A Reflection

While I cannot on behalf of the class, I can say that all that I have learned from this Avant Garde cinema class has radically changed the way I see and perceive film. It is amazing to me to look back and see how far I have come from the beginnings of the class. I never thought that I would be making my own film. Viewing all of my fellow peer's film essays was quit enjoyable to say the least. Each avant garde film we have seen during our screenings has had some kind of effect on me. I also never thought that I would be seeing so many films this semester. Needless to say, I have left this class knowing more about analyzing Avant Garde films, but more importantly, I learned about how to learn.

-Michael

Reflection

Overall I was really happy with the outcome of my video essay. There were definitely some aspects I would have improved, however, if given an extended amount of time to do so. I think the main thing I would have done differently would have been to interview more people about the most ordinary object in their room and their room and their idea of ordinary. Though the input from my suitemates was insightful, I could have probably gathered a more in depth view by interviewing a greater range of different kinds of people. I also might have cut down some of my shots a little bit more. I intentionally focused on the ordinary objects for long enough for them to appear mundane and make the viewer bored with them, but I think this could have been achieved without showing the objects for quite as long. I struggled a lot with the idea or the toothbrush and would have liked to spend more time on that, as I believe I showed a clearer distinction between ordinary and extraordinary with the other two objects. There were also some clips that I found that I would have worked into my film had the time constraints been different.

I feel that my film has some very strong points as well. I was very happy with how my film was structured because I felt that I was able to structure it like a true essay. I stated my question at the beginning (What is Ordinary). I then proceeded to interview and collect data as I explored ordinary objects and how they could become extraordinary. Finally, the questions about what ordinary in served as almost a conclusion to my essay. I was also happy with the flow of my essay. I felt that it flowed logically and coherently, very easy to follow. I, personally, felt that the idea was presented clearly and concisely. My use of editing techniques were strong as well. The transitions utilized between shots helped the movie move along smoothly. My reverse motion with the tissue contributed a lot in making the tissue appear extraordinary as did the fast motion with the origami tissue paper crane. I have learned a lot about how much time and effort goes into making movies. We often take for granted the crazy camera shots and special effects we see in movies today and do not realize how much time and meticulous planning goes into the filming and editing process of every film, but this process showed me how much it takes.

multiple thoughts...

Last Mondays Screening

I liked the disorientation and static-ness of this film….however what the heck was with the random lady and her boob…”squeezing the breast of her nipple” to quote professor Langston …I found that scene extremely unusual…now that I’ve gotten that of my chest..[;) haha, it’s a boob joke]..anyway….I felt this film merged different patterns and objects that generally do not go together…I loved how all these “patterns” came from things that weren’t man made…it was a nice collaboration between mans work and Gods work…the “kid rock” baby confused me too but I guess it went along with the idea of wanting to see what someone else sees, since what we see as children we interpret as something different when we grow up…idk..this film was pretty neat minus the random use of a body parts and naked child[s]…I actually liked the psychedelic aspect of the film with its “macy gray-ish” track, and its shroom trip colors…but let me get serious…even though this was “avant-garde” I didn’t feel as if it was a positive depiction of the film category…I expected us to end the year with a bang, however I was greatly disappointed…it’s really interesting thinking about how far we’ve come since “das kabinett des doctor caligari” but somehow even the advancement of avant-garde film makes me want to revert to the classics once again…but I guess that’s the great thing about life…the disappointments make me want to work even harder to create a more thrilling future…and these films [since the first screening] served as an expression of that…once again I’m rambling but I’m glad the last screening didn’t feel like the end…




