Saturday, January 31, 2009

Reading Response 2

Hans Richter, “A History of the Avant-garde”
1. What conditions in Europe made the avant-garde film movement possible after World War I?

- Political, social, cultural, and economic unrest (desire of new ideas)
- The Opposition against conventional film routine (commercial aesthetic lacking the technical ability of the medium)
- The Artistic climate of Europe (the rise of Cubism, Expressionism, Dadaism and Abstract art)
- The influence of new technique and new art on the public (new generations finding beauty in new capabilities)


2. If the goal of Impressionist art is “Nature Interpreted by Temperament,” what are the goals of abstract art?

- The elimination of the uncontrolled, creation of norms, discipline and control of the whole. Or I would say, to rearrange the impressionist conception; temperament interpreted by creation with nature.

Oskar Fischinger, “My Statements Are in My Work”
3. On what grounds does Fischinger argue that “there is nothing of an absolute artistic creative sense” in conventional cinematography? (At least two important reasons.)

- Oskar argues that these films lack an absolute artistic creativeness because the films are created as “photographed surface realism” therefore it “copies only nature with realistic conceptions, destroying the deep and absolute creative force.” By using reality as its basic model for creation it limits the artistic freedom of the medium. Also, he argues that the conventional cinema “is a mass product of factory proportions” which limits the effectiveness of the artist because of the influence of the many contributors in the process of creating those films. “They change the ideas, kill the ideas, before they are born, prevent the ideas from being born, and substitute for the absolute creative motives only the cheap ideas to fit the lowest among them.” Also he thinks that the artist should not be concerned with whether his art is understood or misunderstood, but only with his “Creative Spirit” and “highest ideals… and that art museums create greater interest in this direction”.

Sitney, “The Lyrical Film”
4. While Brakhage’s Reflections on Black is a trance film, why does Sitney argue that it anticipates the lyrical film?

- It anticipates the lyrical film because it Brakhage begins to explore “the perimeters of imagination”. In the blind man’s “visions” “fantasy and sight mingle together”. “Later, more emphatically, the film-maker scratched with a sharp instrument on the film stock itself, so that a set of brilliant white stars shimmers over the blind man’s eyes, changing slightly from frame to frame. By attacking the surface of the film and by using materials which reflect back on the condition of film-making, Brakhage begins to formulate an equation between the process of making film and the search for consciousness…” The final episode is introduced by scratches of stars bursting on black leader, as if we too were seeing through the blind man’s eyes.” This, to Sitney, seems to signify Brakhage’s attempts to create subjective vision from pure imagination.

5. What are the key characteristics of the lyrical film (the first example of which was Anticipation of the Night)?

-According to Sitney, “The lyrical film postulates the film-maker behind the camera as the first-person protagonist of the film. The images of the film are what he sees, filmed in such a way that we never forget his presence and we know how he is reacting to his vision. In the lyrical film there is no longer a hero; instead the screen is filled with movement, and that movement, both of the camera and the editing, reverberates with the idea of a person looking.” Space is typically flattened as if in an Abstract Expressionist painting. “Through superimposition, several perspectives can occupy that space at one time.”

6. Which filmmaker was highly influential on Brakhage’s move to lyrical film in terms of film style, and why?

- Marie Menken was highly influential to Brakhage’s move to lyrical film in terms of film style mostly because of her first film: Visual Variations on Noguchi. In it she subtly created the impression of an implied mediator and “demonstrated a rhythmic inventiveness previously unmatched in cinema.” She did this “with a freely swinging camera, (shooting) rhythmic movements around the smooth, curved forms.” Of Noguchi’s sculptures, creating a style very similar to what would become Brakhage’s lyrical film.

9. How are Bruce Baillie’s lyrical films and filmmaking practices similar to and different from Brakhage’s?

- In his lyrical films, Baillie turns from the uneasy inwardness of Brakhage’s work to a problematic study of the heroic. Similarly to Brakhage Baillie attempts to create a cinematic haiku and the argument between consciousness and nature is as crucial to Baillie’s cinema as it is to Brakhage’s. Both Baillie and Brakhage push in their later lyrical films toward cinematic vision of impersonal or unqualified consciousness.

