Palette Films (Volume 1)

A palette is a selection of colors an artist uses to visually communicate, a board which an artist uses to mix and source paints from for their visuals, a range of colorful tones in a musical piece, and generally, a range of colors. Using these four definitions, Palette Films aims to tell the stories across the light and dark spectrums of each color. Continuingly, red will be the focus of this project honing in on the obvious and obliviously latent qualities it reflects and images that narrow the feel of each mood. While the number of installations to the first volume is undetermined and rather fluid, they will generally cover the known qualities of power, lust, seduction, and love, but also the lesser known qualities including the node of hatred and love red embodies, the frustrating sadness often exhibited but not regarded, and several concluding narratives that capsulize the 2017 Red and forthcoming 2018 Crimson Year.  

The RedBASE film -- as told by women -- is an introduction to an ongoing series of visuals inspired by the red narrative. Displaying the longest wavelength on the spectrum, red takes on diverse forms from a passionate and lustful nature to thick exhaustion and latent despondency. Psychologically, red grabs attention, and asserts a sexy, yet unattainable appeal to offer a dominant, but welcoming invitation of impulse. In its first installation, the selected clips offer how red showcases power through the bodies and voices of black women, with an interlude highlighting the importance of Afrofturism.  

00:00 - 00:18 ["Touch It (Remix)" by Busta Rhymes, Mary J. Blige, Missy Elliot, Papoose, DMX, Lloyd Banks, & Rah Digga] The compilation begins with a man introducing who he dubs as "queens of the game", and is representational of the black men standing at the forefront of inclusionary acts aside from black women themselves. Busta Rhymes aggressively begins the narrative with the phrase "see now you know who God be" also symbolizing the resistance against white supremacist images of God forced on black Americans which plays into how the black community perceives power. A realist might suggest power for a person of color is as tangible as Solange tickets after Saint Heron posted the link on Instagram 10 minutes ago, slim to none. However, power isn't anything to negotiate in this sense, power of self isn't to be outsourced, it's to be developed, dissembled and then refurbished. Developed by oneself, dissembled by one's experiences and refurbished by the lessons gained from those experiences. He then tells Mary to "get low", and in this story, it's the introduction to sourcing power from the inside. 

00:18 - 00:49 ["911" by Wycleff Jean ft. Mary J. Blige] Accompanied by another male counterpart Mary professes her entrapment in society while at the same time realizing how her entrapment affects her relationship. In this visual, the black woman is held contempt to the power of their lovers. In this context, she's in a dangerous relationship but she's willing to risk her freedom and her power to submit to the absolute power of love and companionship. This is a common story for many women, especially those in violent relationships, consistently relinquishing power to power leeches who only use that power to destroy their sense of power. In this clip, Mary appears to have reached the breaking point of having to go through so many troughs and valleys to access pure love, she's powerless in this situation; they both are, hence, "someone please call 911." Aside from the fact that red dominates her entire scene, the strengthening sorrow displayed but not often discussed is a strong image to consider. It brings into question the boundaries of what power looks like and even further how power can grow out of toxicity. 

00:49 - 1:35 [Afrofuturism Interlude] Here I wanted to interject with Afrofuturism as a means of accessing limitless power. The imagination can fill in holes where reality can't, and in the case of black oppression, we have plenty to fill. Plenty of black sci-fi fiction novels and comics invent weapons and monsters that target racists in cities filled with white supremacist dystopia. Given the imaginative force of Afrofuturistic literature, black people are able to liberate themselves in an entirely new world, created just for them, to heal, to reflect, to source power they uncontrollably lack in society. While other clips suggest ways power affects us directly or indirectly this clip serves as an invitation for manipulating power over general overbearing and oppressive circumstances through one's imagination and oneself. At the end, two hosts mention how "blacks always get killed in sci-fi films" and how they're "all bad", the relationship between the two explains itself.

1:35 - 1:59 ["Sock It To Me" by Missy Elliot, Lil Kim & Da Brat] Missy Elliot assumes the application of using Afrofuturism to fuel her power. In this clip, she and Lil Kim triumph over a bot that would have assumably killed them. Coincidentally she is expressing two forms of internal power; the power of lust, owning it and communicating it, and the power of self. Lust popularly has a desperate connotation, but here lust is a summons for a man/woman to prove themselves sexually because they're both grown and she's tired of waiting. There is nothing wrong with yearning for physical affection, but society tells us to package those feelings and disguise them with flirting and playing the dating game(s) to not come off as pushy, easy, or desperate. But why, fake it? There's power in lust, confidence to earn in lust and satisfaction guaranteed in lust.

1:59 - 2:11 ["Red Barz" by Cardi B] Cardi B disrupts the flow of power with unapologetic aggression and poise illustrating that power can overcompensate itself into imperious self-righteousness which should be self-fulfilling, but it's looked over as arrogance, pompousness or plain conceit. However, as Cardi B does in this clip and throughout her career, she claims her confidence in an heir that's both relatable and mysteriously magical. Even so, just as she displays her confidence in herself, she also has that same fire for the people around her ("touch mine/getting slumped-slimed/one time"). We think of confidence in red as arrogance when it's a display of power, and ownership of one's past and present while being unbothered by the future. In other words, it's bliss. The aggression isn't anything to be intimidated by, but rather something to revere because in its demonization, it still stands, untouched and tall. 

2:11 - 2:35 ["Hot Like Fire" by Aaliyah (live)] Aaliyah takes charge of the stage with her effortlessly cool demeanor, but she jeopardizes it by inviting the audience to her party (which they should be grateful to be in attendance of), but in the same breath she's calling the audience out on their low energy ("come on y'all"). Her power is being relinquished to her audience as any performer should be, but it's not being received in the manner that it's given so she loses that cool, the unapologetic poise she's known for, and responds to the audience’s lack of luster. In this case, she trades her power of self for the power of people, generally speaking, but she almost gets it back as she hits her first note.

2:35 - 3:34 ["F.U.B.U" by Solange Knowles (live)] Taking over, Solange reminds the audience that power is reciprocal on stage; the audience fuels her as she returns the favor. When the beat drops she shifts from an angelic, controlled sense of power and self-awareness into a liberating and formless incarnation of power. Covering this song as a tribute to her Houston roots, she exercised this risk where she knew it would work most. We often offer ourselves, thus our power to the wrong spaces which often drain, disrespect, or disregard the power of vulnerability. From this clip, it's clear that red in terms of power is formless and acts just as Solange did on that stage. It's demanding, yet inviting, aggressive, yet delicate, stoic, yet vulnerable. Power is not one-sided and obvious, it's the contrary.