I wouldn't call it modern material
but it is, in some ways,
dealing with a modern theme,
a theme that we still are all quite
beholden to: energy, power, electricity,
how we make it work for us.
I think that it heralds a new age
that we all can identify with.
This material was an older collection
and it was a collection that dealt with
the domestication of electricity
and bringing it into the home.
That's imagery that can somehow
be loaded with kitsch –
to say how quaint people used to be
or how far we've advanced –
but these were pretty novel concepts
at the time.
So the thing that spoke to me in 2016
was these abstract animations
and how that could be used,
not just to visualise electricity,
but also to visualise community forming
and body building within the body.
I was very much drawn to that
as sort of a language,
and a different type of language
than I've used before.
So this will be a very different film
than the type of film that I usually make
or that people are used to seeing from me.
I worked with a composer who I've worked
with several times before, Bill Frisell.
He's an old friend,
a really trusted collaborator.
With someone like that,
there's very little I need to do.
I give him this theme.
It's something that appeals to him.
He has his own imagination and intuition
how he's going to make music
from the idea of electricity.
As we're filming this now,
they are off in a studio
in Portland, Oregon somewhere, recording.
(MUSIC PLAYS)
My name is Bill Frisell
and I'm writing some music
for Bill Morrison's film,
Electricity.
I've seen little snippets
of what the film might look like,
so I'm recording a lot of music,
just with that little bit of inspiration.
I'm hoping that whatever I do
with the music inspires
some of the choices
that he makes with the film, too.
I've always thought his sense of time –
that he expands time in such a magical
way – has always inspired my editing.
I thought that he could create something
that I could then edit to
that would have this elasticity.
I was really hoping he could,
in some ways, guide the project that way.
I love writing music
and I love playing music
and I love trying
to pull it out of thin air.
Improvisation is part of the music.
Over the years, I've learnt to be more
forgiving with myself, I guess.
I don't care whether this is good or bad
or what it is –
whether it's fast or slow or sad or happy.
I don't know what it is,
I'm just going to try to let it come out
and that's an amazing feeling.
I'm with this incredible band
of Jenny Scheinman on violin
and Eyvind Kang on viola
and Hank Roberts on cello.
We'll record it in different combinations
of orchestration –
smaller, bigger, faster, slower
or put a melody in it.
We start to play and everybody starts
shifting around and finding their spot.
To me, it almost feels like something new.
It's always changing.
Whatever instrument they're playing,
if it's a laptop or a violin
or a harmonica or whatever,
the most amazing feeling
is when you're in the room together
playing with the people.
All kinds of stuff starts happening.
The primary role that these films served
was to educate families
about how electricity
could be brought into their house
or how it could be made palatable –
not something to be scared of, not
something that electrocuted an elephant,
but something
that can be harnessed and is safe
and, in fact, is going to make your house
a safer and cleaner place.
How do you visualise electricity?
I found that, in these examples,
it's often depicted as small dots
or balls or atoms.
In a lot of ways, we as bodies behave
as electrical units behave.
We're given towards magnetisms
and repulsions.
You can look at how electricity behaves
in these abstract models
and read into it
other communities as well.
I think of the editing process a lot like
one might think of making a jigsaw puzzle.
You first try to get the edges together
and that's the edges of the whole piece
as well as the edges of each chapter
or section within.
Once you have those defined, then you can
figure out where the other pieces go.
There's this great sense of achievement
when you put that last jigsaw puzzle
piece in and everything fits together.
You're always looking for the shot
that is going to end the piece,
and then how that is going to play
with the shot that will begin it.
I'm often open to what my opening shot is,
but I always know what the closing shot
will be, once I see it.
