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syncs! article and interview with the deville

article written by: Upchuck Undergrind

The DeVille over at www.SyncMovies.com has got some surprises in store for you. He dwells, plots and schemes in the underground and even for the underground is rather askew from it. What is this of which I speak? What madness leaves my lips? Why, the underground movie sync culture, of course. Find a movie and replace its normal audio track with a music album and watch as strange synchronicities occur before your very eyes. Of course, the classic example of this, the very prototype, would be Dark Side of the Moon laid across visual surreality of The Wizard of Oz. Strange fusions between picture and sound begin to occur as the ebb and flow of the audio seems to mesh spookily with the ebb and flow of the visuals. You may be aware of The Dark Side of the Rainbow edition that can be found by the diligent on the internet, but The DeVille, as he fancies himself, over at The DeVille’s Workshop, has produced an alternate take, a different syncing of these two items. The difference begins with where to cue the beginning of the Floyd CD in the movie. DeVille - rebel that he is - has employed a different starting point from what most argues is the traditional, classic point of entry for Floyd’s classic space rock album. He calls it The Dark Side of Oz. The differences in what you see will range from the subtle to the not-so-subtle, at least for those familiar with the Dark Side of the Rainbow version. With something like a sync, shifting the parallel relationship between audio and video can create significant differences and, naturally, The DeVille’s intent was to create, I think, an entirely different version. The waves and movement of the movie vs. that of the music meet each other in different ways and spots now. Broadly speaking, there may be remarkable similarities, but on a more specific scale, the viewer ought to see new anomalies, fresh jibings of the two distinct elements.

Moving from traditional syncs to the opposite side of the spectrum we have The DeVille’s audio-video fusion of Tim Burton’s “Nightmare Before Christmas” and Downcurv’s “dC.” You will start to see here the special, alternative sort of sync method the iconoclastic DeVille employs in his zealous work. As I’ve said, with the Floyd/Oz mix, you find much of the blending occurring in a flowing movement audio matching movement video. DeVille’s method is either more subtle or more startling, depending on your view. And often, the lyrical content of a song is vital to observing The DeVille’s “matches” (the points of synchronicity in a sync). You’ll find that The DeVille has orchestrated syncs in which the verbiage leaving the mouths of the vocalists seem to sometimes match or describe the actions afoot onscreen. For example, one of the very first matches to occur as Downcurv’s industrial rock moves to align with Burton’s film is the emotive plea of Downcurv, “Why can’t we turn back” ... which is echoed by the character Jack’s actions as he begins to, well, to turn his back. Jack himself “points out” a sync as he gestures toward a demonesque statue when Downcurv’s personal pain comes across in the lyrics, “These ghosts and these demons.” Sometimes the matches are less direct and require consideration or ponderance to arrive at DeVille’s intended sync. How about Sally’s secretive motion to hide a spoon as Downcurv utters “Don’t look now.” The concept of not looking gels with Sally’s attempt to hide something. This is the sort of thing afoot with much of DeVille’s work. There’s also the alarming but interesting juxtaposition of something fairy tale-ish but deeply gothic like Burton’s stop-mo animation and Downcurv’s (admittedly dark) industrial music. As a final example of the sync efforts here, and to bring you something definitely on the subtle side, consider Jack composing himself into an angelic stance with his hands over his face. Downcurv says, “Innocent.......”

Now some of these I’m going to leave to you to figure out, to experience on your own. In the case of Toy Story in the Attic I’m going to focus on the party atmosphere of watching childlike toy characters frolicking across their visually appealing world while classic and fun rock n roll a la Aerosmith’s famous “Toys in the Attic” provides the soundtrack. You find the syncs on this one. I’m gonna talk about the atmosphere. Few haven’t heard the work of Aerosmith’s classic album and everybody knows the fun-loving, drunk and spirited, lusty rock sounds of Aerosmith. Classic tracks like “Sweet Emotion” populate this classic disc. And now it gets an unusual relationship with Toy Story. Let’s face it. It’s not the sort of combination you’d expect to find. For one thing, Aerosmith is an earthy, organic rock n roll band with a classic, old school flavor to their tunage. And Toy Story is cutting edge, anything but organic ... and very much oriented toward children. But Aerosmith’s music is sometimes quite ... adult. It makes for strange bedfellows. And there are multiple ways to approach the style concocted here by the DeVille’s sync approach. You can tackle it as juxtapositional humor, getting a terrific laugh listening to Aerosmith rollick as electronic Disney characters undergo a children’s fantasy adventure before you. Or if you prefer to be more psychological about, perhaps you could consider it the clash - or fusion - of the inner child that never wants to die with the grown-up and his or her new priorities and outlooks. Whatever the case, it’s an unusual, distinctive sync.