Reflection

To start of my reflection, I guess I found my film successful. As I watched other people’s films on Thursday, I found myself admiring how a lot of them incorporated footage that they filmed. Although my original idea was to use only found footage, I kind of wish I filmed a few things myself. I believe things we choose to capture incorporate even more of ourselves into what we do because they express our point of view to others. I also feel as if my film was overly definitive, but I understand that this result came from my belief that obscurity would disrupt the understanding of my essay’s purpose.
Although, there is room for improvement in my film essay, I feel as if I communicated what I set out to convey. I would hope I gave people a new understanding of the concept of humanitarianism especially since it’s an idea that is based on helping others. Just as some of the essays made me want to put away my cell phone and read, appreciate freedom, define music and sound[s], determine individuality, appreciate home, etc. I hope I inspired others to continue helping those who may be unable to help themselves.
One of the most important quotes I’ve ever heard in my life is “Humanitarianism is the expression of stupidity and cowardice” verbalized by Adolf Hitler whom I’d consider foolish and cowardice because he choose to gear his intelligence in the direction of hate, rather than help those he choose to annihilate. I’m always inclined to help others because of such statements that harbor ignorance, and lack empathy/respect for mankind.
What I learned from this process is that filmmaking can be challenging when attempting to portray an idea, but it’s really fun going through the creation process, frustrations of editing, and overall success of burning your finished product onto a disc.

Student films

I just want to say, Thursday night's student film session was amazing. I felt so touched by everyone's creative expression, and amazed at how talented and thought-provoking the films were. From religion, love, dreams, and tension, to music, individuality, and dance, the films encompassed so many aspects of life. Yet the best part is they each portrayed these aspects in different ways, approaching them using varying methods. I am so proud of everyone in this class, and I will miss meeting with you all to view and discuss films. Thank you, Dr. Langston, for putting together such a great class, and for being an amazing professor.

Sincerely,
Jade Palmer

Reflection: To Be a Transcendentalist Today

Nora Alter says that the film essay can present “reflections that are not necessarily bound to reality, but can also be contradictory, irrational, and fantastic.” In my film, “To Be a Transcendentalist Today”, I was most concerned with explaining and exploring the complexities of bringing the ideals of 19th century Romanticism and Transcendentalism and applying them to today’s world in both a modern historical context and a philosophical evaluation of what that can mean on an individual level. My film’s pace is slow, languid, meditative, which I find fitting for this subject, although, looking back now, I wish it provided more excitement. My film is also heavy on audio from one individual, Richard Harris. The choice to dominate the film so heavily with spoken words may seem strange, but Transcendentalism is deeply intertwined on a fundamental level with the importance of language as a means of creating literature, poetry, and a forum for the debate and exchange of ideas. The decision to only use Harris as a source may seem flawed, but I believed it was most important to receive an expert opinion and explain his interpretation. A key component of Transcendentalism is individualism/self-reliance, and it is important to recognize this film as simply one individual’s understanding of the modern meaning of Transcendentalism. It is an understanding that I agree with and that has influenced me, but Transcendentalism seeks to motivate people to explore and decide their ideas for themselves. Richard Harris is therefore not telling the audience what to think; he is merely seeking to discuss it, to pose ideas and questions for further reflection. As a hardcore Transcendentalist, I was obviously intrigued by the subject of my film. While I sought to make the ideas relatable and intriguing to non-Transcendentalists, I am uncertain whether I was successful. If I could do anything about this film differently, it would be to condense the content and create a more visual flair through stronger cinematography. But, what’s done is done, and I was pleased with my film in most respects.

the past two weeks screenings have been bizarre, but interesting. What seemed to separate Minh-ha's "Reassemblage" from a commonplace National Geographic-esque documentary was her unique editing style. She infused her personal viewpoints and commentary on the role of women in these cultures through her disjunctive editing.

I can't believe that was our last screening! Viola's films were really interesting to me, as was the interview of his that we read. Something about the ambiguity and symbolic nature of these two were reminiscent of Maya Deren's trance films we saw earlier. With the reflecting pool, I felt as if the reflection of the man in the water symbolized his soul, or inner self. It had a separate existence, yet it was still related to his physical form. His films were quiet and meditative, which I really liked.

