1. In the late 1970s the sculpture was redefined as “expanded field” by Rosiland Krauss. This means that sculpture is anything that can be created in 3d space. This carrys over into film in the idea that performance is sculptural and the mis en scene can be a “family of objects.” One could also argue that since everything in 3d space is a sculpture, film is just a record or documentation of that sculpture.
2. The old way of thinking was that people gained experiences from art only because it was created with the fact that they are physically grounded in space in mind. There was only one way to perceive a piece. The new way of thinking stripped that away and let the viewer decide how one perceives the art.
3. When reffering to “dual articulation” of the Cremaster films, the authors are speaking about the films ability to thwart and fulfill various genres. The first influence from which is borrows is performance art and the second is blockbuster films; due to its high budget and high production values.
Walley Article
1. Walleys aim in this article is to explore the dichotomy between avant garde filmmakers and “artists working in film/video.” The basic difference between the two is that the latter is produced mainly for gallery exhibition.
2. Mode of film practice refers to the historical teaching, texts, and ideas that give a film context in which to exist. Line describing a cone by Mccall is a famous example of a non experimental mode of cinema. Since mode of film practice works on a set of guidelines and previous texts, one can use these texts to separate the two cinematic ideas.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Reading response 8
1. Punk music and the No-wave film scene share many similarities in terms of technology, style, and community. Crew for films were formed in the same way bands were formed: not necessarily by artistic talent but by association and friendships. Secondly the bands were forming out of a mentality of "if people who cant play the guitar can pick it up and start a band then why cant we get a camera and make films?" Lastly, the films inherited the same "devil may care" attitude that Nares says came from rock and roll.
2. Punk film was a reaction to the film institutionalization on the 1970s through the technology used and the ideology behind it. First, punk filmmakers used super-8 film compared to the usual 16 and 35mm in most film venues. This plays into the idea that anybody could make a film but also brings with it low quality and operating costs. Nare's also states in the pdf that they wanted to make movies like the ones made at the turn of the century. These filmmakers werent trying to copy fillmmakers of their time but rather the earlier filmmakers.
3. The filmmakers referenced as influences on Poe, Mitchell, and Dick are Godard and the entire new-wave movement including Truffaut, and Rohmer, as well as Warhol.
4. The venues affected the films content and style through the ways that the filmmakers wanted the audience to participate. At first they wanted a place where people could just be (smoke, drink, whatever) and then if the piece grabbed them they began to participate. But when Blackbox came out they wanted to make the audience feel trapped so they blasted the soundtrack and also included parts of silence. The audience seemed to play in the filmmakers mind throughout the entire process.
5. In the statement "Fake right, go left", Baldwin is speaking about the contrast between what is communicated through the words being said vs. the unspoken that develops from how/who/where it is said. "Double-voicing" comes from the meaning derived from voice-over vs the image on the screen.
2. Punk film was a reaction to the film institutionalization on the 1970s through the technology used and the ideology behind it. First, punk filmmakers used super-8 film compared to the usual 16 and 35mm in most film venues. This plays into the idea that anybody could make a film but also brings with it low quality and operating costs. Nare's also states in the pdf that they wanted to make movies like the ones made at the turn of the century. These filmmakers werent trying to copy fillmmakers of their time but rather the earlier filmmakers.
3. The filmmakers referenced as influences on Poe, Mitchell, and Dick are Godard and the entire new-wave movement including Truffaut, and Rohmer, as well as Warhol.
4. The venues affected the films content and style through the ways that the filmmakers wanted the audience to participate. At first they wanted a place where people could just be (smoke, drink, whatever) and then if the piece grabbed them they began to participate. But when Blackbox came out they wanted to make the audience feel trapped so they blasted the soundtrack and also included parts of silence. The audience seemed to play in the filmmakers mind throughout the entire process.
