working memos as fragments of gold...

"the noises must become music"

"be sure of having used to the full all is communicated by immobility and silence."

"your film - let people feel the soul and the heart there, but let it be made like a work of hands"

"no intellectual or cerebral mechanism. simply a mechanism."

"not to use two violins when one is enough"

"images like modulations in music"

"practice the precept: find without seeking"

"to translate the invisible wind by the water it sculpts in passing."

"make visible what, without you, might never have been seen"

" how to hide from oneself the fact that it all ends up on a rectangle of white fabric hung on a wall? (see your film as a surface to cover)"

ten from robert bresson's notes on the cinematographer

eyes closed, open a book, place your finger on a page, open your eyes...

"silence, musical by an effect of resonance. the last syllable of the last word or the last noise like a held note."

from robert bresson, notes on cinematography

like bresson's films, this two sentence entry in what might be my all time favorite book, has almost nothing unnecessary. so many of the words carry their own weight:
silence
musical
resonance
syllable
word
noise
held
note...

the rest, when pieced together reads rather nicely as well:
by an effect of
the last
of the last
or the last
like a
...

mystery quotes...

found these quotes on a scrap of paper in my studio. probably written several years ago, but unfortunately i didn't notate the source...

"why do voices and noises seem to cause disturbances and even reopen wounds?" page 7

"and noise even has a bearing on the suffering of the mind." page 7

"on account of the gray weather of november when the bells scatter the dead ashes of the years into the air in a dust of sounds." page 3

if anyone recognizes them, please let me know where they are from.

during the rain...

"during the rain there is a certain darkness that stretches out all objects. beyond that, its effect on our body forces us to withdraw into ourselves, and this inwardness makes our soul infinitely more sensitive. the very noise rain produces continuously occupies the ear, awakes attentiveness and keeps us on the alert. the brownish hue moisture gives to the walls, the trees, the rocks, adds to the impression these objects make. and the solitude and silence it spreads out around the traveler, but forcing animals and men to be quiet and to seek shelter makes these impressions more distinct. enveloped in his coat, his head covered, and moving along deserted paths, the traveler is struck by everything, and everything is enlarged before his imagination or his eyes. the streams are swollen, the grass is thicker, the stones are more sharply defined: the sky is closer to the earth, and all objects, closed up in this narrow horizon, occupy a greater space and importance."

the notebooks of joseph joubert (1754-1824)