's final project was directing a scene from a soap opera I knew I had to get on board. While my ambitions and goals change every day, one dream of mine always stays the same: I want to direct South American Soap Operas. SAC 302 was likely the most fun I had taking classes at U of M, along with being the hardest get into. Here is a clip of the soap opera scene I directed. I've included the clip that has control room audio, but the clip with only the dialogue can be found in the related videos. DREAM ON!

Soft Sculpture

These are all examples of soft sculptures I made while taking a class with Andrew Thompson. The class was titled "Recycling," though the class was more concerned with an ideological and aesthetic stance than a political one. Andy stressed that, if we could get away with it, we should not pay for our art supplies (or at least not pay a lot).

The first photograph was created from the remains of a dog stuffed animal that I took apart. I completely disassembled the dog before starting any work on the sculpture. I found the entire process extremely meditative, though at times surprisingly difficult. The end result did not use all of the materials the dog gave me, but did use only those materials.

The next three are from a series in which I used second-hand children's clothing as the materials. Again, I took apart the clothing completely before beginning the recreation process. The message here is slightly more political, as the actual objects are charged. At the time, a ban had been proposed on the sale of second-hand children's clothing. I decided to use what was becoming contraband to make pieces that are NOT FOR CHILDREN, but appear at first glance as if they could be. They're a little cute, but the messages are a bit too queasy for kids.

WCBN Radio Show

Here's a clip of me guest DJing on my friend Dustin K's show.

Noon to 1:00
1:00 to 2:00

Enjoy!

Elmer Wright

This is a cassette tape that a friend of mine found at a local salvation army. The used cassette section is often the first spot we go to when at second-hand stores. This is the perfect example of what we're looking for. Everything about the tape is home-made. The recordings are scratchy and worn, the playing is imperfect, and the songs give a profound insight the man who sang them's life.

These are Christmas songs, and while the melodies are familiar the words are not. Mr. Wright does not appreciate the sorry state of Christmas in our modern age. His deep love for the solemn holiday of the birth Christ is the root of his intense disdain for all things "Santa." We've really made a mess out of Christmas.

I scanned and digitized the artwork and music so as to create a musical archive that might otherwise be lost forever in a sea of magnetic ephemera.


Elmer Wright - The Man That Sing The Gospel On The Pier

Before & After the Dream

Jacob Hurwitz-Goodman is a an independent filmmaker from Detroit. We've worked on a few projects together, and I have a blast every time. This video was shot on in a speakeasy bad in Detroit called Cafe D'Mongo's, which is one of the funnest places to be in the city. The soundscapes and ambient noises came to me as I coped with the meaning of the movie. When I asked Jacob questions about what the movie meant, he simply told me that I should do whatever I wanted with the sound. Thus, the soundtrack became my own interpretation of the events.

Before & After the Dream from jacob Hurwitz-Goodman on Vimeo.

Exquisite Corpse

This is a rotoscope loop that was meant to be part of an Exquisite Corpse. It's just a short little loop. Maybe some other corpse sections will pop up on the internet soon.

exquisite corpse section from Morgan Morel on Vimeo.

The SEA Project

I have spend the past year transferring DAT tapes to a hard drive for the Language Resource Center. Most of these tapes are language instruction tapes and are filled with lessons, readings, and drills. One day I stumbled across a pile of tapes labeled SEA Project. After looking through a few of them, I found that it stands for Southeast Asian Project. The tapes are cryptically distinguished from one another with letters and numbers. Most of the tapes involve people telling stories in strange habitats. You can often hear exotic birds and animals in the background. The series labeled G however, hold the best of all treasures: Gamelan Performances! I decided to take these recordings and release them as cassettes. I did the artwork and liner notes, along with dubbing. I wanted to spread these because the performances are beautiful and mysterious. There is no way for me to know exactly what is happening. I believe they may be recordings of Shadow Puppet Theater, but cannot be certain. I used the medium of cassette tapes because the original fidelity of the of the recordings seemed to call for it.

Check out the blog

THE SEA PROJECT

Chile 2009: Grandmother's Birthday

In the winter of 2009 my Grandmother Paz Morel Fuenzalida turned 80. My sister was lucky enough to be flown out to the ceremony to document it. The footage she got was breathtaking. While I was editing I felt that my cousins were talking to me, not the camera. It's been so many years since I've seen them, and seeing them in such beautiful photography made it so emotional for me. Ever since then I've been a fan of HD (especially HD shot by my sister). The whole video is too long to fit on youtube, but here's some clips.