5. In the statement "Fake right, go left", Baldwin is speaking about the contrast between what is communicated through the words being said vs. the unspoken that develops from how/who/where it is said. "Double-voicing" comes from the meaning derived from voice-over vs the image on the screen.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Response
A. Sitney states that Warhols art is "anti-romantic" because Warhols method in creating his art involves no romantic thought what so ever. Romanticism stresses emotion as a source of aesthetic experience. Warhols pop art was not based in emotion but rather in creation. Warhol basically said "look what I can take, do a few things too, and then BOOM: its art." Rather than find beauty in emotion, Warhol finds beauty in mundane, commercial objects. Stephen Kock says that Warhol wanted to eliminate himself from the stressful world of human existence and become beautiful like the objects and scenes he filmed.
B. The distance between Warhol and Snow/Gehr cannot be reconciled because the artists have completely different motivations. Warhol came from a lucrative painting career to film only to lambaste the original traditions by pointing a camera at something and letting it roll. The structural filmmakers take their films more seriously in terms of planning and execution.
C. "Conscious ontology of the viewing experience" means that the viewer is constantly questioning or analyzing the nature of existence. Warhols films are actually studies in ontology themselves. What else is going on in films like Sleep or Empire because one object or being existing. This is furthered by the idea of duration. The audience does not just see a shot of a man sleeping and then something else. Nor does the audience see many different man sleeping. The audience see's one man sleeping for 6 hours. The man sleeping is exists on the screen in the same time period as the audience exists watching it.
Structural films work in the same way except they concentrate on the total existence of one space over a period of time versus one object or being.
D. Structural film is related to the psychodrama/mythopoetic/ and lyrical tradition because even though it radically simplified the process and took cinema away from the dream metaphor, it is still in itself trying to create a metaphor for film. Instead of trying to show a dream through the eyes of the filmmaker it shows a space or a object as it actually exists or could actually exist.
B. The distance between Warhol and Snow/Gehr cannot be reconciled because the artists have completely different motivations. Warhol came from a lucrative painting career to film only to lambaste the original traditions by pointing a camera at something and letting it roll. The structural filmmakers take their films more seriously in terms of planning and execution.
C. "Conscious ontology of the viewing experience" means that the viewer is constantly questioning or analyzing the nature of existence. Warhols films are actually studies in ontology themselves. What else is going on in films like Sleep or Empire because one object or being existing. This is furthered by the idea of duration. The audience does not just see a shot of a man sleeping and then something else. Nor does the audience see many different man sleeping. The audience see's one man sleeping for 6 hours. The man sleeping is exists on the screen in the same time period as the audience exists watching it.
Structural films work in the same way except they concentrate on the total existence of one space over a period of time versus one object or being.
D. Structural film is related to the psychodrama/mythopoetic/ and lyrical tradition because even though it radically simplified the process and took cinema away from the dream metaphor, it is still in itself trying to create a metaphor for film. Instead of trying to show a dream through the eyes of the filmmaker it shows a space or a object as it actually exists or could actually exist.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Chelsea girls response.
I'll start by saying that to me, Chelsea girls has been the most engaging film that we have watched thus far. Without meaning to be it is a perfect representation of the emotional and behavioral changes that occur while on drugs. We watch the Pope of Greenwich Village get some spike then go on a violent tirade against a harmless young lady. The scene becomes incredible emotional and one cant help but feel they are in the room marinating in the awkward tension. It even has a vivid climax as he pulls her hair and smacks her in the face five or six times. Then we watch as he rationalizes with himself over what he did, then the drugs come back into play and he mellows out. On top of all this we have Nico on the other frame crying softly with no audio. It's an almost perfect juxtaposition as one can switch sides if they become too bored or shocked with the other. It was a brilliant idea to just place a person in that state in front of a camera and see what comes out. Even the lack-luster audio quality seemed to make it more raw and unscripted (even though it was definitely not scripted in the first place.)
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
1. It is suggested that Smith's obsession of Maria Montez comes from her ability to grab the viewers attention even though she was a meteocre actress at best. It was said that she is the original diva; that when she was in a room she was all anyone could pay attention too. It seemed also in the film that she wore very flamboyant outfits that would tend to attract the gay crowd. To her defense though, she was a very pretty lady, especially in technicolor.
2. New York in the 60s was one of epicenters of deviation from the status quo's need to conform. It was here that the film makers could live cheaply in large apartments and root through garbage bins behind department stores.
