>>2995908But it ultimately resolves as a tension between the teleological progression implied by notions of cosmic encounters with alien civilizations (a teleology which in sci-fi applies explicitly to technology but just as readily applies in the realm of art/aesthetics to *form*), and the irrational, primordial formlessness of the materialist philosophy whose protagonist was the (acephalic, headless) mantis. Historically speaking, this is a tension between two modes of modernism; the futuristic romanticization of modernity's developmental forces viz. the ultimate perfectibility of human reason, and the primitivist obsession with modernity's inherent, seemingly unavoidable violence and self-destruction. (This all relates to a formal problem, which is that the unfamiliar visual environment on which the images depend (denying the eye a readily recognizable resting place, a coherent and self-enclosed interpretive framework) rests on a conventional techno-futuristic aesthetic of light and mirrors (this is exacerbated by the vague resemblance your stage sets have to a scientific laboratory filled with high-tech equipment). This--the construction of your settings--is an area that imo could be improved. That said I think that ur use of lighting--in low-key scenes with high-contrast, precise illumination--is very good.)