Next up is the interesting combination of Friday the 13th with A Perfect Circle. Imagine that! It’s called Friday the 13th Step and, of course, the album the DeVille has layered over it is none other than The Thirteenth Step. Of course, some might go for putting darker, more horror oriented sounds across a film like Friday the 13th but, of course, DeVille is anything but predictable. And his syncs are typically shocking in combination. Of course, so far as darkness is concerned, you can still find comparisons and differences floating about as this sync unfolds before you. Instead of summoning the darkness of horror or the devil (not to be confused with DeVille), the syncer here brings along the darkness of the soul, something which Maynard of Perfect Circle (and Tool) is a master of discussing. And therein lies the odd juxtaposition of Friday the 13th’s darkness and that of the album in question. Friday the 13th, of course, is pulpy, exploitation darkness, horror and gore, serial killers with hockey masks (not to mention tumbles in the hay). It’s a more lowbrow, Hollywood horror, mainstream terror, get your kicks in a movie that’s sick. This less profound darkness finds an interesting partner in the works of Perfect Circle, which, strongly contrasting against Sean Cunningham’s slasher classic, are subtle and relatively restrained, but brimming with profundity underneath. Friday the 13th is sound and fury, signifying nothing. Perfect Circle is not driven with this aggression, but finds its shadows quietly beneath, and with much significance.

The next sync under consideration finds yet another juxtaposition. Consider the lithe fluidity of The Matrix pressed up against the chunky, bold riffage of Metallica. Here, atmospherically, both works occupy a place of darkness and tension. Metallica’s music still contained elements of its thrash roots here but was turning its thoughts and lyrics inward, finding more philosophical profundity than before. Which, on that level, makes for a nice blend with The Matrix (the sync is called The Black Matrix), a movie full of philosophy. Also, both works are forward driven and rife with energy. On these levels, the two items have something in common. But then there’s the difference. Consider the (though production-wise tempered) aggression and bombast of heavy metal, the distortion, the heavy guitar riffage, the battering percussion, the sung but raw vocals ... take all that and run it up against the slick, teflon coating of The Matrix. It’s a thunderstorm brewing as these two fronts come together. What a relationship, huh? If you still want some more Matrix/Metallica action, then check out Load the Matrix, which takes the whiskey rock southern reach of Metallica's Load album and fuses it to the popular sequel to the Matrix. Again, you get the grit and headbangingness of Metallica juxtaposed with the visuals from Warner Brother's slick and philosophical actioner.

Next up, Ziggy Starfighter! That’s right, the indie art rock otherworld land of David Bowie gets put in bed with the kid sci-fi flourishes of The Last Starfighter. Of course, here the nominal relationship begins with the sci-fi roots of each. Starfighter, naturally, is outright sci-fi adventuring for the space and lasers crowd out there. Bowie, however, while creating sort of a sci-fi concept, is approaching the sci-fi aspect more obliquely, creating an artistic space oddity (if you’ll forgive the pun). Again, it’s sort of a fun vs. serious (or at least intellectually fun) combination. And, again, it’s quite different, but what else would you expect from the diabolical work of The DeVille? The advantage, naturally, is that - especially for those who grew up with the movie - you don’t need the words to enjoy the simplistic but fun adventures in space of The Last Starfighter. While viewing you can revel in the pop satirical sci references and rock changing audio work of one of music’s most auteurish talents. To hear something offbeat, quirky and fascinating emanating from your speakers while the straightforward teen space fun time of Last Starfighter unfolds will give you a unique way to enjoy the distinct individualities of each of the two works.

Finally, take into consideration the blend of Smashing Pumpkins “Machina - The Machines of God” with Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Obviously, the jumping off point here is that one word: Machine. But from there it’s an interesting world you enter. I’ll wrap this piece by giving you some more examples of The DeVille’s unique syncing and how he strives to blend lyrics with visuals. As with Eternal Nightmare, here I’ll give you some hints. (Thanks to DeVille for supplying sync lists on Rise of the Machina and Nightmare.) I love the idea of matching the words “What is Hell” with the explosion of nuclear missiles. That’s just a terrific and bold statement, I must say. That’s pretty groovy. Actually, this sync has a lot of nifty things like that. Katherine shakes her head in the negative as Billy Corgan declares, “Impossible!” Skynet appears to the words “traverse the sky.” In a movie about altering the past and future, you get this match: “What is it you want to change” lines up with the TX heading back on her future altering mission. Katherine tries to keep a grip on her seat while grabbed by the TX. She is exhorted to do so by Corgan: “Try to hold on.” And, of course, she is rescued and, shares Corgan, “still alive.” I could go on and on but I’ll leave the rest of the fun to your discovery. Needless to say, it’s an odd combination but perhaps the grit of Machina somehow holds hands with the grit of the Terminator future. That I’ll leave to your judgment.