3. After the obscenity chargers were brought Mekas began traveling around and showing the film; daring the police to bust them up. Smith felt that Mekas was a lobster or a crab; someone who scavenges around and takes credit for other peoples work while not paying dues to those who created it. Smith referred to him as "uncle fishhook."
4. John Zorn states about Normal Love that instead of being a film its self, Smith should have just had an audience there while he was filming. This coincides with the art movements in the 60s which stated art as an activity to do in fellowship. Smith strived to create a reality in his films that is unachievable in the real world.
7. Allen Ginsberg, Bob Dylan, and Jonas Mekas.
8. Rubins film consists of two reels: Reel A has all the sexual action on it and reel B has images of penises and vaginas among other things. It is then projected simultaneously with the audio being live radio from any station. The film cannot be reproduced or digitized as it is more of an event than a film. One would have to record a live showing to get the idea how how it works.
2. New York in the 60s was one of epicenters of deviation from the status quo's need to conform. It was here that the film makers could live cheaply in large apartments and root through garbage bins behind department stores.
3. After the obscenity chargers were brought Mekas began traveling around and showing the film; daring the police to bust them up. Smith felt that Mekas was a lobster or a crab; someone who scavenges around and takes credit for other peoples work while not paying dues to those who created it. Smith referred to him as "uncle fishhook."
4. John Zorn states about Normal Love that instead of being a film its self, Smith should have just had an audience there while he was filming. This coincides with the art movements in the 60s which stated art as an activity to do in fellowship. Smith strived to create a reality in his films that is unachievable in the real world.
7. Allen Ginsberg, Bob Dylan, and Jonas Mekas.
8. Rubins film consists of two reels: Reel A has all the sexual action on it and reel B has images of penises and vaginas among other things. It is then projected simultaneously with the audio being live radio from any station. The film cannot be reproduced or digitized as it is more of an event than a film. One would have to record a live showing to get the idea how how it works.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Reading Response Four
I have to admit that I was surprised by George Maciunas 10 Feet. Usually in avant-garde there tends to be a movement away from math and set patterns; especially ones that the viewer can figure out. I figured that 10ft was supposed to be a metaphor for something else but it turns out it was exactly what it said it was: 10 ft (of film). The best part was that it skipped 8 but in my head I knew exactly when 9 was coming. One on the other hand is a interesting film because of my obsession with slow motion. One is much more engaging than 10 Feet because not only does it show an image; it's an image we wouldn't be able to enjoy because of it's brevity.
1. Guns of the Trees, Rabbitshit Haikus, and Diaries Notes and Sketches are all films from the time period that Mekus states was the birth of "Baudelairean Cinema." Charles Baudleraire was a poet poet in the later 1800s that also lambasted religion in is work. Aside from both being polemicists, each of these men are recognized as brining back romanticism to their movement in art. Both men also actively participate in the critiquing of the art that they themselves participate in.
2. Mekus's views on avant garde cinema changed in the late 1950s and early 1960s due to the impression of nouvelle vague in France. Nouvelle Vague is an all-inclusive term for French filmmakers in the '50s and '60s that were linked by their self-scious rejection of classical cinematic form and youthful iconoclasm. Mekus also saw a rise in new filmmakers coming from various countries that hadnt had time to become established directors. He also saw a change over from strictly "experimental" films to more active and socially conscious works. Seeing that the early films had led up to this new movement, he began to go back and watch those also.
3. Mekus's passion for acting shaped his views on film in the 1960s to the point where he picked 4 films for awards because of their use of performance and who was performing. He also stated that he was less interested in classical acting than spontaneous performance that comes about in Engels and Leacocks films.
5. Jack Smith uses a number of visual techniques in Flaming Creatures. He used outdated color stock to produce pastel hues and murky, high contrast shots to create different depths and ranges of space. The film itself is 10 scenes that are more or less held together by rhythm and separately loosely into 3 episodes. The photography changes for each scene like a musical piece.
