The Threee Geniuses Manifesto:

The Threee Geniuses (3G) is not only a television show and a revolutionary movement, it is pure psychedelia personified. It is the birth, the death, the re-birth, and the re-death of psychedelia. Each episode captures the essence of Reality. Because there is no pre-production or planning whatsoever, each and every episode is created anew by the Creator. While some hacks spend years writing scripts that are never produced, Threee Geniuses bypasses this dilemma by doing away with the script going directly to production. The narrative form is utterly useless and pass� anyway.

Although relatively few people have seen or even heard of the Threee Geniuses, everyone who has seen it, has been inspired to produce his or her very own television program. This is why we say it is a movement. People are reclaiming the airwaves. The television revolution is being revolutionarily televised!

Traditional television is beautiful, but it is too entertaining. Television producers are always catering to the tastes of the viewing audience in order to sell commercial time to advertisers. We need more television that repulses the viewer. Only television that is unwatchable can keep greedy corporations' advertising dollars away.

Threee Geniuses consistently reaches levels of complete unwatchability. It can only be truly appreciated by viewers who achieve one of two states of perception. Paradoxically, these states are polar opposites of each other, yet both can be obtained by watching Threee Geniuses. The first is that of a newborn baby: television perception consists only of pure colors and sound. There is no overt meaning, only sensation. The second state of mind at which Threee Geniuses can be optimally experienced transcends normal television viewing. It is the state of pure symbolism. Every sound, every cut, every movement has profound symbolic meaning. Symbolic of what? It depends entirely on the inner psyche of the viewer.

The show and the viewer's belief system and internal universe become one. It is at this level that the television is truly speaking directly to the viewer. As the name indicates, Threee Geniuses is not individual. Rather, it represents the individual self-proclaimed genius trying to freely express his or her individual artistic vision. Sometimes the collective effort supports the individual vision, but more often the collective destroys the vision. Nevertheless, egomania must be exploited as it drives all great art. And the collision of multiple megalomaniacs produces true dramatic conflict.

Threee Geniuses is literally littered with egomaniacs: Francine Dancer (the sometimes homeless, wheelchair-ridden go-go dancer can't even walk, but once the cameras start rolling, she can magically dance for two half-hour shows back to back), Stangelyne (the transvestite bodybuilder with Tourette's Syndrome who flexes his drug-produced muscles for the camera), Giddle Psychedelic (the Partridge Family Temple High Priestess who literally makes love to the camera, Dan Kapelovitz (master of cameralingus), Don Bolles (slaking the soundwaves with Revoxed incomprehensible live audio), Jon Shere (gawking at himself in the television monitor screaming at everybody); Doug (half human, half robot) and Bear (the ultimate egomaniac).

All human beings are egomaniacs by nature, therefore depicting the way that an egomaniac interacts with the camera best captures human nature. Because the subjects of the cameras are simultaneously the operators of the cameras, the equation becomes multiplied that much more. The cast is the crew. The process is the product. Television becomes a war. Therefore we demand that you join our holy war and take the Vow of Psychedelia to create Reality Television where television becomes reality and vice versa.

Dogma 3G

The Vow of Psychedelia

1. Shooting must be done in a public access studio. Props must be gathered together at the last moment. The public access props must be utilized as much as possible (fake plants, desks, chairs) as well as items that are not intended to be props (ladders, fire extinguishers, traffic cones, etc.). Shooting may go out of the studio only if the camera chords reach that far (e.g.. into the control room, or a nearby bathroom). If a particular location is necessary, a videotape of that location may be mixed into the show live to tape.

2. The sound can come from any source (records, videos, live my little pony radio feeds, live phone calls, musical instruments, audio cassettes, c.d.'s, revoxes, laughtracks etc.) as long as it is produced in real time while the show is being videotaped.

3. Shooting must be done with three studio cameras on wheeled tripods that are switched and mixed live. The switching should be done at a break-neck speed. A non-studio camera may be used such as a pixelvision camera or any hand-held video camera but the image will be created by connecting the camera to a television monitor and then aiming one of the studio cameras at the monitor.

4. The show must be in bright psychedelic colors. Black and white footage can be mixed in if the footage itself is necessary. The lighting should be the studio lighting. Other lights may be brought in for effect including but not limited to strobe lights, black lights, and overhead projectors. If there is too little light for exposure either open up the aperture on the camera or turn on more lights.

5. Any special effect that the studio offers can and should be used including but not limited to chroma-key, luma-key, wipes, double exposure, triple exposure, trails, moir� exploitation, character generator and video feedback. The show must go beyond FCC allowances for color. The show may also glitch out of control making it impossible to reproduce the show properly on videotape.

6. All action must be superficial. Gratuitous sex and violence is especially appreciated. Because there must not be any plot or pre-written dialogue, all action is superficial. There are no actors, the only characters are the real characters interacting with the cameras. How one mugs for the cameras is the window to one's soul.

7. The show does not only take place here and now, it is here and now. All shows are shot live to tape in real time. All shows are 28 minutes and 30 seconds in length. There is no pre-production and no post-production, only pure unadulterated production. All editing must be done live. All dialogue and action must be made up on the spot as well as all camera work.

8. Any and every genre convention can and should be exploited.

9. The format must be 3/4" video. You may dub the show down to 1/2" VHS tapes for home viewing on VCR's.

10. The director must not be credited, but "For More Info call (323) 980-7995" must be put at the end of every show.

For more info call (323) 980-7995 or view http://www.kapelovitz.com/geniuses.htm

Dan Kapelovitz

San Pueblo, California 2000