Interview

1. How did you first discover the underground sync culture?

In November of 1999 my son Ray (CODE ATOM) told me one of his friends had read something really cool on an internet message board. If you watch The Wizard of Oz while playing DSOTM it looks like the album was written to go along with it. It had a list of things to look for, and precise instructions on how to cue it up. It sounded too good to be true, so of course we had to try it.

2. What about syncing caught your interest?

I found it mind boggling that two different forms of media created so many years apart, and that shouldn't have anything to do with each other, could have so much in common. There are even a few die-hards out there who contend that Pink Floyd must have done it on purpose.

3. What made you decide you wanted to try your own hand at it?

It seemed pretty obvious to me that if there was one combination that worked, there must be others. My love of (obsession with) music and movies gave me an extensive pool to choose from. I've been collecting music since the days of vinyl LP's. And my movie collection numbers over 2000. Of course now I'm collecting them on CD and DVD.

4. How did you go about trying your own hand at it?

In 1999, I had a GO Video dual deck VHS recorder. This meant I could play a tape on one side and record it on the other. But there was another really nifty feature about the machine that made it ideally suited for my purpose. Instead of the audio from the tape, you could feed in an alternate audio source and record it simultaneously with the video. I had the 1993 video tape of The Wizard of Oz, and Ray had the original CD. So we cued up The Dark Side of the Moon on my computer in Windows Media Player, paused it at the beginning and set it to repeat. I had a cable going from line out on the computer to line in on the recorder. It took three tries to get it right, but I ended up with a perfectly synced, very good quality recording of The Dark Side of Oz. I was flabbergasted to say the least!

5. What were some of your first sync combinations?

The next one was Eternal Nightmare, Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas with Downcurv's dC. Then came The Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring with Led Zeppelin IV, Toy Story with Toys in the Attic, Black Sabbath and The Exorcist, David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust with The Last Starfighter... and the list goes on.

6. Any early drastic failures you learned from?

Yes, I've had a couple of major "hiccups" where I lost everything on my hard drive. One was when my computer got the Blaster virus and the other was when I accidentally loaded the operating system over two years worth of work on my F drive. So I've learned to be more careful and use common sense. Always keep backups of your work, and invest in the latest version of Norton anti-virus. A firewall is not a bad idea either.

7. Can you actually make a living selling sync stuff?

My goal is to have a basement office at Turner here in Atlanta, where I could create syncs full time. With the right backing and promotion this could easily be a billion dollar enterprise. The beauty of syncs from the studio's standpoint would be that the first and most expensive part is already done: the movie and music already exist.

8. What made you decide to take an unorthodox approach to syncing?

I'm not exactly sure what would be considered orthodox in the realm of syncs. So, I don't know.

9. Is it tedious to work on syncing?

It's more fun than you could possibly imagine - I'm having the time of my life. I've spent literally thousands of hours over the last six years working on syncs, perfecting every detail as much as was humanly possible. But when you're doing something you love to do, no sacrifice of time or energy is too much.

10. How do you discover syncs, just mix and match until something works?

Actually it's much easier than that, and funny, too. Stephen and I refer to it as "The Rainbow Connection" (and then we break into song). As you know there's a rainbow on the cover of The Dark Side of the Moon, and in the Wizard of Oz Dorothy sings Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Then there's the triangularly shaped prism on the cover, and all the triangle shapes and references in the movie. So there's your precedent. If there were other syncs, there would also be a trail of bread crumbs to lead you to them. Similar themes, images, titles, lyrics, something that in hindsight is blatantly obvious. As an example let's take Rob Zombie. On track 2 of the White Zombie album La Sexorcisto Vol. 1, there is a snippet from Night of the Living Dead: "...an epidemic of mass murder being committed by a virtual army of unidentified assassins." So when I was looking for the CD to go with Night of the Living Dead, I immediately thought of Rob Zombie. And it absolutely had to be his solo album Hellbilly Deluxe with the song Living Dead Girl. And sometimes the CD will lead you to the movie as in the case of White Zombie's Astro Creep 2000 with the song entitled More Human Than Human. If you'll recall from the movie Blade Runner, that was the Nexus Corporation's motto. Also in the song he says "I am the Nexus 1, I want more life f**ker, I ain't done". Hmmm... Rainbow connection? You bet. That's just one of thirty or so more syncs that Stephen and I know of but have not done yet. How about Planes, Trains and Automobiles (starring John Candy!?!) with the Cars' Candy-O... Planes, Trains and Candy-O. Then there's The Breakfast Club and Supertramp's Breakfast in America, The Running Man and Jackson Brown's Running On Empty, Radiohead's OK Computer with Hackers - it's quite a list. I stumbled onto something miraculous quite by accident, and discovered that I have the knack for it.