Callie Angell
6. Angell characterizes Warhols first period of filmmaking as minimalist and generally "unwatchable." Films like Sleep and Empire which both are more than 5 hours long and both feature little or no action during a static shot on one subject
7. Not only did screen tests help Warhol learn specific ways of posing, framing, and lighting his subjects but they also served as a guest book for all the famous writers, actors, and filmmakers that came through his factory at the time. The screen tests paralleled other works of his such as "Photobooth pictures," an exercise in serial photography.
1. Guns of the Trees, Rabbitshit Haikus, and Diaries Notes and Sketches are all films from the time period that Mekus states was the birth of "Baudelairean Cinema." Charles Baudleraire was a poet poet in the later 1800s that also lambasted religion in is work. Aside from both being polemicists, each of these men are recognized as brining back romanticism to their movement in art. Both men also actively participate in the critiquing of the art that they themselves participate in.
2. Mekus's views on avant garde cinema changed in the late 1950s and early 1960s due to the impression of nouvelle vague in France. Nouvelle Vague is an all-inclusive term for French filmmakers in the '50s and '60s that were linked by their self-scious rejection of classical cinematic form and youthful iconoclasm. Mekus also saw a rise in new filmmakers coming from various countries that hadnt had time to become established directors. He also saw a change over from strictly "experimental" films to more active and socially conscious works. Seeing that the early films had led up to this new movement, he began to go back and watch those also.
3. Mekus's passion for acting shaped his views on film in the 1960s to the point where he picked 4 films for awards because of their use of performance and who was performing. He also stated that he was less interested in classical acting than spontaneous performance that comes about in Engels and Leacocks films.
5. Jack Smith uses a number of visual techniques in Flaming Creatures. He used outdated color stock to produce pastel hues and murky, high contrast shots to create different depths and ranges of space. The film itself is 10 scenes that are more or less held together by rhythm and separately loosely into 3 episodes. The photography changes for each scene like a musical piece.
Callie Angell
6. Angell characterizes Warhols first period of filmmaking as minimalist and generally "unwatchable." Films like Sleep and Empire which both are more than 5 hours long and both feature little or no action during a static shot on one subject
7. Not only did screen tests help Warhol learn specific ways of posing, framing, and lighting his subjects but they also served as a guest book for all the famous writers, actors, and filmmakers that came through his factory at the time. The screen tests paralleled other works of his such as "Photobooth pictures," an exercise in serial photography.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Questions 02/03
The film Allegreto by Fischinger is completely different from Cormans House of Usher. Not only is Fischingers film animated but it is also in color and deals solely in the beauty of the image and it's connection to the sound. Cormans film shows the growing need to tell a story that comes into Hollywood. Some aspects of expressionism do come out in House of Usher , specifically with the large german-expressionist sets and the canted angles.
Sitney on Brakhage
1. When it comes to film and vision, Brakhage demands that the filmmaker show what he sees rather then what he/she has been taught to see or thinks they should see. He also believes that have been taught to be unconscious of what we really see. He believes that vision includes eye movements and changes in focus of what the mind sees as well as shapes formed when ones eyes are closed and what one sees during dreams or "brain movies." This coincides with Wallace Stevens who states that reality is the product of our imagination as it shapes the world and that the eye is just a thing, a "vulgate of experience." Both he and Brakhage are trying to capture moments specifically in time in the exact way each of them perceived them. To Brakhage it's by turning the camera into a third eye with all of the movements and randomization of a real eye while Stevens uses words to achieve the impossibility of direct knowledge of reality.
2. Going back to page 168 in Lyrical film, Sitney also argues that because of Brakhages ideas of vision and their application to his films he stumbled upon a representation of space that corresponds to that of Abstract Expressionism that did not occur to him. My example for Sitneys arguement is action painting (sometimes used as a synonym for Abstract Expressionism). In action painting the artist drips, slings, or throws paint into a canvas depending on their movement or action. Basically the painting would come out as a record physical expression of the artist. Brakhage does the same thing when he paints/ scratches on film; granted on a much smaller canvas. This even shows in the editing of Window Water Baby Moving as it shows is excited and disoriented state during such an event.
