Experimental Film - Analysis

The project is finally finished! After hours upon hours of editing and tweeking segments over and over we can happily say that our piece is finished.

The concept of our idea can be perceived as some-what confusing, but i'll try my best to discuss what it's about... the original idea was to create a piece that featured no narrative, or as little of one as possible, and I believe we've succeeded with our final piece. The concept of our idea features one unnamed character, we also set ourselves some rules when creating ideas for our piece. For example the piece was to feature no dialogue from the main character, and was to feature a 'field' shot that was only to be shown in black and white. - The shot in-which the camera is positioned in the same place throughout, as the character does a variety of things on-screen in a field.

Back onto the concept for our film.. The main character walking around is represented as the 'ego' - the consience, ordered, rational and stable moral part of the mind.
The character in the mirror(s) represents the ID, or the unconcious mind.. the unstable, dreamy part of the character's brain. The mirror also represents the ID.
The camera itself (the camera on-screen) synbolises the character's consience.. be consience of being watched.

To simplify things, the simple idea of our film was to explore how mirrors can represent different parts of a character's mind, ego, consience etc.. for example being afraid or paranoid of being watched.. exploring voyeurism.

By layering a variety of shots over the top of one-another I feel we managed to convey a message that these 'different' people all link together in one-way or another. For example the person looking through the lense of the camera, and the same person on the other end being 'watched'. Whilst the same person is looking into a mirror, perhaps seeing his alter-ego, the side of him in-which is paranoid or psychologically unstable.. The shot that features the main character forcing a shovel into the ground is meant to represent 'normality' or 'anger'. An activity that is percieved as a 'normal' thing anyone could do, contrary to someone sitting in front of a mirror looking back at themselves.

Other shots that feature mirrors in the background are there to obscure normality/convey a message that the character is being 'watched'. The soundtrack we used feels well-suited for the piece we created, by syncing the visuals on-screen to the beats/notes in the music, we set ourselves a rythm that feels fluid yet obscure.

For example in the cereal scene, the soundtrack dips/changes in tempo when the cereal is being eaten, perhaps portraying a message to the audience that by eating the cereal, something has changed or is about to happen.. the whole point of this scene was to think of something that you would rarely see or even think of in the real world... creating something obscure.

My 'role' that was assigned to me included cinematography and editing. However I must begin by saying we all seemed to spread out each role fairly equally as it felt an easier way of working. But on the other hand, I was in control of most of the cinematic shots on-screen...

Pros - the opening field shot i believe set the scene for the film, a fairly expansive area that features a mirror and a camera, helping create ignigma and obscurity.
- variety in shots that feature the mirrors/the general framing of the shots

Cons - Most of the shots we intended to get we were unable too.. for example we were unable to gather an old landline telephone as a prop, which was to be featured in the film, so we resulted in repeating a few of our shots in the final edit.
- Other shots we were unable to get because the weather was simply too cold. We were there for hours shooting different scenes but the - degree temps made it impossible to venture out further into the woodland to get the shots we wanted.

The final shot in the film was to symbolise ID (the unconcious mind) taking over the ego (the rational, realistic, ordered part of the mind).. so we cleverly took the character 'out of the mirror' and showed it taking over the ID.. resulting in a smashed mirror.
Another way of interpreting the scene is that the character is attempting to overcome his paranoia of being watched, by smashing the mirror that features the camera (symbolosing being watched/vouyerism).

In conclusion, I feel our piece went pretty well. However we needed more shots in our piece/could have perhaps explored our idea/concept into greater detail, whilst trying to portray the idea more clearly on-screen.

Experimental Film Project

Another set of ideas we brainstormed early on in the development process.

Peter Greenaway - Intervals (1969)

The experimental video directed by Peter Greenway features shots of people walking through town in the day. A 'narrator' is pronouncing the alphabet in the background whilst an almost hypnotic soundtrack is played. The video is very abstract and he creates a piece that ditches narrative and explores how scenes can be repeated, yet perceived in a different way by the audience if the soundtrack were to be different.

The video was shot in Venice and the series of shots are repeated multiple times, however each time featuring a different soundtrack. I think the video shows how we can interprete the same thing differently if for example the soundtrack were to be changed.

Precise, effective cinematography bring the images to life as do the types of people that walk by on-screen.. for it's era I feel that Greenaway was also attempting new editing techniques that had rarely been seen in film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0ELNvNxIA

Filming on Location

Took a few shots whilst out filming for our experimental piece

Experimental film text

The text we received in our seminar that explores Experimental Film into some detail, puts across many examples of what makes a film experiemental, what defines it, what techiniques are seen and used, as well as many texts that are considered experiemental.

The text expreses how experimental film steps away from mainstream cinema, and explore a director's perspective and personal experience rather than creatinga piece that features a set narrative. Freedom is greatly increased when creating experiemental film,  as a director is able to create anything he or she may be experiencing or thinking of. I believe what the text says is correct in terms of defining what experimental film-making is, as well as the texts/examples it puts across.

Abstract film-making is discussed and shows how something that may be looked over, can sometimes be the main point in the film. For example the 'Railroad Turnbridge', a video that features the turnbridge mechanism and how it moves/interracts within our world. The text explores how in other cases the location or 'mechanism' may be used in a narrative, for example an action sequence in-which cars are chasing each other. However the centre of attention is greatly shifted, and focuses on the mechanism itself. I feel examples like these help us understand what sets experimental film apart from other types of more 'linear', mainstream work. More examples of abstract work include the use of colours and shapes; how they can be manipulated/positioned to create a new image or perception.

Little interest is sometimes shown towards experimental film. Some critics perceive it as an excuse for 'art'.. I'm unsure to whether i agree or not with this statement. I can appreciate/understand many examples of experimental film, by the techniques they use to portrey a message to the audience, or the sheer originality that shares almost no common factors with texts i've seen before.

Experimental Project

So as a group we've been jotting down and brainstorming some ideas for our experimental project.. after having a session that consisted entirely of watching experimental pieces, I concluded that we're pretty much able to come up with whatever we want.. however with all this freedom, it's proven more difficult because of the endless ideas we could put into practice.

Anyway, here's a checklist we've made for our piece.