Farocki and Rist

Eye/Machine was a pretty interesting movie to me. I admired the amount of patience this movie took to make. There are so many different mediums that he uses to provide an empirical idea of what progressive technology means. I think the ideas that he provides causes the audience to think further and deeper, fueled by the questions he asks in the film. It provides a fantastic background for moral, ethical theoretical and political discussion. What happens in the absence of organic direction? At what point in the development of robotics do they develop a conscience? By advancing robotic intelligence do we reach a point in the development of the robot where we've programmed it with individual choices and the ability to make choices with an informed background wherein we've made them a moral object? Why do we put humans in danger when we can just send in a robot to do what we would otherwise risk lives to do?

I Want to See How You See by Pipilotti Rist was very interesting. Very interesting. I don't quite know how I can analyze it. At all. But! My only suggestion is that her Life is a massive overlapping of many different feels, ideas, experiences, and color, as that is all I could see in the video. It was a weird movie.

final films

Apart from I Want To See What You See, all of these films felt somewhat flat to me. I relate this opinion back to the fact that these films use technology that I am familiar with, seeing and using daily. As some of the most modern films we've seen, I cannot help but notice these usual techniques and evaluate them more than I would in another film. I have seen the distortion of images as is used in

Sun in Your Head. Of course I could not tell the exact technique, but I recognized the effect and this knowledge dulled the viewing slightly for me. After discussion I can now appreciate the particular use of the effect for this film.

Bill Viola's films were the two of the most unoriginal (for lack of a better word) to me because they used effects which I have played around with myself and could even explain. Though they were probably avant-garde in their time, my conditioning to technology makes these film less impressive today. It was still entertaining to see how Viola used water and video effects to distort reality.

I was much more interested in how I Want To See What You See used technology to manipulate the breadth of human perception. Using different effects (montage in high contrast, color blends, negatives, odd camera angles) to manipulate what can be seen and "see what someone else may see." By seeing more than one image in multiple exposure, the viewer sees one view (supposedly the "I" of the title) and another view (supposedly the "You" of the title) at the same time.

I want to see what you see

I have to admit I am not entirely sure how I feel about some of the films from the last screening. I was pretty disturbed by “I want to see how you see” mainly because I think it may have been taken directly from one of my nightmares. I was really confused by the whole film and in the scenes with where different images were on top of each other, I could not really make sense of what I was looking at. One of the most frustrating things for me in a dream is not being able to see a person’s face and so never knowing who the figure in the pink flowing dress was really frustrated me. The music was disturbing to me as well. The creepy almost screeching sound was not pleasant to listen to for the duration of the movie. The camera angles were really interesting to me. They made me feel as if I were some sort of peeping tom watching from behind chairs and sometimes even down on the ground as if from the perspective of some sort of small animal. Overall it was just a really uncomfortable movie for me and I could not really figure out what sort of point it was trying to get across.

I found the films from this past screening to in interesting but a little less so than previous films. Something about these new 1990s films was missing. Sun in My Head was an interesting way to look at the televisions affect on our life and the numbing sensation it has after hours of watching it, which can easily be compared to the sun and its blinding effect. I feel like it had a good idea to work from but almost fell flat in its ability to be "avant garde" and innovative. I guess that is what was lacking from the majority of the films was their sense of purpose and ability to show you something like no one else has look at it before. To me the films we watched, while they were important to see as an understanding of the class they also justify the idea that the avant-garde died in the mid 1960s.

postmodern 90s

I was not a huge fan of the last screening for this course. It seems like everything else we have studied is about pioneering ideas, exciting techniques, revolutionary ideas... these last films seemed to have more of a scornful, sarcastic attitude towards the world that I think sometimes accompanies postmodernity. There seems to be a lack of this bursting new creative energy but rather a desire to mock or critique life as we know it. I think this exemplifies a lot of pop culture around us currently, that the attitude of creating something completely new and original is overshadowed by the doubt that anything is new and original. I really liked the concept of the Kino-Eye in this course, of allowing the eye to see more than it can naturally see, and I don't think that films such as "I want to see how you see" uphold this priniciple but are more focused on the effects, the margins, and the mockery that goes along with postmodernism.