Sitney "Apocolypses and Picaresques"
3. Sitney says the use of Synecdoche, meaning "simultaneous understanding," plays a major role in MacLaine's films. Specifically in the section in The End where Charles is running from the police and then "with his last dime he removed himself from the red tape..." we are shown a turnstile and then the golden gate bridge. Even though it isn't state outright, through the sound and the image it is understood he jumped from the bridge. To quote Sitney "the combination of picture and sound at the conclusion of the next episode exemplifies the latter." This happens again in the next section with the suicide of John being compared to the dancers legs and sleeping bum. After seeing the The End Brakhage also tried to go beyond the trance film as MacLaine did by making a three part film with a unifying theme Reflections on Black. He also used the ideas of direct and indirect address in Blue Roses and helped MacLaine distribute his films.
4. MacLaines view on doom seems to be more of a serious outlook. Each apocalypse (for each character) is presented in a somber fashion with deep narration. Conner on the other hand seems to have a more comical, matter-of-fact outlook. The scene in which the guy meets the girl, they ride the horse, and then are blown up by the atomic bomb could be seen as funny, I don't think that was it's original intention. MacLaine seems to be aware of death and the apocolypse and wishes there was something to do about it while Conner seems to just point it out and accept it; "engendering the viewer into a state of ambivalence."
5. Both The Flower Thief and The Great Blondino are expressions of Beat sensibility because they go against mainstream culture and give critical representations of it. Both films are picaresque examples because each involves a "roguish main character who lives by their wits in a corrupt society."
Bruce Jenkins "Fluxfilms in Three False Starts" (this article was hard to read)
7. What jenkins means by the democratization of production is that he created a way for anyone to make films that are so-called "art." Since fluxfilms are there solely to refute the highly established, highly creativity based films that were at the time considered art they needed a way to produce films in an easy way. Thus making fluxfilms available by the yard and going against all the time and effort taken by Brakhage and his peers.
8. Na June Paiks Zen for Film fixed material and aesthetic terms for production by taking it all the way down to just film. This way the film is in its more pure form and the viewer is left to cultivate an experience out of it. Since the film would become more and more worn out as it played over and over, the film would look different each time one would see it. It breaks down the film into what it actually is, just a strip of something running through a machine.
Sitney on Brakhage
1. When it comes to film and vision, Brakhage demands that the filmmaker show what he sees rather then what he/she has been taught to see or thinks they should see. He also believes that have been taught to be unconscious of what we really see. He believes that vision includes eye movements and changes in focus of what the mind sees as well as shapes formed when ones eyes are closed and what one sees during dreams or "brain movies." This coincides with Wallace Stevens who states that reality is the product of our imagination as it shapes the world and that the eye is just a thing, a "vulgate of experience." Both he and Brakhage are trying to capture moments specifically in time in the exact way each of them perceived them. To Brakhage it's by turning the camera into a third eye with all of the movements and randomization of a real eye while Stevens uses words to achieve the impossibility of direct knowledge of reality.
2. Going back to page 168 in Lyrical film, Sitney also argues that because of Brakhages ideas of vision and their application to his films he stumbled upon a representation of space that corresponds to that of Abstract Expressionism that did not occur to him. My example for Sitneys arguement is action painting (sometimes used as a synonym for Abstract Expressionism). In action painting the artist drips, slings, or throws paint into a canvas depending on their movement or action. Basically the painting would come out as a record physical expression of the artist. Brakhage does the same thing when he paints/ scratches on film; granted on a much smaller canvas. This even shows in the editing of Window Water Baby Moving as it shows is excited and disoriented state during such an event.
Sitney "Apocolypses and Picaresques"
3. Sitney says the use of Synecdoche, meaning "simultaneous understanding," plays a major role in MacLaine's films. Specifically in the section in The End where Charles is running from the police and then "with his last dime he removed himself from the red tape..." we are shown a turnstile and then the golden gate bridge. Even though it isn't state outright, through the sound and the image it is understood he jumped from the bridge. To quote Sitney "the combination of picture and sound at the conclusion of the next episode exemplifies the latter." This happens again in the next section with the suicide of John being compared to the dancers legs and sleeping bum. After seeing the The End Brakhage also tried to go beyond the trance film as MacLaine did by making a three part film with a unifying theme Reflections on Black. He also used the ideas of direct and indirect address in Blue Roses and helped MacLaine distribute his films.