Sitney, “Major Mythopoeia”
10. Why does Sitney argue, “It was Brakhage, of all the major American avant-garde filmmakers, who first embraced the formal directives and verbal aesthetics of Abstract Expressionism.”

-Brakhage’s very tight artistic relationship with his film’s aesthetic, Brakhage created expressions in his films equal to the painterly abstract expressionist form. “With his flying camera and fast cutting, and by covering the surface of the celluloid with paint scratches, Brakhage drove the cinematic image into the space of Abstract Expressionism and relegated the conventional depth of function to a function of artistic will…”

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

The Cage Response

The Cage by Sidney Peterson was a very fun veiwing. The effects created were impressive for the time period that the film was created. In my opinion it was a play on perspective. The "Cage" is a metaphor for the solitary perception(the common concious) that most people use to see the world. The film contrasts the main characters of the film (who are exploring their subconcious) and the common people on the streets (who only see concious reality) by picturing the main characters running "forward" while all of the common people are moving backwards. The Cage begins with an artist who seems to not know what he wants to create. There is a POV shot where he seems to see himself leaning against a pile of random objects slouched and exhausted. Then we see the artists hand empty of the brush he previously held. Suddenly a peice of bread appears there in his hand and he decides to paint on the bread and eat it (we see him eat the only art that he has created). The artist then seeks to explore outside of physical reality. The more we see the ECU of the blinking eye the more distorted the images become. The shots become progressively stranger, uncommon, and distorted as we see the artist rolling his eye around. The artist attempts to paint a line (seemingly inspired by the subconcious explorations thus far) but regrettably puts his brush down. The next shots are of him finally pulling the eye completely out. With the eye completely out he begins to morph into a completely different person (im not sure what effect was used to do this, it seems like a mirror trick, but it was very nice) showing how his perspective has completely changed. After the eye falls out of the artist's hand and begins rolling on the floor the funnest part of the film begins; the chase for the eye. The apartment collapsing around him was like the moment of terror that someone might feel right before they completely let go of reality. The woman is cares for the artist and calls for the doctor who's treatment for the artist's detachment from reality is to destroy the eye. There is alot to interpret in this peice, but I really wanted to enjoy the film and tried not overanalyze it from a certain point on.

Week One Response

Sitney, “Meshes of the Afternoon”According to Sitney, what are some of the important differences between Meshes of the Afternoon and Un Chien Andalou?

-The main difference between the films is that Meshes of the Afternoon deliberately tries to create a dreamlike environment, while Un Chien Andalou only attempts to create absurdity which in turn simulates the dream. There are metaphors in the latter but no symbolism while symbolism is a huge part of Meshes.

Sitney, “Ritual and Nature”What are some characteristics of the American psychodrama in the 1940s?

-It deals with a visionary experience, the characters movements are very stylized, an isolated protagonist wanders through a potent environment toward a climax of self-realization. Progress is marked by what the protagonist sees along his journey, and landscapes are often chosen to marka specific line of symbolism.

What does Sitney mean by an “imagist” structure replacing narrative structure in Choreography for the Camera?

-Sitney interprets imagist structure as an isolated movement or gestrure constituting the entire filmic form in Coreography for the Camera as opposed to a theme or storyline.

According to Sitney, Ritual in Transfigured Time represents a transition between the psychodrama and what kind of film?

-Sitney describes Ritual in Transfigured Time as a transition between the Trance(psychodrama) and the architectonic film. But he also describes it as a Dance film, almost expressionist, and mythopoeic.

Respond briefly to Sitney’s reading of Ritual in Transfigured Time (27-28); Is his interpretation compatible with your experience of the film?
-In my first veiwing of the film I did not see the Invoker and the Guide as he describes them but it makes alot of sense after the reading. I did notice the role of the widow and the change in rythm that came from the transition into dance. I feel like Sitney's interpretation is very similar to my experience of the film.

Sitney, “The Magus”Paraphrase the paragraph on p. 90 that begins “The filmic dream constituted…” in your own words.

-Anger interpreted the Dream on film in very similar terms as did the other American Avant-Gardists of the 1940's. The relation of the camera to its subjects relays the objects importance in the subject's perception. The film-maker is apparent on screen and behind the camera.Posted by bluesmobile440JKR at 8:13 AM 1 comments