Meditative

My favorite of this week's movie was Viola's "The Reflecting Pool" because of its visual trickery in the way it split the screen and the way that it paced itself so deliberately slow. It seemed to be saying something about the disconnect of being in the moment and the inevitable, cyclical passage of time. How do we bring those ideas together? What does it mean to be stuck in time as it continues to move around you? Do we get lost, just as the mysterious figure disappears? There was something distinctively Eastern/Asian/Buddhist in Viola's films, and I thought it gave them a forcefully meditative tone. In a course where we have seen so many filmmakers self-reflecting, it seemed interesting to see Viola using a reflecting pool. My only complaint was that the grainy low-quality video seemed to lack the artistic quality or endeavor of previous films.

To be honest, I had little reaction to Monday's screening. The first three films we watched (Sun in Your Head, Migration, and Reflecting Pool) were all interesting enough; I remember thinking how glad I was not to be epileptic while watching Sun in Your Head. I hated that, in Migration, the sound and the water weren't at all in sync. They were so close, I kept waiting for them to line up, but they never did. It definitely left me a bit unsettled. Reflecting Pool was a similarly thoughtful experience; I remember staring at the guy for so long, looking away for a minute, then looking back and realizing he was gone, or different. I liked that though the man froze, pixelated in a way that it looked like he were almost moving extremely fast, the water in the pool still moved as serenely as before; it was in no way afraid of a disruption from the hovering figure.

I found Eye Machine I utterly forgettable and I Want To See How You See extremely annoying, in the sense that the song was stuck in my head for the remainder of the night and returns every time I think about the film. I was a trippy film; that's really all I can say.

Television: A Limit on Perception

When I first viewed Wolf Vostell’s Sun in your Head, I wasn’t really a fan of it. However, I watched it a second time, and I’m really beginning to like it or at least appreciate it. The stark contrast between the rapidly moving black and white objects throughout the film fits well with the title. When you look directly at the sun, you are blinded by its intensity and can see and think of nothing other than the bright light your eyes are being subjected to. Vostell’s comparison of the blindness caused by the sun and that caused by television is extremely interesting. In a country where the average viewer watches almost five hours of television per day, it’s refreshing to see someone so skeptical of it. Television programs these days cover almost every topic possible. There are teen dramas, how-to shows and even educational programs for children, but are these shows taking the place of other necessary aspects of life? I personally don’t have a television, and I get by just fine without one. Now, I’m not advocating that television should be completely eradicated, but maybe the population needs to take a good look at the meaning behind Vostell’s piece and reassess their dependency on television.

Thoughts

I found "The Reflecting Pool" to be the most interesting of the films we watched last week. I agree that there is something about the way water reflects, yet distorts images that is so intriguing. The nature sounds and the forest also go along with the calmness and the "rebirth" of the man. However, some things irk be about this film, mainly the quality. The scenery reminds me of the backdrops of waterfalls/forests that you see in cheap restaurants. I think that this may have to do with the fact that somehow video doesn't have the same timeless quality that celluloid film has.

I thought Viola's other work, "Migration," was intriguing in the beginning where everything was so blurred, but after a while I didn't really get the point of it. Harun Farocki's "Eye Machine 1" was also interesting and portrayed how relevant machines are in our lives and brought up ideas of having machines fight wars, not soldiers. However, the film did repeat some scenes and in some cases I couldn't figure out what I was looking at and this made it hard to interpret the film. Pipilotti Rist's “I Want to See How You See” was one of the strangest films I have seen. I’m not quite sure if the film was supposed to be creepy, but the audio certainly made it to be.

Admittedly, Monday's screening was not my favorite of the semester, but I nevertheless enjoyed a few of the films, particularly Vostell's Sun in Your Head and Viola's Reflecting Pool. I think one of the main reason I enjoyed these two more than the others is that they were slightly more ambiguous in terms of era. True, you knew they were more recent than other films we've watched because of the technology present in them, but they had a more timeless, universal quality than some of the other films we watched (in particular Farocki's Eye Machine I). Eye Machine I dealt so much with modern technology (even giving dates), that I found it less interesting and engaging, which is ironic considering that it would theoretically provide more relevance for me. Instead, I just found the specificity alienating.