4. MacLaines view on doom seems to be more of a serious outlook. Each apocalypse (for each character) is presented in a somber fashion with deep narration. Conner on the other hand seems to have a more comical, matter-of-fact outlook. The scene in which the guy meets the girl, they ride the horse, and then are blown up by the atomic bomb could be seen as funny, I don't think that was it's original intention. MacLaine seems to be aware of death and the apocolypse and wishes there was something to do about it while Conner seems to just point it out and accept it; "engendering the viewer into a state of ambivalence."
5. Both The Flower Thief and The Great Blondino are expressions of Beat sensibility because they go against mainstream culture and give critical representations of it. Both films are picaresque examples because each involves a "roguish main character who lives by their wits in a corrupt society."
Bruce Jenkins "Fluxfilms in Three False Starts" (this article was hard to read)
7. What jenkins means by the democratization of production is that he created a way for anyone to make films that are so-called "art." Since fluxfilms are there solely to refute the highly established, highly creativity based films that were at the time considered art they needed a way to produce films in an easy way. Thus making fluxfilms available by the yard and going against all the time and effort taken by Brakhage and his peers.
8. Na June Paiks Zen for Film fixed material and aesthetic terms for production by taking it all the way down to just film. This way the film is in its more pure form and the viewer is left to cultivate an experience out of it. Since the film would become more and more worn out as it played over and over, the film would look different each time one would see it. It breaks down the film into what it actually is, just a strip of something running through a machine.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Richter
1. Following the war Europe remained in a state of economic, social, political and cultural unrest. Since many had revolted against the current regime there was a collection of open mindedness that brought about readjustment to new standards. Inflation was also a factor as many lived their lives full speed up until the end of '29.
Along with these new ideas came an opposition against the conventional film routines. The technical aspect had made great strides but film still fell behind the times artistically. Filmmakers found that the "soul of the camera" could be brought out if the film did not focus exclusively on the actor, the novel and the play. This lead to exploration of the nature of lenses, and artistic possibilities of the emulsion, variations in speed and rhythm as well what was and was not possible mechanically; described as the "spirit of the machine."
The artistic climate in Europe also contributed to the rise of cinema in Europe. Modern art was becoming a bigger influence on other modes of expression and since film was a younger art with no artistic tradition it was only a matter of time before film became "infected" with these ideas as well. This influence came from two sides; Abstract Art and Cubism.
Lastly, during these times there were huge advances in mechanical and energetic-al technique and gradually people became aware that these machines did not just bring products and comfort but brought about a different appeal to life. In a way this brings hope to a generation that is looking forward, as every generation does.
2. According to Richter, the goal of abstract art is to was to "overcome pure individualistic emotional expression and to find instead the way for the expression of universal feeling." The term "Abstract Art" itself became elimination of the uncontrolled, creation of norms, and control of the whole.
Fischinger
3. Fischinger believes that "there is nothing of an absolute artistic creative sense" in conventional cinematography because most films are just "photographed realism, photographed surface realism in motion." He believes that this is solely a copy of nature and requires little or no creative force. Fischinger also believes that it is impossible for a single artist to create pure work of film-art because of the amount of players involved in its creation. With the amount of staff involved how could ones specific-artistic view show through? It can't because staff influence would slowly kill the artists original intent.
Sitney
4. Sitney believes that Reflections on Black was an anticipation of lyrical film because he "attacked" the surface of the film with materials that reflect back on the conditions of filmmaking. He goes on to say that Brakhage begins to "formulate an equation between the process of making film and the search for consciousness."
7. Sitney describes hard and soft montage as being used in the film Anticipation of the Night. I think he means that soft-montage is being used when the colors preview the forthcoming image. So hard-montage would be the use of hard contrasting images that flow from one two another (i.e. night and day.)