Interviews from Morgan Morel on Vimeo.

Paper Flyer vs. Video Flyer

During my senior year at I worked on a thesis project that revolved around performative video. I designed a video feedback system that functioned as a synthesizer, and used it along pre-recorded video I shot and processed to give live video shows. I often played along with musical performances, often with my friend Isaac of Korgborglar and Nick of Grass Canyon. The point was to create a video instrument I could play live. The culmination of the project was a performance called VIDEO SNACK ATTACK. Here are two of the flyers I made for the show, one on paper and one on video.

VIDEO SNACK ATTACK from Morgan Morel on Vimeo.

Tour Video

While working at U of M's Language Resource Center I've done a load of multimedia projects. Some have been a little more technical than others, such as taking the subtitles form one VHS, and sound from another VHS, editing them together and burning a DVD of it. Others have been creative and super fun (not that digitizing VHS tapes isn't fun). Here is a tour video/promo for the University of Michigan I directed, shot and edited. I made sure to give North Campus all the love it deserves because WHO ELSE WILL?!

Telephone Callers

Here is a music video I directed, shot and edited for a band called Telephone Callers. It's short. Very short. That's because I used it for an insert during a class on Television Production. The assignment was to write and direct an interview. In the script I wrote, the interview was being held on a public access "Community Features" show. The interviewer was speaking to a new-comer to town, who turned out to be a deranged cult leader. The maligned matriarch was trying to use the televised opportunity to recruit members, while the clueless interview thought her satanic outbursts where quirky. The interview cut to this video after the cult leader said "Would you like to see my family?"

Black Crow

Here is an animation by my mother Patricia O'Connor. She asked all of her many many artist friends to submit a painting of a crow. She used the paintings she got to make a short digital animation. The piece is inspired by both her recent move to the Seattle (crows are everywhere there in case you don't know) and her favorite musician Joni Mitchell. For the music, she asked me and my brother to do a cover of the Joni Mitchell song "Black Crow." Here's what we came up with.

Functional Relief

In the Winter of 2009 I took an experimental class at the University of Michigan through the then brand-new UARTS department. The class was advertised to me from a friend as "this INSANE thing where you meet a bunch of teachers from all over the school and then Steve Rush gives some lectures and then you MAKE stuff." I was immediately excited because, of all the professors I had at the school, Steve Rush was the on I constantly saw throwing sticks into the spokes of the University's metaphoric bicycle, and they let him teach a brand-new freaked-out class called, get this "CREATIVE PROCESS."

so stoked.

Needless to say I jumped on board (despite that classes 9am Friday meeting time) and had a blast. We spent the first few weeks getting our hands wet in a bunch of left-field disciplines such as paper folding and drum circles. Eventually the time came for use to pick out final project topics out of a paper bag (!!!) then were told not to think about the topic, AT ALL, for "a while." Of course, I got "profit" written on a dollar bill folded like a little sailboat. Of course. Ugh. So, like I was told, I put it on the back-burner and got back to rotoscoping and legos.

A little while later I sold a friend an album of mine on cassette and, much to his dismay, the tape was blank. The duplicator had failed leaving a totally blank tape, which apparently wasn't worth his $5. This may, or may not, have been how I got the idea for Functional Relief.

Functional Relief is the name of a website I designed. It's purpose is to sell my art. However, it's pretty bad at that purpose. This is on purpose. Of course.

My process of creating art is transparent. I take a functioning object and split it into two new object: a functional object and an aesthetic object. I then try to sell the two. Of the two, one must be more valuable, but which? Let's face it, art is cheap nowadays. You can log onto Etsy and buy paintings off schizophrenics for pennies. The functional object holds the key to the value of the object, this I decided that it is worth more. Also, since the point of the project was to make a profit, If I sell both objects I make back slightly more what the original object cost me. Otherwise, I lost money.

Back to the website, it's a mess. All the buttons are hidden. Easter eggs are everywhere. You wont get through the first page unless you are an A.D.D. mess. My main market is impulse buyers. I don't plan on anybody with any sense to them buying my art/products. Get real.


CHECK OUT FUNCTIONAL RELIEF HERE