Sunday, February 8, 2009

Response to Flux Films:

04 Chieko Shiomi-Disappearing Music for Face: This film is black and white, the title that came up in the beginning of the film was in the center of the frame and slowly decreased in size until it faded away completely. Flashes of credits were shown, then a close up of a woman’s mouth that showed her teeth and was gapped tooth, it was a static shot and it was framed to left side of the frame not in the middle. It was up on screen for what felt like a very long time, then the image switched to a static shot of her mouth more slightly closed, not showing her teeth but her lips were still separated, the final shot showed the woman’s mouth closed. I kept waiting for other images to appear but there weren’t any. I find it interesting that the lips were framed slightly to the left of the center of the frame. However, I don’t really understand if the image of the lips were supposed to have a deeper meaning.

07 George Maciunas- 10 Feet: This film was black and white and showed very fast flashes of numbers. The numbers started from regular numbers, to minutes, then the credits were flashed followed by more numbers, to numbers in feet; the flashes of the numbers were in different sized font. I am unaware why the numbers started flashing and then the credits were shown, and then back to the numbers.

14 Yoko Ono- One: Flashes of the title in black and white there was a close up of a males hand holding a match, then the hand lite the match, I thought it was neat that you could see the smoke from the match as it was burning. I think it was a male’s hand by the size of it, and the fingernails were dirty. I am not sure why the fingernails were not clean, it made me think of what kind of work he did in his life, which is probably not what you are supposed to think about while watching this film. The shot of the match is on screen until it burns out.

28 Paul Sharits-Wrist Trick: Images were juxtaposed together in this film. It was black and white; it however looked like an x-ray. Flashes of an open hand, a close hand, animals, I think a goat and rabbit were shown. I did notice repetition of these images which I felt was interesting, and it made me wonder if the images some how could be related to one another.

Answers to Questions
1. The films Jonas Meka’s associated with “Baudelairean Cinema” were Twice a Man, Scorpio Rising, Heaven and Earth Magic, and Dog Star Man. Meka called it Baudelairean cinema because Charles Pierre Baudelaire who was a French poet, critic and translator in the 19th century was known for being a controversial figure. Meka felt the films he would range in the Baudelairean Cinema were controversial or it could have been that the filmmaker themselves were controversial.
2. Jonas Meka’s views on experimental cinema change between 1955 and 1961 dramatically. When Meka originally began his magazine, Film Culture in the third issue there was a sneaky attack on American film poem, disguised by a survey. In the attack Meka's wrote “experiments should be directed not so much towards new techniques but toward a deeper theme” he also stated, “for more attention to these film-makers as a way encouraging their improvement.” In 1957 Meka's let the film-makers of the ‘Experimental Scene’ contribute to articles in the magazine, from that point on there were no more attacks. In 1959, the magazine even gave more credit to avant-garde filmmakers. Meka's began to see films he previously rejected in 1959 through 1961 his thought process shifted with the impression nouvelle vague in France. Meka’s was named film critic for Village Voice, and was one of the most powerful critics in America. When he took time off to shoot one of his films, Meka left Maya Deren as his substitute critic, this step for Meka’s was a huge change from his first impression of experimental cinema.
3. Meka’s interest in performance and improvisation shaped his views of the New American Cinema in the 1960’s, Meka’s stated, “Improvisation is the highest form of condensation; it points to the very essence of thought, an emotion, a movement.” Meka enjoyed the break down of the difference between the performer and his role. Performance helped Meka’s position in his criticism; an example of this is when he announced the death of “the symbolist-surrealist cinema of intellectual meanings.” After that statement Meka made the symbolist-surrealist cinema was shown publicly for the first time in that same year the statement was made.
4. Even thought Jack Smith did not use found footage in Flaming Creatures, the film was a transformation on an ironical recreation of the pseudo-Arabian world of Maria Montez films. The similarity of Joseph Cornell’s Rose Hobart, and Jack Smith’s Flaming Creatures is they both took images; one by found footage, the other by recreating footage and used it to make their own films.
5. Some visual influences on Flaming Creatures are visual texture, androgynous sexual presence, and exotic locations. According to Sitney the scenes are organized by rhythm and dramatic effect rather than narrative. The style of photography is different in each scene; Smith pairs the photography like they were ‘movements of a musical work.’
6. Angell characterized the first major period of Warhol’s filmmaking career as a ‘primitive’ approach, the films were a group of minimalist films, which were long and static some of the films included from this period were Sleep, Kiss, Haircut, Blow Job, Eat, Empire, and Henry Geidzahier.
7. The screen tests played an enormous role in Warhol’s filmmaking; they were a central development of Warhol’s Cinema in the attraction and the selection of people to star in his movies, and also the expansion of his film practice into continuous, cumulative mode of serial production. The role the Screen tests played in the routines at the Factory was: the Factory became a functioning film studio because of the tests, with camera, lights, etc. Also, celebrities, potential actors, technicians, and assistants would come to the Factory for these Screen Tests, making more elaborate productions a reality for the Factory.
8. Angell characterizes the first period of sound films in Warhol’s filmmaking career as ‘early narratives.’ Some of the films in this period are: Harlot, Vinyl, and the film series, The Poor Little Rich Girl Saga.

1 comment:

  1. Good.

    Your comments on the Fluxfilms are very helpful. We'll discuss in class.

    ReplyDelete