9. Bruce Baillies films, like Brakhages, tend to deal with the argument between consciousness and nature. Brailles films, however, contain dialogue that lies outside of the film itself. Both aimed in their later work to push towards impersonal or unqualified consciousness.
1. Following the war Europe remained in a state of economic, social, political and cultural unrest. Since many had revolted against the current regime there was a collection of open mindedness that brought about readjustment to new standards. Inflation was also a factor as many lived their lives full speed up until the end of '29.
Along with these new ideas came an opposition against the conventional film routines. The technical aspect had made great strides but film still fell behind the times artistically. Filmmakers found that the "soul of the camera" could be brought out if the film did not focus exclusively on the actor, the novel and the play. This lead to exploration of the nature of lenses, and artistic possibilities of the emulsion, variations in speed and rhythm as well what was and was not possible mechanically; described as the "spirit of the machine."
The artistic climate in Europe also contributed to the rise of cinema in Europe. Modern art was becoming a bigger influence on other modes of expression and since film was a younger art with no artistic tradition it was only a matter of time before film became "infected" with these ideas as well. This influence came from two sides; Abstract Art and Cubism.
Lastly, during these times there were huge advances in mechanical and energetic-al technique and gradually people became aware that these machines did not just bring products and comfort but brought about a different appeal to life. In a way this brings hope to a generation that is looking forward, as every generation does.
2. According to Richter, the goal of abstract art is to was to "overcome pure individualistic emotional expression and to find instead the way for the expression of universal feeling." The term "Abstract Art" itself became elimination of the uncontrolled, creation of norms, and control of the whole.
Fischinger
3. Fischinger believes that "there is nothing of an absolute artistic creative sense" in conventional cinematography because most films are just "photographed realism, photographed surface realism in motion." He believes that this is solely a copy of nature and requires little or no creative force. Fischinger also believes that it is impossible for a single artist to create pure work of film-art because of the amount of players involved in its creation. With the amount of staff involved how could ones specific-artistic view show through? It can't because staff influence would slowly kill the artists original intent.
Sitney
4. Sitney believes that Reflections on Black was an anticipation of lyrical film because he "attacked" the surface of the film with materials that reflect back on the conditions of filmmaking. He goes on to say that Brakhage begins to "formulate an equation between the process of making film and the search for consciousness."
7. Sitney describes hard and soft montage as being used in the film Anticipation of the Night. I think he means that soft-montage is being used when the colors preview the forthcoming image. So hard-montage would be the use of hard contrasting images that flow from one two another (i.e. night and day.)
9. Bruce Baillies films, like Brakhages, tend to deal with the argument between consciousness and nature. Brailles films, however, contain dialogue that lies outside of the film itself. Both aimed in their later work to push towards impersonal or unqualified consciousness.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Question due 1/20/09
1. According to Sitney, the main differences between the films deal in the motivation of each of the images. In Meshes of the Afternoon the heroin encounters objects that are capable of revealing truths of the mystery of ones self, Un Chien Andalou "depends on the mad on the power of the film to evoke a mad voyeurism and to imitate the very discontinuity , the horror, and irrationality of the unconscious." While Derens film explicitly simulates a dream experience by showing a situation, having the heroin fall asleep, and then exploring the dream itself; Un Chien Andalou is dreamlike because of the realness and ferocity of its images, ie. the eyeball slicing scene.
Differences also lie in the presentation of the violence. Andalou presents us with a broken, unstable, violent world with no reference to a "more conventional actuality" while Meshes offers and extended view of the mind with ambivalence between stable actuality and unconscious violence.
The two films also differ in terms of their use of metaphors. While Andalou is full of them Meshes repeats each symbolic object so that it's purpose (both figuratively and literally) becomes obvious by the end of the film.
Space is also used differently as Andalou uses deep space along all four lateral directions while Meshes only uses depth in the subjective shots.
2. One characteristic of the american psychodrama of the 1940s is it's dealings with a visionary experience. It's protagonist are somnambulists who "wander through a potent environment towards a climactic scene of self realization." The protagonist also has to remain detached from what he is confronted with thus there can be no character interaction in these films. "The protagonist passes invisibly among people, dramatic landscapes to a climactic confrontation with ones self and ones past.
