Els últims anys he produït la "Sèrie dels centres comercials morts", 32 curtmetratges fins ara de centres comercials morts. Per aquells que no sabeu què és un centre comercial mort, bàsicament és un centre comercial que està passant temps difícils. Així que o bé té poques botigues i encara menys botiguers o bé està abandonat i caient en la ruïna. Sense ofertes a Penny's
In the last couple of years, I have produced what I call "The Dead Mall Series," 32 short films and counting about dead malls. Now, for those of you who are not familiar with what a dead mall is, it's basically a shopping mall that has fallen into hard times. So it either has few shops and fewer shoppers, or it's abandoned and crumbling into ruin. No sale at Penny's.
(Riures)
(Laughter)
Vaig començar a produir aquesta sèrie a principis del 2015 després de passar una mena de període fosc en el qual simplement ja no volia crear pel·lícules. Vaig guardar la càmera i simplement vaig parar. El 2015 vaig decidir fer un curtmetratge sobre el centre comercial Owings Mills. Owings Mills va obrir el 1986. Ho hauria de saber perquè era allà el dia de la inauguració. Era amb la meva família, i amb gairebé totes les famílies de Baltimore i havies de donar voltes durant 45 minuts per trobar un espai per aparcar. Us podeu imaginar, això no passa als centres comercials ara.
I started producing this series in early 2015 after going through kind of a dark period in my life where I just didn't want to create films anymore. I put my camera away and I just stopped. So in 2015, I decided to make a short film about the Owings Mills Mall. Owings Mills Mall opened in 1986. I should know because I was there on opening day. I was there with my family, along with every other family in Baltimore, and you had to drive around for 45 minutes just to find a parking spot. So if you can imagine, that's not happening at the malls today.
La primera feina a un centre comercial que vaig tenir d'adolescent era en una botiga d'esports anomenada Herman's World of Sports. Potser la recordeu.
My first mall job that I had as a teenager was at a sporting goods store called Herman's World of Sports. Maybe you remember.
(Cantant) Herman's World of Sports.
(Singing) Herman's World of Sports.
Us en recordeu?
You guys remember that?
(Riure)
(Laughter)
Sí, vaig treballar en una botiga de sabates per dones. En una botiga d'articles de pell, i també vaig treballar en una botiga de vídeos i no sent gaire amic de les arts de la venda al públic...
Yeah, so I worked in a lady's shoe store. I worked in a leather goods store, and I also worked in a video store, and not being one who was very fond of the retail arts --
(Riures)
(Laughter)
Em van acomiadar de totes les feines.
I got fired from every single job.
(Riures)
(Laughter)
Entre aquestes feines poc remunerades, feia el que tot adolescent normal feia als anys noranta. Robava a les botigues. Estic de broma. Passava l'estona amb els amics al centre comercial.
In between these low-paying retail jobs, I did what any normal teenager did in the 1990s. I shoplifted. I'm just kidding. I hung out with my friends at the mall.
(Riures)
(Laughter)
Tothom fa: "Oh, Déu meu, quin tipus de conferència és aquesta?"
Everyone's like, "Oh my God, what kind of talk is this?"
(Riure)
(Laughter)
Passar l'estona al centre comercial podia ser divertit, però també penós, com compartir un cigarret amb una rata de 40 anys desempleada que s'ha posat pintallavis negre per la nit durant el descans de la teva feina mal pagada de merda.
Hanging out at the mall could be fun, but it could be really lame, too, like sharing a cigarette with a 40-year-old unemployed mall rat who has put on black lipstick for the night while you're on your break from your crappy minimum wage job.
Mentre estic aquí avui, Owings Mills ha estat destruït i està a punt de demolició. L'última vegada que hi vaig ser, era al vespre, i era uns tres dies abans que tanquessin permanentment. I senties... mai van anunciar que tancava però tenies un pressentiment, un sentiment inquietant, que alguna cosa grossa estava a punt de passar, com si fos el final del camí. Era esgarrifós caminar pel centre comercial. Deixeu que us ho ensenyi.
As I stand here today, Owings Mills has been gutted and it's ready for the wrecking ball. The last time I was there, it was in the evening, and it was about three days before they closed the mall for good. And you kind of felt -- they never announced the mall was closing, but you had this sort of feeling, this ominous feeling, that something big was going to happen, like it was the end of the road. It was a very creepy walk through the mall. Let me show you.
(Música)
(Music)
Quan vaig començar a produir la "Sèrie dels centres comercials morts," vaig posar els vídeos a YouTube, i tot i creure que eren interessants, francament, no pensava que els altres compartirien l'entusiasme per un tema tan depriment i avorrit. Però aparentment m'equivocava, perquè molta gent va començar a comentar. I al començament els comentaris eren... com "Déu meu, és el centre comercial de la meva infantesa. Què ha passat?" I després rebia comentaris de gent que deien: "N'hi ha un al meu poble. Hauries de venir a filmar-lo." Així que vaig començar a viatjar per la regió de l'Atlàntic Mitjà filmant aquests centres comercials morts. Alguns estaven oberts. D'altres, abandonats. Sempre era difícil entrar als que estaven abandonats, però d'alguna manera sempre trobava forma d'entrar.
