The Alchemical Process of Art
News on upcoming work from Twisted Crow
It’s about time we sent out a big thank you to our early subscribers. We’re so grateful for your viewership, and for giving our page some attention.
For those who aren’t aware of our story outside of Substack, Heather has been going through breast cancer treatment since mid-2024, and the entirety of December was devoted to the multiple surgeries she needed. This of course threw a bit of a hurdle at our posting-consitency plan, but we’re still here and churning up a back-log of creativity to share. I won’t get too much into the details of her health, but we’ve been cataloguing that in the “updates” section on Heather’s Givesendgo page, in case you’re interested: www.givesendgo.com/IHeartHJBoobs
Presently we have a new track and music video almost ready to release! The song has been recorded, starring Heather this time, and the video is now in editing.
Until then, we wanted to talk about another project that’s been on our minds for much longer—since even before our daughter was born. For brevity’s sake, it is currently dubbed “The Alchemy Video”. As of yet, we have a set of ideas and imagery collected into a shot-list which we keep coming back to discuss and refine.
Some projects, as I’ve discovered in long-form writing, take time to gestate and ponder. As that time has passed, we noticed that the Alchemy Video constitutes a shift in our usual process. Most music videos start with a song, and the artist, director, or designer creates a concept off of a song. This time however, Heather envisioned a theme and imagery on their own, without a song preceding and motivating the visuals. It’s all developing out from the theme. This also changes the context for what the project is; it’s not really a music video anymore, but an art film for which we intend to create sound-tracking. But, it will still have some of the flair and energy of a music video.
The other puzzle challenge in conceptualizing a film like this is the difference in process between the two of us. Heather tends to be driven by the medium, and concept; I am very narrative driven. Fortunately, we are similar in that we both rely heavily on symbols and archetypes as part of our artistic language. We’re not really trying; it all just comes out that way.
We believe in the importance of experimentation, in order to keep the art fresh and prevent stagnation (despite “putrefaction” being a stage in the alchemical process...). By changing the process, we can facilitate discovery. And what should we call “shifting one’s own process”—essentially, deviating from one’s own habits—but a kind of transformation? Appropriate, considering this project will revolve around the theme of transformation, transmutation, and… well, alchemy.
Before we’ve fully hatched our plan, here’s a brief test shoot for one of the scenes:
Notice the egg. Notice it was a real egg. A practical egg. Being a very real and quite practical egg, this would be a perfect juncture for segueing into discussing our love of practical effects.
AI and related technology are drastically changing the many fields of artistic expression. We find significance in preserving some modicum of historical cinema techniques, especially as we take inspiration from the classics like Jim Henson and Frank Oz, Jodorowsky, and even reaching back to the Lumiere Brothers, or the experiments of Du Champ and Dali.
The entire point of what we’re calling “practical” effects is that they remain in touch with an actual medium. Note the turn of phrase, too, which I typed out inadvertently: “remain in touch”. You can touch and feel the materials, as opposed to it all being abstracted in a computer. (Admittedly, much of my work with music so far has been relegated to using a computer, but... sound, as it reverberates the air, has a physical quality no matter what the source).
Within “practical” there is another word that further unconceals the reason why we hold it in esteem. That is, “practice”. By creating our filmic media through the use of practical effects, we will ideally be integrating our own selves into the artistic result; thus, “art as a practice”. The creators and participants of the art will not come away unchanged in the process.
Is this all a fancy way of saying “we should touch grass”? Perhaps. Technology and its progression are not inherently bad, evil, or otherwise loathsome, according to our view. Despite it being castigated as “undermining tradition”, there is virtually no older tradition held by the human race than the development of technology. Still, there’s no reason why we can’t preserve other traditions while embracing evolution; even letting the evolution be guided by it.
I suppose “transmutation” isn’t terribly far off from any other themes we’ve put into previous work, especially when Heather and I put our heads together. Alchemy, however, is more an independent curiosity that Heather has had for a long time, and into which I’ve been pulled perhaps farther than I’d expected. What I’ve found, though, is that the original intentions behind alchemy were not simply as a proto-science, but as a way to look at the human condition and its ongoing striving towards ideals. This comports surprisingly well with our interest in Jungian archetypes, Eurasian mythology, and expressing some culmination of all of them. “Turning lead into gold is impossible” says the skeptic—except, symbolically, that’s what anyone is doing within themselves, if they make any kind of improvement in their life. The symbols are all ways of “talking to oneself”.
For now, we’ll leave you with that. Our Alchemy project is a little further off. Some projects virtually create themselves in an instant, others require artistic challenge and growth. These also tend to require more resources, for which we again thank our paid subscribers who are helping us to manifest our visions.
As mentioned, we have a little something else coming up here shortly: a cover of an underrated musical gem, which itself happened to be covered by a musical legend of the 90s. Psychedelia meets Grunge-Punk meets Black Metal and Electronica, with a dash of the Five Elements and a bold woman facing monsters head-on… coming soon.