Christoph Draeger b. 1965
Feel Lucky, Punk??! (2000)
Feel Lucky Punk??! 1997-2000
MiniDV to DVD 13 min

Back in 1996, I found two used and seemingly damaged surveillance monitors in a thrift store in New York: the image of the shop where they came from was burned into the screen from years of usage. That inspired me to imagine (and record on video) hold-up scenes which could have played-out in these monitors in reality. But instead of inventing my own scenarios, I decided to take famous hold-up scenes from movies (the choice fell to Taxidriver, Pulp Fiction, Thelma&Louise, Magnum Force, Natural Born Killer), and have them re-enacted by my friends for a repositioned surveillance camera: the goal was to fit the scenes into the ghostly space visible on the screen of the surveillance monitor. In addition, we used a second camera for close up and moving shots. In postproduction, I inserted my own rushes into the original movie footage, also using the original sound. This piece was the beginning of my explorations into the topic of the "remake". The first three shootings took place in the empty P.S.1 museum in 1997: we used the empty spaces as is, no set design but a few props (water pistol for ex). The Magnum Force clip piece was filmed in my loft in Brooklyn in 1998, using the backdrop of my apartment en lieu of a grocery store. Natural Born Killer was shot in a real supermarket in France in 2000, using the surveillance cameras in addition of a handy cam.