experimental video art

experimental video art

i started my research into experimental video by watching a film by my favorite experimental film maker david lynch. i had already watched the twins peaks movie and really liked his way of film making so decided to watch one of his stand alone films. 

i watched eraser head 

this film was amazing. difficult to watch at times and went into some really dark stuff about humanity and the nature of love and the darkness inside us. 

what i noticed about this film was it's unreliance on story. the story was not even noticable. 

also what i noticed was it's use of mephor. even though many people would see the film in some kind of alternative reality this isnt what the film maker wanted. he wanted to show conceptual themes whilst using concepts we see in this world. every object, action, placement, camera angle had a reason conceptually to be there nothing was there just to "look nice". it didnt have a relance on cause and effect logic it broke away from the ideas of character devolpment and types seen mainstream cinema. i broke most structures in narrative to. it didnt follow an idea of time, it didnt have cause and effect, no distinct idea of character, there were parts of the film which broke an idea of contunium you had about the film. 

film art an introduction  (book)

challange orthadox notions of the purpose and funtion of a movie 

often work without a studio 

made to express personal viewpoints too excentric for mainstream 

express a mood or physical quality

exploring what the meduim can show, push its limits 

less focus on story 

challange the notions of character and deigetis 

poetic over narrative 

use any type of fotage, less form 

fed by other types of filmmaking 

if not led by story more attention put on the shots 

can be led by themes or colours or shapes, anything really 

puts focus on the particullar not the whole. 

the abstract pattern becomes the focus of the film 

works on relationships between it's abstract qualties 

music comes to add rthytm to the image 

teases with the idea of formal, gets us to trying and work out it's form / meaning

aesthetics are very important and it gives meaning to them. 

problems "art for arts sake" 

ie abstract form = working around a theme or relationship of objects 

ie associational form = puts images together which dont have any logical connection and gets us to seach for one in them, find the assiocation. 

creating a assoication among unlike things

my personal objection to this is that this type of associational filmaking doesnt add anything, we find an association which is already a prestruct in our conceptual scheme, i beleive great films make the viewer create a new association with the actions not just seach for something they already know, 

works like a methphor, uses non logical links to create a diffrent meaning. 

implisict meaning 

very associated with imagery "love is like a rose" 

meaning comes from metaphor (abstact) vs meaning comes from personal association

maybe use both?

the film experience and introduction 

narrative film for stories, documentry to see and understand society and history, other elements of humanities interlectualism expermental film

expermental film = poetry
narrative film-= novel

using the mondane to mesmerize audiences

music allows us to transend physical limits

focus on movment of images (fundemental element)

follow closesly changes in technology

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gaklhn3m0CE

you can see the expermination of images and tehcnology in bjorks human bewhavoiur video.

problems with alienation

formalism = concenced of problems of form over content

poetry of motion

expermenting with light motion and time

plots and characters are undefined, the are in motion and free moving

abstact films play with form and break it

either objects are purely form baised or abstracted

organize experienice in ways which defy realism

associative form= create a psychological or formal resonance (dreamlike)
realtionships between objects
metatphorical assocation relate a objects together via a concept
symbolic assocation realtes isolates single objects and gives it a symbolic realtion to a concept

structural form= rejects narrative films form and tell addience to focus on material of film
it is about the process of the film making, zoom, dof ect to create meaning

participatory form = centralise on the viewer and the place of viewing
expanded cinema,
organized around the audience experince
can be interactive or via the internet



surrealism 
use recognizable imagery in strange contexts
breaking the realist tendisys of film with photographic reproduction and its place in time



lyricism
expresses emotion, beliefs, the personal position in film
empasses personal voice and vision through singularity of imagery through voice overs or handheald camera movments, makes in personal.
existental philosphy
explores human concouisness



critical position 
interrogration of form and content
overlap with documentry or narrative form
take positions of political or theoretical postions
use of associations of objects to represent their theories

significance of experimental media 

gets you to reflect on your viewing experience, what is it's purpose 

think about the phenomenon of vision 

nature of consciousness

explores cultural concepts   

how we see the world 

challenging and expanding perception 

opens our minds to new concepts 

expanding film to new levels 

expanding imagination 

exploring new technology 

communication of personal issues 

artistic originality

exploring new ideas or re imagining old ones  

comforting traditions

using juxtaposition to challenge tastes

confront believes and traditions

not controlled by agenda