People Who Do Noise
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		music extreme electronic abstract

Film Overview

Directed By: Adam Cornelius View Official Website	Release Date: 2008-07-14 Running Time: 0:00 Content Rating: PG (Parental Guidance)	DVD Region: All Regions Media Format: NTSC-DVD Aspect Ratio: 4:3 Audio Language(s): English
Genres: Documentary >> Music Influences: errol morris // werner herzog

Synopsis

'People Who Do Noise' is a film about the experimental music of Portland, Oregon. Extensive interviews and intimate performance footage provide an intense portrait of the motivations, emotions, and ideas that go into this uncompromising, sometimes brutal musical form. Unwavering in its focus, the film brings to light an art form unfathomable to many, with only the words of the musicians themselves providing any explanation for the pulsating sonic chaos they create.
The film takes a very personal approach, capturing the musicians working alone with no interference from a live audience. What often took place in crowded basements or dark smoky venues was stripped bare for the cameras, providing an unprecedented glimpse of the many different instruments and methods used.
Covering a wide range of artists and styles, the film features everything from the absurdist free-improvisations of genre-pioneers Smegma, to the harsh-noise assaults of Oscillating Innards and everything in between. Many of the artists in the film, such as Yellow Swans and Daniel Menche, have performed and sold records all over the world. In spite of such successes, noise music remains one of the least understood and most inaccessible of genres.
With an unflinching cinematic style, the film defies any trend-setting or commercial representation, opting instead for a stark portrayal of a musical underground at its most genuine and vital. For the subjects of the film, noise music is a way of life; a life in opposition to the tidy, orderly, and vacuous pop-culture experience.

Cast

Sound Designer, Asst. Camera: Bob Bellerue | bio
Bob Bellerue / halfnormal is a noise artist, theater designer, audio engineer, performer and writer from Portland of late. My work utilizes electronics and custom programming for live performance, sound installation, and prepared ambient (public & private) field recordings. With a background in punk / acid rock, Balinese and Javanese gamelan, and Tibetan Buddhism, I'm interested in the various ways that extreme sonic experiences affect awareness and identity, and the supple techniques used to focus and modulate energy. I've created original sound scores for dozens of performance art, dance, theater and film pieces, and perform regularly as a solo artist and as part of KILT, Dead Wolf Black, Feed the Dragon, and Improvisatyrs. My work has been presented in Indonesia, Spain, and across the United States, including the Yogyakarta Gamelan Festival, Centre de Cultura Contemporànea de Barcelona, Beyond Music Sound Festival, CEAIT Festival, Olympia Experimental Music Festival, PDX Noise Festival, Highways Performance Space, Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Living Arts of Tulsa New Genre Festival, Dairy Center for the Arts, Crazyspace, DIVA, monkeymania, 7Hz, the Il Corral, the Smell, KXLU, KFJC, KSPC, KGNU, KDVS, Stanford University, UC San Diego, UC Los Angeles, Naropa University (BA 1995), and the California Institute of the Arts (MFA 2003). Visit http://www.halfnormal.com for more salience.

Crew

Director: Adam Cornelius | bio
Adam Cornelius is a filmmaker and musician living in Portland. After graduating from the prestigious Florida State University film school, he moved to Portland and started the band Under Mountains. During his time with the band he met many of the artists featured in the film and gained a deep appreciation for the experimental music of Portland. People Who Do Noise is his first feature length film.

Bonus Features

Deleted & Extended Scenes
Alternate Ending(s)
Scene Selections
Interactive Menus
Theatrical Trailers
Outtakes

Accolades

Press Reviews

willamette week | show/hide snippet
With two final juxtaposed images (I won’t give them away), director Adam Cornelius powerfully conveys the idea that noise music is a reflection of the chaos of nature, implying that gentler musical sounds are often shackled by convention and unnatural order.
Portland Mercury | show/hide snippet
Cornelius has smartly stitched together interviews with and performances by 15 of the regional subculture’s leading lights--from the fun-loving, grey-haired post-hippie trailblazers of Smegma, to the sociopathic scream machine Josh Hydeman, to the recently disbanded definitive noise duo Yellow Swans--to reveal the surprising diversity of motives, techniques, and sounds of the most divisive music in the world, from the city best known for it.