MeTube: August sings Carmen ´Habanera´

A YouTube anachronism as the overture of a clever opera-remix spectacle: A man’s surrounded by the most conservative ´70s interior furnishings imaginable. Beige patterned wallpaper is dominated by a portrait of Maria Callas, and a cassette recorder plays “Habanera” from Bizet´s opera Carmen. While streaks move across the static picture of what seems to be a webcam, the protagonist and actual performer, tenor August Schram, reservedly plays the singer while his mother hands him a glass of milk and a sandwich. Adolescent exhibitionists on the Internet don’t look like this, nor do their bedrooms.

Then an old pianist, tied-up and in a wheelchair, adds a visual disturbance to the bourgeois setting, which apparently has been arranged with painstaking care. In an increasingly unbridled manner — similar to love in Bizet´s work – the protagonists and setting continue to push the limits of reality. Who´s in control – mother, son or medium — remains consistently ambiguous. Like varying layers of Schram’s personality, camera filters are superimposed over the picture, now in high resolution and in motion: Schram dressed as Carmen, surrounded by men in latex outfits. Schram as a bleached-blond Adonis standing in between young women in cat suits. On the Internet at least, identities and body images are diverse and genuinely fluid. As a result MeTube turns into a fetish machine, and the homemade production becomes a professional music video.

In a combination of dance club and SM dungeon the director, Daniel Moshel, stages a minutely choreographed trip into the subconscious: While “Habanera” booms in Schram’s magnificent techno remix, genders and realities collide and overlap, and suppressed emotions noisily forge ahead. MeTube is more than a music video: It´s an homage, critique and pointed love letter to the Web and its users in a whirl of exhibition(ism). I create a world the way I like it. Ephemeral but still for eternity. (Sebastian Höglinger)

----
MeTube, a hommage to thousands of ambitious YouTube users and video bloggers, gifted and less gifted self-promotors on the internet, has attracted international attention. No less than George Bizet´s Habanera from "Carmen" has been reinterpreted for MeTube and enhanced with electronic sounds. Behind the cross-over of musical styles are director Daniel Moshel as well as opera and oratorio tenor August Schram.

(Production Note)

moshel.com
metube.at

Orig. Title
MeTube: August sings Carmen ´Habanera´
Year
2013
Country
Austria
Duration
4 min
Director
Daniel Moshel
Category
music video
Orig. Language
french
Credits
Director
Daniel Moshel
Script
Daniel Moshel
Cinematography
Martin Bauer
Music
Philip Preuss, George Bizet
Music Arrangment
Bernhard Drax
Editing
Christin Veith
Sound Design
Bernhard Drax
Voice
August Schram
Production
August Schram, Moshel Film
Production Manager
Roland Pfannhauser
Available Formats
DCP 2K flat (Distribution Copy)
Aspect Ratio
16:9
Sound Format
Dolby stereo
Frame Rate
25 fps
Color Format
colour
Digital File (prores, h264) (Distribution Copy)
Aspect Ratio
16:9
Sound Format
Dolby stereo
Frame Rate
25 fps
Color Format
colour
Blu-ray (Distribution Copy)
Aspect Ratio
16:9
Sound Format
Dolby stereo
Frame Rate
25 fps
Color Format
colour
Festivals (Selection)
2013
Bristol - Encounters Short Film Festival
Paris - International Musicvideo Festival (Grand Prix)
Brest - Festival du Film Court
Lissabon - Queerlisboa Lesbian & Gay Festival (Audience Award for Best Short Film)
Berlin - animago conference & award (Jury award)
Berlin - Music Video Award (Grand Prix: Best Production & Best Concept)
Split - Festival of New Film and Video
Badalona - Internacional de Filmets
Kassel - Dokumentarfilm- & Videofest
Berlin - Interfilm-Festival
New York MIX-NY, Queer Film Festival
Wilmington - Cucalorus Annual Festival of Independent Film
Wiesbaden - exground on screen
Mainz - FilmZ Festival des Deutschen Kinos
San Fransisco - Dance Screen Film Festival
Bath Int. Film Festival
Deutscher Web Video Preis / German Web Video Award (Epic Award - Best Web-Video 2013)
Sapporo Int. Short Film Fesrival
Nice - Festival du Court Métrage
Madrid - Semana de Cine Experimental (2nd Prize - Jury´s Special Mention)
Wien - One Day Animation Festival
Leuven - Short Film Festival
Wien - VIS Vienna Independent Shorts (Best Austrian Music Video)
Thunder Bay CA - Bay Street Film Festival
Wien - FAK Int. Studenten Film Festival
Vancouver - Out on Screen Queer Film Festival
Linz - Ars Electronica (Special Mention)
Palatine US - Blue Wiskey Independent Film Festival (Best Music Video)
2014
Aarhus Film Festival
Basel - Clair-obscur Filmfestival
Toulouse - Sequence Short Film Festival
Tallinn - Animated Dreams / Black Night Film Festival
Rom - Capalbio Cinema Film Festival
Tampere - Film Festival
Birmingham - Flatpack Festival
Barcelona MECAL Short Film Festival
Stuttgart - Int. Trickfilm-Festival
Graz - Diagonale, Festival des österreichischen Films
Clermont-Ferrand - Festival de Court Metrage
Solothurn - Filmtage
Sundance Film Festival
Praha Short Film Festival
Atlanta Film Festival
Barcelona MECAL Short Film Festival
Nashville Film Festival
Osnabrück - EMAF - European Media Art Festival
Lille - Recontres Audiovisuelles
Toronto - Inside Out / Lesbian & Gay Film and Video Festival
Hamburg - Int. Kurzfilm-Festival & No Budget
Basel - Clair-obscur Filmfestival
Bukarest - BIEFF Int Experimental Film Festival
Teplice - Int. Art Film Festival Trencianske
Milano Aiace - Invideo
San Francisco - frameline L&G Film Festival
Guanajuato - Festival internacional de Cine
Cambridge MIT - European Short Film Festival
Recife - Janela Internacional de Cinema
München - UnderDox, Festival für Dokument und Experiment
Milwaukee - Int. Film Festival
Lund - International Fantastic Film Festival
2015
Ankara - Int. Film Festival
Ann Arbor - Film Festival
Wroclaw - WRO-International Media Art Biennale
Santiago de Compostela - Curtocircuito
2016
Busan - Intern Short Film Festival