Experimental Film

During todays session we watched a number of different examples of experimental film including Maya Deren's Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) and Ballet Méchanique (1924) by Fernand Léger, as well as some more contemporary pieces. To be truthful, I found Ballet Méchanique very hard to watch, possibly because of the loud, clashing sounds of the instrumental piece that was played in the background.

I think that the swirling images, flashing elements and use of montage make me as an audience member feel discomfort, although I do not believe that making the viewer feel at ease was the main priority of the fillmaker. However, I do think that putting yourself in the mindset of someone from the 1920's makes you view it in a slightly different light. At this time, it was groundbreaking material and had large relevence to machines and the new and interesting things they can do as apposed to now days.

Om by John Smith (1986)

Although this may seem a strange comparability, I think that the way the short film acts as though it is one thing/style and unexpectedly changes, is much like Michael Haneke's work in films such as Funny Games, 1997. The use of only having two different camera angles bores me a little as an audience member, however, I feel that this is made up through the interesting twist made towards the end. Gary Davis describes this piece by saying "This four minute film explores our responds to stereotypes - aural, visual and ideological". I completely agree with this statement as I feel that it inflicts upon a number of our senses to shock us with it's distortion of style.
  It would be interesting for me to create a similar effect within my experimental film by interfering with an audiences original perceptions.

Star Guitar by The Chemical Brothers 

Directed by Michael Gondry

The continuous flow of passing landscapes, buildings and types of transport, demonstrates the sense of a journey taking place. It mirrors the constant beat in the music and specific components in the shots replicate the musical pulses. The experimental aspect of the piece to me, is represented through the unconventional use of having a lack of people and a very repetitive structure. It subverts the conventions of a stereotypical music video and this is what I like about it.

Intervals by Peter Greenaway (1969)

The first section of the piece seems to be more a series of pictures than film, each distinguished by the click of a metronome. The fast and sudden cuts in the film add to it's unusual style however I like the way in which Greenaway has repeated various parts of the footage yet overlaid a different audio over the background for each - in turn creating a more rhythmical structure.
I personally feel that 6 minutes is too long and what was demonstrated could have been done so in a shorter amount of time. However I cannot truly comment in this way on something that I am not overly experienced in watching. I am sure that Greenaway had his reasons to create the film as he did and if it did appeal to everyone it would not be an experimental piece. The film is obviously successful and must in turn, include something that attracts viewers. Despite this, I do like the use of having the same, direct and 'head on' shot throughout the film as it creates a sense of unity between the footage as a whole.