'Clockwork Reduction' is participatory film viewing

The movies have been with us for over 100 years, and Mike Min thinks it is time we change the way we watch them. In February, he and co-creator Liza Keckler transferred the concepts and techniques of DJ remixing to film with a piece they called "A Clockwork Orange Remixed." Using film snippets, soundtrack samples, and live performance, they offered a different experience of Stanley Kubrick's film.

This weekend, at the Northwest Film Forum, Min and Keckler continue the experiment with "A Clockwork Reduction," a re-creation of the filming of Andy Warhol's "Vinyl," a 1965 film claiming to be an adaptation of the Anthony Burgess novel "A Clockwork Orange," but having almost nothing in common with the purported source material.

Any resemblance of "A Clockwork Reduction" to "Vinyl" will be equally coincidental.

"This will make Warhol roll in the grave," laughs Min. "There are some cosmetic similarities, such as the use of beautiful models as performers, but as a whole (it) is a complete disjoint. 'Vinyl,' however, provides great source material for our idea, which is the misunderstandings and failures that result from setting up lines of communication."

Warhol, of course, never had to worry about the failure to communicate, because he never tried to communicate anything. Nothing stood between the actor and the camera. In "A Clockwork Reduction," a studio head, isolated in a plexiglass box, gives instructions to six directors. The actors will try to manifest what the directors are telling them, but each participant will inadvertently be foiled in his/her best attempt to create the product.

"We will not allow the concepts of creativity or individuality," Min insists. "The directors and actors must stick to a thinking process that is limited to what they are being told to do."

Audience members, on the other hand, can do whatever they want, except interact with the directors and actors. They are encouraged to join the focus group, where they can tell the studio head, through an audio feed, what they think about the proceedings, and he can act or not act upon their advice.

How does all this change the way we view movies in the 21st century? "To get the richness of any experience you have to be an active participant," Min says. "Film should be more installation as opposed to a sit-down, time-based event. I want the audience members to walk around to different areas, informing themselves about what is going on."

In this regard, "A Clockwork Reduction" is very much a continuation of the Warhol aesthetic.