So when I started producing "The Dead Mall Series," I put the videos up onto YouTube, and while I thought they were interesting, frankly I didn't think others would share the enthusiasm for such a drab and depressing topic. But apparently I was wrong, because a lot of people started to comment. And at first the comments were like -- basically like, "Oh my God, that's the mall from my childhood. What happened?" And then I would get comments from people who were like, "There's a dead mall in my town. You should come and film it." So I started to travel around the mid-Atlantic region filming these dead malls. Some were open. Some were abandoned. It was kind of always hard to get into the ones that were abandoned, but I somehow always found a way in.
(Riures)
(Laughter)
Els que encara estan oberts, sempre fan aquesta cosa estranya... com els morts. Hi queden només tres botigues, però intenten rentar-li la cara perquè sembli que estan en auge. Per exemple, hi ha una botiga buida i baixen la persiana. A Owings Mills, per exemple, van posar una lona sobre la persiana. Oi? I té una foto d'arxiu d'una dona que està molt feliç i que aguanta una brusa, i està així...
The malls that are still open, they always do this weird thing -- like the dead malls. They'll have three stores left, but they try to spruce it up to make it appear like things are on the up-and-up. For example, you'll have an empty store and they bring the gate down. So at Owings Mills, for example, they put this tarp over the gate. Right? And it's got a stock photo of a woman who is so happy and she's holding a blouse, and she's like --
(Riures)
(Laughter)
I hi ha un noi al seu costat, amb una tassa d'espresso, i està així...
And then there's a guy standing next to her, with, like, an espresso cup, and he's like --
(Riures)
(Laughter)
I diu: "Què et porta avui?"
And it says, "What brings you today?"
(Riures)
(Laughter)
Volia estar espantat i deprimit. Gràcies.
I wanted to be scared and depressed. Thank you.
Els comentaris continuaven arribant als vídeos, de tot el país, i després de tot el món. I vaig començar a pensar, això podria ser alguna cosa bona, però havia de posar-me creatiu, perquè pensava, quant de temps estarà la gent mirant-me passejant per un centre comercial buit?
So the comments just kept pouring in on the videos, from all over the country, and then all over the world. And I started to think, this could really be something, but I had to get creative, because I'm like, how long are people going to sit and watch me waddling through an empty mall?
(Riure)
(Laughter)
Els episodis originals els vaig filmar amb un iPhone. Caminava pel centre comercial amb un iPhone i, ja sabeu. Així.
So the original episodes I filmed with an iPhone. So I'd walk through the mall with an iPhone, and, you know. Like that.
(Riure)
(Laughter)
I els de seguretat... perquè als centres comercials no els agrada la fotografia, doncs els de seguretat venien i deien: "Guarda això," i jo: "Ok". Vaig haver de posar-me creatiu i cautelós, i vaig començar a fer servir una càmera amagada i diferents tècniques per aconseguir les imatges que necessitava, i bàsicament el que volia era fer el vídeo com si fos una experiència en primera persona, com si seus... et poses els auriculars mirant la pantalla... és com si fossis al vídeo, com un videojoc, bàsicament.
And security -- because malls, they don't like photography -- so the security would come up and be like, "Put that away," and I'm like, "OK." So I had to get creative and sneaky, so I started using a hidden camera and different techniques to get the footage that I needed, and basically what I wanted to do was make the video like it was a first-person experience, like you are sitting -- put your headphones on watching the screen -- it's like, you're there in the video, like a video game, basically.
També vaig començar a fer servir música, col·laborant amb artistes que creen música anomenada "vaporwave". El vaporwave és un gènere que va emergir a principis dels 2010 entre les comunitats d'internet. Aquí en teniu un exemple.
I also started to use music, collaborating with artists who create music called vaporwave. And vaporwave is a music genre that emerged in the early 2010s among internet communities. Here's an example.
(Música)
(Music)
És d'un artista anomenat "Disconscious" d'un àlbum anomenat "Hologram Plaza." Si el busqueu, podreu sentir més cançons. El vaporwave és més que una forma d'art. És un moviment. És nihilista, és angoixant, però d'alguna manera és tranquil·litzador. Tota l'estètica és una forma de lidiar amb coses per les quals no pots fer res, com la falta de feina o seure al soterrani dels teus pares menjant ramen. Ve del desig d'una generació d'expressar la seva desesperança, de la mateixa manera que va fer la generació pre-internet gandulejant a la zona de restauració.
