'Experimental Film requires a different kind of
spectatorship.' Has this been your experience?
Experimental films are full of strange mixtures of images, situations, words and expressions that may not tell a cohesive story but, in the end, don't have to in order to achieve an emotional goal. This type of film therefore requires the spectator to shift their conventional cinematic expectations to accommodate more radical narrative techniques, themes and meaning construction.
Un Chien Andalou, the infamous 1929 surrealist short film from Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali, attests to this. An artistic concept is shown throughout the film, and that is surrealism. The film is shown, almost as a dream, it is an attempt to portray or interpret the workings of the subconscious mind as manifested in dreams. The opening scene shows a man slicing open a womans eyeball, even now watching it I found it shocking, and back in the time it was made, I can imagine the response they would've got would from the audience is that it was horrendous. Personally, I think this is an abstract film, as personally I think there was a narrative, but one that I couldn't follow it, the film was organised through theme and variation. There were constant artistic based themes and scenes shown in the film, for example there was occasionally a close up of a mans palm, and coming out of it were ants, this once again refers back to realism, and it takes a different kind of spectatorship to really be able to watch the film.
Chris Marker became known internationally for the short film La Jetée (1962). It tells of a post-nuclear war experiment in time travel by using a series of filmed photographs developed as a photomontage of varying pace, with limited narration and sound effects. I found that this film really challenged the mainstream, with obviously it's usage of still images rather than film. I found that to be able to watch this film, your favourite genre of film cannot be action, as this is a very slow film, in which you have to able to just sit, watch, listen & really take in what is being said and portrayed. Personally, I found the supposive linear narrative confusing, as the film was about time travel, and the end was kind of the beginning, which I admit grabbed my attention, however, the rest of the film nearly put me to sleep, as it was far too slow for my liking, the music was very dull, the non-diegtic voice over was monotones, and really didn't keep my attention on the film and I started to drift off.
Un Chien Andalou, the infamous 1929 surrealist short film from Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali, attests to this. An artistic concept is shown throughout the film, and that is surrealism. The film is shown, almost as a dream, it is an attempt to portray or interpret the workings of the subconscious mind as manifested in dreams. The opening scene shows a man slicing open a womans eyeball, even now watching it I found it shocking, and back in the time it was made, I can imagine the response they would've got would from the audience is that it was horrendous. Personally, I think this is an abstract film, as personally I think there was a narrative, but one that I couldn't follow it, the film was organised through theme and variation. There were constant artistic based themes and scenes shown in the film, for example there was occasionally a close up of a mans palm, and coming out of it were ants, this once again refers back to realism, and it takes a different kind of spectatorship to really be able to watch the film.
Chris Marker became known internationally for the short film La Jetée (1962). It tells of a post-nuclear war experiment in time travel by using a series of filmed photographs developed as a photomontage of varying pace, with limited narration and sound effects. I found that this film really challenged the mainstream, with obviously it's usage of still images rather than film. I found that to be able to watch this film, your favourite genre of film cannot be action, as this is a very slow film, in which you have to able to just sit, watch, listen & really take in what is being said and portrayed. Personally, I found the supposive linear narrative confusing, as the film was about time travel, and the end was kind of the beginning, which I admit grabbed my attention, however, the rest of the film nearly put me to sleep, as it was far too slow for my liking, the music was very dull, the non-diegtic voice over was monotones, and really didn't keep my attention on the film and I started to drift off.
Maya Deren’s Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) is a work that maintains all of the mystery, tranquility, unpredictability, and personal attachment that is ever present within the world of dreams. Personally, I found this one to also be very slow and boring, however, when I first started watching, I felt it had typical horror conventions, complete silence, walking into an empty house with a point of view shot, zooming in on certain objects that have been moved, diegetic sounds building suspension, and at first it had me hooked, but it carried on for too long and I eventually lost interest. I liked some of the cinematography used, like the slow motion upstairs, that was different from the other two films I had watched, and momentarily had me interested again. I also didn't think this film was as artistic or different as the others, the music dominant like the others and was different, but other than that it was actually quite a typical horror scene, in my opinion.
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