11. What's the greatest sync in the world, in your opinion?

I'd have to say the greatest is The Dark Side of Oz because it opened the door for all the others.

12. How do you feel about the whole intellectual property argument some bands and movie studios probably harp about in regards to syncs?

The only way I can see that someone would be upset about syncs is if they felt they were losing something. As I started to say earlier, syncs would give these bands and studios a new venue and a new medium through which to be known. I encourage people to support the artists and studios by buying the original movie and CD for each of the syncs because by knowing both creations they'll get a much deeper insight as to how and why the art forms sync. I don't see any problem there at all.

13. Are you an information anarchist?

If you mean do I believe information should be free to all those who seek it, then yes. In every aspect of life, the most efficient person is an informed person.

14. What is syncing's most important contribution to pop culture?

It takes our two favorite forms of entertainment and creates a totally new and exciting way to enjoy them both at the same time.

15. Final thoughts?

It's been an honor for me to stumble across this and be able to bring syncs to life. Music and movies have meant the world to me, and I feel good being able to give something back to them.

Visit http://www.syncmovies.com

article written by: Upchuck Undergrind

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Letter to Rolling Stone Magazine

Rolling Stone Magazine
Attn: Editor in Chief,
Jann S. Wenner
1290 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10104 - 0298
United States

April 10, 2007


Dear Jann S. Wenner, Editor in Chief,

I want to be on the cover of The Rolling Stone and here’s why:

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the 1997 MTV news story about “The Dark Side of the Moon” / “Wizard of Oz” match up (mash-up?) called “The Dark Side of the Rainbow” or “The Dark Side of Oz”. They interviewed Boston DJ George Taylor Morris and Michael Johnston (Arkiver) of The Synchro-nicity Arkive. I got stoned and I missed it…

I was first introduced to “The Dark Side of Oz” in 1999 by my son Rey (lead singer for the band CODE ATOM). Among all of the connections, the one that stood out the most was the fact that on the cover of “The Dark Side of the Moon” album there’s a rainbow, and in “The Wizard of Oz” Dorothy sings “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. Soon I started noticing the “rainbow connection” in all sorts of other combinations. As my grandmother used to say, “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop”. My company Idol Hands Entertainment, dba The DeVille’s Workshop, has produced not just one or two, but thirteen syncs on DVD. So out of that you get… drum roll please… Thirteen Syncs by The DeVille for only 136.66. If that didn’t make you smile I don’t know what will.

It hasn’t been all “smooth sailing”. Along the way I’ve received three Cease to Exist letters and three DMCA take-down letters from Warner Brothers and EMI. But here’s what a smooth criminal I am - I put my real name, address and phone number on my website, and sent packages to all of the artists c/o their companies. I also met with director George Romero and presented him with a 13-sync-set like the one in this box. He asked me if I had permission and I said no, they’re strictly illegal. (Oh, sure I tried to get permission up front, but quickly saw there was going to be no way to do it but underground.) He said “Well you need to get these “legaled up”. Then he shook my hand and approx-imately five hundred people boo’d me when he signed my copy of “Martin”, as he wasn’t signing autographs that day. It was awesome, and he was still talking about my syncs as he left the stage.

Some reviews and articles are included along with a CD of Finn’s Interview with The DeVille on 96 Rock, Atlanta, GA. It’s 4:20, seriously four minutes and twenty seconds long. (Did that make you smile again?) In the case with “The Dark Side of Oz” there is a preview DVD of all 13 syncs. Plus, I can introduce you to the whole cast of underground charac-ters, tons more syncs and anything else you need for the blockbuster story of the year. I promise it will shake up the entertainment industry, and isn’t that what it needs? What do you say, does that rate the cover?

Hurry… I hear a deadline ticking!


Sincerely,
The DeVille




678-754-5372
tronicmale@yahoo.com
SyncMovies.com (when it’s working)

P.S. Also included you’ll find a Code Atom press kit CD. (I promised I’d get them signed - see www.CodeAtom.com) If this was a screenplay (which it will be) my picture on the cover of The Rolling Stone is the plot twist at the end of act 2.



cc: www.SynchronicityArkive.com, all of my friends and fellow syncers, the rest of the world

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