That's by an artist named Disconscious from an album he did called "Hologram Plaza." So if you look that up, you can hear more of those tunes. Vaporwave is more than an art form. It's like a movement. It's nihilistic, it's angsty, but it's somehow comforting. The whole aesthetic is a way of dealing with things you can't do anything about, like no jobs, or sitting in your parents' basement eating ramen noodles. Vaporwave came out of this generation's desire to express their hopelessness, the same way that the pre-internet generation did sitting around in the food court.
Un dels meus centres comercials preferits on he estat és a Corpus Christi (Texas), i es diu Sunrise Mall. Quan era petit, el que més m'agradava fer era veure pel·lícules, i solia mirar-les una vegada, i una altra i una altra. I una de les meves preferides era "La llegenda de Billie Jean." Els que hagueu vist "La llegenda de Billie Jean," sabreu que és una gran pel·lícula. M'encanta. I la Helen Slater i en Christian Slater i per si no ho sabeu, no són família. Molta gent pensa que eren germans. Però no ho són. Bé, el Sunrise Mall es feia servir a la pel·lícula com a lloc de rodatge. El centre és exactament igual que era el 1984. Estem parlant 32 anys després. Deixeu que us ho ensenyi.
One of my favorite malls I've been to is in Corpus Christi, and it's called the Sunrise Mall. When I was a kid, my favorite thing to do was watch movies, and I used to watch movies over and over and over again. And one of my favorite films was "The Legend of Billie Jean." Now, for those of you who have seen "The Legend of Billie Jean," you'll know that it's a great film. I love it. And Helen Slater and Christian Slater -- and if you didn't know, they are not related. Many people thought that they were brother and sister. They're not. But anyway, Sunrise Mall was used in the film as a filming location. The mall is exactly the same as it was in 1984. We're talking 32 years later. Let me show you.
(Vídeo) Dan Bell: I aquí hi ha Billie Jean corrent a través de la font, perseguida pels amics de Hubie Pyatt. I salta per aquí. I podeu veure la imatge aquí així és com està avui. És bastant increïble. Honestament, és exactament igual. I aquí cauen a la font, i ella puja corrent les escales. Això és una bona imatge de tot el que hi ha aquí.
(Video) Dan Bell: And here's Billie Jean running across the fountain, being chased by Hubie Pyatt's friends. And she jumps over here. And you can see the shot right here is what it looks like today. It's pretty incredible. I mean, honestly, it's exactly the same. And there they are falling in the fountain, and she runs up the stairs. This is a nice shot of the whole thing here.
Dan Bell: M'agrada tant això.
Dan Bell: I love that so much.
(Riures)
(Laughter)
Sempre penso que, si tingués un centre comercial mort... per què no aprofitar el seu estil vintage? Posa-hi un bar, posa menjar vegà a la zona de restauració i convida millennials i hipsters a venir, a beure i a menjar, i us garanteixo que en tres setmanes H&M i Levi's trucaran a la porta intentant aconseguir espai. No sé per què no ho fan, però aparentment, només està al meu cap, tot el dia.
I always think in my head, if I owned a dead mall -- why don't they embrace their vintage look? Put in a bar, like, put vegan food in the food court and invite millennials and hipsters to come and drink and eat, and I guarantee you within three weeks H&M and Levi's will be banging on the door trying to get space. I don't know why they don't do this, but apparently, it's only in my mind, it goes all day.
(Riures)
(Laughter)
Bé, ja acabo...
Anyway, in closing --
(Riures)
(Laughter)
Quan em van demanar fer aquesta conferència Vaig dir, "Teniu la persona adequada?"
When they first asked me to do this talk, I said, "Do you have the right person?"
(Riures)
(Laughter)
Aquestes conferències se suposa que han de ser inspiradores i...
These talks are supposed to be kind of inspiring and --
(Riure)
(Laughter)
Però vaig recordar una cosa. Vaig deixar la càmera, fa tres o quatre anys, i va caldre anar a aquests centres comercials perquè tornés a estar inspirat. I per veure el meu públic i gent de tot el món escrivint-me i dient: "Déu meu, m'encanten els teus vídeos," és increïble. I ni tan sols sé com explicar-ho, com a artista, com n'és de satisfactori, això. Si m'haguéssiu dit un any enrere que seria en aquest escenari parlant amb vosaltres, gent meravellosa, mai m'ho hauria cregut. Em sento honrat i agraït.
I remembered something, though. I put my camera down three or four years ago, and it took going to these malls for me to be inspired again. And to see my audience and people from all over the world writing me and saying, "God, I love your videos," is incredible. I don't know how to even explain it, as an artist, how fulfilling that is. If you would have told me a year ago that I would be standing on this stage talking to all of you wonderful people, I would have never believed it. I am humbled and so appreciative.
Moltes gràcies.
Thank you very much.
(Aplaudiments)
(Applause)