L.A. JOURNAL explores the personality of a restless city which has never settled, which remains undefinable. The only permanent thing about Los Angeles is that it is forever changing. The character of L.A. is not something which can be stuffed and displayed like a big game trophy. The most we can do is snap a picture as it whizzes past in a blur of motion, always leaving us to wonder what strange creature almost trampled us, what type of things it eats, what incredible landscapes it roams, and what fantastic rituals it practices.

L.A. JOURNAL captures the frenetic multilayered buzz of L.A. using a hybrid form of photography, a kind of "pixilated photojournalism" which was not possible before laserdisc. It also includes thousands of archival photographs of Los Angeles history and a selection of early Los Angeles music to serve as backgrounds that expose the foundation of the city and the roots of its identity. Spoken word pieces by Angelenos lend a tangible sense of character to the people who live here, and express how they feel about it. Finally, an experimental, computer-driven score accents the animated photodocument, eliciting L.A.'s restless push towards an unknown future.

Perhaps the closest we can come to comprehending Los Angeles is to participate in its wild and chaotic dance; to scatter madly for the falling coins, and count our takings afterwards. In order to experience the full gestalt of L.A., we need to be not in two, but a thousand places at once. To that end, L.A. JOURNAL is a multifaceted glimpse of Los Angeles, a dense slice of the city on laserdisc for a frame-by-frame analysis, and an important document of a metropolis-in-motion.

Photography
Mark C. Brems

Original Audio Score
Carl Stone

Archival Collections
UCLA Department of Special Collections, Los Angeles Times History Center, Huntington Library, Bruce Henstell, Bill Reagh, Michael Dare, Patrick Media Group

Archival Photo Curator
Bruce Henstell

Archival Music
Southwest Museum,
Lance Bowling

Technical Direction
Morgan Holly

Videographic Design
Julia Jones with Rebekah Behrendt

Producer
Mark C. Brems

Executive Producers
Masaaki Hagino,
Michael Nash