And while I Want to See How You See was drastically unlike anything we've seen before, I still thought there were some interesting effects visually that created a true sense of disorientation, which, I would imagine, would result from seeing the world as another person does. At the very least, I think it was a mark of how far we've all come this semester that we could watch a baby in a long blonde wig and not immediately dismiss it as ridiculous.

Last

Something about Monday's films from the 90's made them less aesthetically pleasing. My guess would be that it had something to do with the nature of video over film. I think more than anything that it was the colors that were really gaudy.
Perhaps the most gaudy of the films was I Want To See How You See. This film reminded me of a terrible winamp graphic visualization set to some bad music. And of course, the nipple was uncomfortable to see. But as always, "I'm sure there's some deeper meaning behind it all."

"The Reflection Pool"

"The Reflection Pool" was my favorite film from Monday. I really like water, the way it moves, it's mirrorlike qualities, the way it portrays objects, the calming effect it has on me. This film was just that -- calming. And yet my eyes were anything but calm as they raced about the screen looking for the slightest change in scenery. Once the actor doing a cannonball into the pool froze in mid-air, I started looking for other evidence of editing. I really liked when the reflection of two actors walking around the pool was shown, but the actors were not physically present. This added a sense of fantasy and magic to the pool, and made it seem unearthly and gave it greater power and presence than the average pool. When a man appeared from beneath the water and climbed out, nude, he seemed to have been born from the water. I also liked how, even though the pool was the main subject, a great deal of forest was shown in the background. After the nude man rose out of the water, he walked for a significant amount of time through the woods in the background, and was shown exiting the screen after he retrieved his clothing. Each succeeding event in the film made the pool more amazing. Some events were obvious, such as the nude man climbing out of the pool, but many were barely noticeable at first. The subtle changes in the scene challenged me to search the screen actively. Most of the films we have seen guide the audience's eyes to what the director wants them to see. This film, to me at least, made the audience work harder to perceive everything that happened in the film. Especially the things that occurred as reflections in the water, without subjects from which to be reflected. The constant movement in the water and slightly changing scenery around the pool disguised such occurrences to some extent, blurring them and softening their impact on the screen.

The Last Screening

I think I liked all of the films from the screening on Monday in some respect. I really enjoyed "Decollage" and the Viola films. They way the images were manipulated on screen was amazing to see. In "Migration" the manipulation was all about the clarity with the water droplet, which I thought was interesting. I kept wondering what was being focused in on in that film.

I didn't relate to "I want to see how you see" as much. The visual aspects were interesting enough to witness, but after awhile it was like looking at a cheap poster at a souvenir shop. The music was really jarring too-- I can't figure out why, except that it didn't treat music like other films had. All in all, it felt like a weird note to end the semester on.

The Last Screening

Although Bill Viola's movies were a little tedious, I really liked his ideas, or what I thought were his ideas anyway. In "Migration" I liked how he focused on a single area of space, and how every time it zoomed in, some part of the image became a little clearer. However, the gap between the water dropping and the gong sound really bothered me, I felt like it was out of sync, thoguh maybe that was his point. With "The Reflection Pool" the whole idea of water reflecting reality, but in a distorted manner was rather interesting, the way things are not quite as they appear in their reflection.

I also really enjoyed "I Want to See How You See." I think that maybe it was not entirely clear and very strange, but still very intriuging. I mean, sure it maybe took the idea of perception to an extreme, but this only emphasized how really, you don't know how differently someone could be seeing something from the way you do, which is an important concept to grasp in life. Looking past its eccentricity, it really was a good film.

