Films.

Mona Hatoum - Measure's of distance. 1952

 

In this film the dialogue is that of letters written to and from a daughter, the mother lives in Palestine, the daughter who is the maker of the film moved away very young and has questions about her psychological development, and her identity because of the move. Throughout the film there is arabic scripture across the whole film, which is presumably the text of the letters, behind this there is very grainy unclear footage of a woman getting dressed, the image does not seem to be the central focus in the film, there is a lot of emphasis on the dialogue as the story unfolds. This is a good source of inspiration as the sound does not explain the image on screen. I like the fact the sound is unrelated as it makes the audience seek meaning in the image further than they usually would.

Doug Aitken - Electric Earth. 1999

 

Electric earth is an interesting film that follows a man as he walks around, seemingly powered or inspired by electrical impulses, he walks towards lights to dance asif he is a fly caught in a trap. The film focuses on lights and electrical sounding lights, i like this about the film and it is something i would like to implement in my own work, having a strong colour theme i feel compliments the film as it makes it feel more complete and experimental. There is no dialogue within this film which i enjoyed, just a carefully constructed soundscape which really fits with the onscreen action. I like the fact that the film has a good pace, the character is always moving, i think this is extremely beautiful.

 

Chick Stand - Fruit Factory. 1986

 

 



Fruit factory is an experimental documentary, the footage consists of elegantly shot extreme close ups from a handheld camera, the only dialogue is from the workers, they talk about life sex and marriage, all the workers are predominantly female, the film maker has an obvious interest in showing their lives in a subjective and personal way. I really like the idea of using genre as the main focus of the experimental part of film making, an experimental documentary is not something i have seen many of, there are some mainstream documentaries that take on experimental traits but for the most part they are usually structured similar to standard documentary format.

 

Senna - Asif Kapadia. 2010

Senna is not strictly an experimental film but i have been looking at experimental documentaries, the film is made entirely from found footage, much like many experimental films, the way that senna is put together is very elegant to say that it is all fabricated out of footage from previous events. I thought this was something that i could consider in my own work but have since looked into online archive sites and i think it would be too difficult to get hold of any footage that was related to a theme of film i would like to make.

Maya Deryn -Meshes of the Afternoon. 1946

 

Meshes of the Afternoon is a film i really enjoyed watching and i thought that if i was to make an experimental film then this would be the kind of style that i would go for, i found the story and the shots to be mesmerising. I felt like the storyline was intriguing and i watched it twice when i first viewed it to make sure i hadn't missed anything, one of the things that i thought was beautiful about this film is the transitions into other shots led by Maya Deryn walking through places only to end up on a beach or a dinner table. Then the struggle with her alter ego, i thought it was very poweful.

However i feel like my actual filming style and my intended filming style are miles apart.

 

Oskar Fichinger - An Optical Poem. 1938

 

This film is again one i saw in first year, i really liked the way colour is deconstructed to produce the images on screen, this is a stype of experimental film that is much like 'Dada', i think if done well this style of film making can be really effective, it is also extremely thought provoking and conjures up philosophical questions about how we recieve images and its effect on our mind, and how all image is made from these colours that we can see. This is something i feel i could include in my own work but i do not feel confident enough at this stage to produce something like this for fear of it being boring, and also a bit of an easy way out. I feel i could stretch and build on my own filmmaking skills in another way, although i did find this film useful to look at in terms of rhythm and sound.



 

 

 

The Pitch.

We have been given a list of obstructions to adhere by when making our experimental film.

1. One person or object should be the feature of our project.
2. A real location must be used, no sets.
3. Non linear narrative.
4. No found sound.
5. No use of sound purely as an explanation of screen action.
6. You must include at least one aspect in your production that references the mechanics of film making.


For my idea i started by writing down concepts that fascinate me, my first theme came quite quickly, i wanted to play around with how people use television to validate themselves.

Here are some of my notes from my pitch. 

For the theme i want to explore voyeurism and how people use television to validate themselves, i want to create a world within my experiemental film where the viewer is unsure if what they are watching is real or a film. I want the audience to be aware that what they are watching is a film and to also consider how they watch and respond to films.

The first half will be set inside a house,with exception to the opening shot which fits with the non linear narrative part of the breif, which will feature the main character walking around on a sunny day. Jump cut to the character watching television in the dark, they suddenly see themselves on screen, we are transported to the original shot and the second half will intercut between the television screen and the outside world.

To fit in with the breif i will make the sound non diegetic, i will be using sounds i have recorded myself.

To reference the mechanics of film making i will have the character looking straight into the audiences eyes for the end scene.

(Unfortunately i have lost the rest of the notes)

Experimental Power Point