3. In describing Choreography for Camera uses the term "imagist" to describe isolating a single gesture as a complete film form. Imagism in poetry refers to the use of imagery and clear, precise, and sharp language. In film it refers to the use of clear and precise shots where lateral or foreign material is introduced around a central action without completely disrupting it's continuity or unity.
4. Sitney states the Ritual in Transfigured Time represents a transition between the psychodrama and the "architectonic" film. This would refer to use of architecture or musical/poetic structure in a film.
5. The way Sitney describes Ritual in Transfigured Time is pretty much the same way I would have described it, albeit a more verbose description. I did not, however, give much thought to the intricacies of the crowd scene and how much direction that would have taken on Derens part. I do not recall catching the connection between the widow entering the water and then becoming dressed as the mans bride, though I would probably need to see it again. I feel my biggest problem with the film was when the man was changing from a statue to a person because I felt it was over stylized to the point of being campy; though that could be more of a technical issue more than anything.
6. What Sitney is saying in the paragraph is that there is a set model for how subjective films worked in that time period. When the camera is showing a specific scene, it's actually showing a scene inside the filmmakers (and coincidently the films subjects) mind. By showing pictures and other objects they simply further this model by showing things that the filmmaker would have thought of.
GoBama!
Differences also lie in the presentation of the violence. Andalou presents us with a broken, unstable, violent world with no reference to a "more conventional actuality" while Meshes offers and extended view of the mind with ambivalence between stable actuality and unconscious violence.
The two films also differ in terms of their use of metaphors. While Andalou is full of them Meshes repeats each symbolic object so that it's purpose (both figuratively and literally) becomes obvious by the end of the film.
Space is also used differently as Andalou uses deep space along all four lateral directions while Meshes only uses depth in the subjective shots.
2. One characteristic of the american psychodrama of the 1940s is it's dealings with a visionary experience. It's protagonist are somnambulists who "wander through a potent environment towards a climactic scene of self realization." The protagonist also has to remain detached from what he is confronted with thus there can be no character interaction in these films. "The protagonist passes invisibly among people, dramatic landscapes to a climactic confrontation with ones self and ones past.
3. In describing Choreography for Camera uses the term "imagist" to describe isolating a single gesture as a complete film form. Imagism in poetry refers to the use of imagery and clear, precise, and sharp language. In film it refers to the use of clear and precise shots where lateral or foreign material is introduced around a central action without completely disrupting it's continuity or unity.
4. Sitney states the Ritual in Transfigured Time represents a transition between the psychodrama and the "architectonic" film. This would refer to use of architecture or musical/poetic structure in a film.
5. The way Sitney describes Ritual in Transfigured Time is pretty much the same way I would have described it, albeit a more verbose description. I did not, however, give much thought to the intricacies of the crowd scene and how much direction that would have taken on Derens part. I do not recall catching the connection between the widow entering the water and then becoming dressed as the mans bride, though I would probably need to see it again. I feel my biggest problem with the film was when the man was changing from a statue to a person because I felt it was over stylized to the point of being campy; though that could be more of a technical issue more than anything.
6. What Sitney is saying in the paragraph is that there is a set model for how subjective films worked in that time period. When the camera is showing a specific scene, it's actually showing a scene inside the filmmakers (and coincidently the films subjects) mind. By showing pictures and other objects they simply further this model by showing things that the filmmaker would have thought of.
GoBama!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
"The Cage" reaction
The story seemed to center around the angular-faced young mans eye. Obviously he was an artist who was seeing many things through his eyes (the naked woman, city scenes, etc.) but I was lost when a new man appeared when the eye was free. I think that the eye was originally the well dressed mans eye and when it got lose the man was attempting to return it to its rightful place. I have no idea as to the significance of the African-American man that appears about a third of the way through, nor do I understand why the woman and the scientist wanted the eye so bad. The images of the man walking through the city with the cage on his head were comical and the use of backwards walking was an interesting touch. My favorite part was watching the bystanders reactions as the actors were making their way through the town. My mind is a little fuzzy on the rest of the details as I was starving at that point of the class.
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