Response 8

Marc Masters, “The Offenders: No Wave Cinema”
1. Name at least three similarities between the punk music scene and the punk/no-wave filmmaking scene, in terms of technology, style, and community.

Like the punk musicians just picked up a guitar with little experience the no wave filmmakers just picked up a camera and started shooting. They organized everything themselves with the same independent spirit of the musicians. They created a community where each member helped eachother on their projects and rotated roles in the filmmaking process like musicians rotated instruments.

2. In what ways was punk/no-wave filmmaking a reaction to the avant-garde film institutionalization of the 1970s?

They made films that were intentionally melodramatic and non-intellectual. The films were intended as spectacles which an open audience (outside of the art houses) could freely converse (as loud as they wanted) with and of the films as they wish or not.

3. Which filmmakers are cited as influences on Amos Poe, Eric Mitchell, and Vivienne Dick (to the point that they "re-worked" earlier films)?

The nouvelle vague and particularly Jean-Luc Godard was influential to Amos Poe he attempted to mimic Breathless with Unmade Beds. Mitchell and Vivienne Dick were particularly influenced by Andy Warhol. Mitchell's film Kidnapped was inspired by Vinyl and Dick's Guerillere Talks was inspired by Warhol's Screen Tests.

4. What were the exhibition venues for punk/no-wave films such as those by Beth B. and Scott B., and how did the venues affect film content and style?

The Films they made were made in intention to reflect the reality of the lower east side which is where the films were screened.

Michael Zryd, “Found Footage Film as Discursive Metahistory: Craig Baldwin’s Tribulation 99”

5. What does Zryd mean by "double voicing" and what does Baldwin mean by "Fake right, go left"?

This was kind of unclear to me.

6. Explain Paul Arthur's distinction between the "realist" use of found footage and the "figurative" use of found footage. Which becomes important in Tribulation 99 and why?

The "realist" use of found footage tries to bring the literal truth of the image itself to the attention of the viewer. Voice-Over would caption the event taking place montage would only intensify the time and space of the captured action. When used "figuratively", found footage draws attention to the metaphorical nature of the images or adjusts the meaning of the images. In Tribulation 99 the "figurative" use of found footage becomes most important. Most obviousley the Voice-Over does not caption the image it intends to create a new meaning in the corralation of the dialogue and the image.

7. Explain what Baldwin means by "media jujitsu"

Jujitsu as a martial art is intended as a means of using your opponents moves aginst them, so Baldwin's reference to "media jujitsu" could be interpreted as the way that the meaning of found footage can be manipulated to criticize its makers, makings and the original intentions of the film. It is particularly relevent with the iconic image which can be related to a particular culture's archetypes so that these iconic images can be used against the culure itself.

8. What does Zryd argue is the relationship between the use of clips from films such as Chariots of the Gods and Baldwin's critique of American foreign policy?