The Eye of the Machine

The film that made the most impression on me was Harun Farocki's "Eye Machine 1." In my opinion, "Eye Machine 1" was the most intriguing of all the films we watched. "Eye Machine 1" provided an interesting perspective in how much we rely on machines in our daily lives. Every image and scene was from the machine or technological standpoint. It was a film that made me rethink the profound influence to which machines seem to be able to have an eye of their own. I had never thought about how cameras were eyes to a missile or robot. It was quite interesting to see how cameras were portrayed as similar to human eyes. However, there was something oddly discomforting about the camera eyes. Although the idea of making of film about the eye of the machine was creative, the repetition of certain scenes such as the one with the missile did not need to be repeated. Farocki's "Eye Machine 1" reminded me a little bit of Vertov's Man with a Movie Camera with its intense usage of Kino-Eye.

I was quite frankly disappointed by Viola's "Migration" film. Although the beginning was intriguing, once I realized that the rest remained blurry and indistinct, I failed to see the point in the film. The falling drops of water that created a gong sound was slightly irritating. I was frustrated throughout the entire film when the camera never fully revealed the individual who was sitting in the chair. It seemed as if Viola was merely messing around with a certain idea that actually executing and carrying out a developed concept.

I want to see how you see

I think the film that most resonated with me from monday's screening was Pipilotti Rist's "I want to see how you see," not because I particularly liked it, but because it was the most engaging. I have to admit that this film made me more uncomfortable than any other film we've seen this semester, aside from "Flaming Creatures." The bright, vivid technicolors and obnoxious soundtrack reminded me of an eighties music video, and I think they were intended to inspire some sort of pleasant feeling. Instead, I was offput. The film was creepy in a little-kid-in-horror-movie kind of a way. Everything was so bright and happy, but it was done in a way that made me want to look away. The scene in which a hand groped and shaped a nipple was particularly grotesque. I've seen nipples before, yes, and I've even seen them upclose on screen, but I don't think I've seen that sort of violence towards them before. And the child explaining about the wonder of the nipple behind it just added to the strange and horrific feel of the scene. As for the title, I have no idea what that means in context of my reaction to the film. I remember there was a second title that was called something like a portrait of a woman's name, which makes sense in that the film could be a visual representation of how she sees, or how Rist sees her. I don't know though, I've probably got the wrong impression. Oh, and what was with the baby wearing a wig?

Sink or Swim

Sink or Swim took an interesting spin on describing the hardships of a child with father problems. She separated each individual stories while still maintaining a linear meaning. With each story was a video clip that was either representing directly what was going on or used as a metaphor. I found the film intriguing because of how it brought you into the girl's story without too much emotional attachment that makes it difficult. Her deep connection with the material while still remaining apathetic to the situation made it compelling to watch. Even the visuals were able to bring you into the idea while still keeping a strong distance from the emotion. Something about the film sparked ideas in my mind on what I would say about my childhood and how I would describe it. I thoroughly enjoyed this piece because of its utter truth behind the words and stories portrayed.

The two films last week seemed to be from very different ends of the spectrum. The first film I found to be very interesting although it did seem to get a bit tedious by the end. What was being shown in the film seemed to get repetitive. The screening left me a confused though. I was unsure whether or not to feel bad for the people of the tribe. They lacked all of our modern technology, yet seemed content with their way of life and probably would not be able to function in a society such as the one we live in today. This led me to wonder if I should feel bad for us and all of the stuff we have that seems so important and gets in the way. Many shots of the tribe showed older members as well as young children spending a lot of time together and I got the impression that they were much more family oriented. Women doing work had their child strapped to their back as they did their chores. It just reminds me how unnecessary a lot of what we have today is. Granted our life style is much more comfortable, it was a strong reminder that a lot of it is highly unnecessary.

Sink or Swim

This movie was really interesting to me and I enjoyed how all the stories were individual events that related to one another and portrayed a bigger picture of a life. The individuality and personal story related by this film was readily accessible to viewers through the use of the found footage and also the 'fictional' short stories that were presented in a manner that was not biographical. The story was compelling and evoked empathy and emotion that made the viewers have a vested interest in the film. I personally enjoyed this film even though I did not catch on to the structure of the narratives. The film was personal and self-reflective yet appealed to a wide range of audiences. The cathartic release shown through this film is interesting to me and made me want to watch it again.