Monday 11th December: Bordwell and Thompson Film Art, Experimental Film 4 points

Creative Project Development and Realisation - Research Session

Bordwell and Thompson once wrote a book called "Film Art". Guess what it was about. One of the chapters in said book was titles "Experimental Film" which just so happens to be what we're focusing on in our class. So, I'll be taking 4 direct quotes from the text and briefly elaborating on them, for research purposes. So, without further adieu:

Quote 1

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"The rhythm of editing is as important as the rhythm of movement within individual shots"

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I found this quote particularly interesting as it links in to what I have personally tried to do in my experimental films. Often when watching a film, editing will become so natural to us that it will almost become a movement within a film. As a conversation takes place, the camera switches viewpoints to capture the exact angles the audience wishes to see to understand the scene. If a character is to turn their head sharply, we expect a quick, sharp edit to accompany it so we may be pulled into the motion and immersed further.

Quote 2 

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"The filmmakers have taken advantage of the cinema's own mechanical ability to multiply the same image."

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In reference to a short experimental film known as "Ballet Mechanique," this quote got me thinking about the workings of cinema, and how we see content on a screen. If we are to see a still image on a screen how are we supposed to know whether it is truly still, or whether it is a series of hundreds of pictures cycling in front of us holding the exact same image? Motion is exactly what the filmmaker wants it to be. When it comes to making a film, once you have the footage, you can quite literally revisit moments in time.

Quote 3 

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"As the image clarifies, the sound deteriorates; as the image slips back into abstraction, the sound clarifies."

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A quote referencing J.J, Murphy's Print Generation in which Murphy copied an image over and over so that each copy had said image deteriorate in quality. The interesting point about this quote is how it notes the film's interesting dynamic with sound. So often while watching films, we as the audience see visuals and sound as interlinked, much like we experience it in reality. But when at the mercy of a filmmaker, what we know can be greatly distorted by establishing a new set of rules. Murphy didn;t just scramble audio and visual, he recreated his own set rules for them, deciding you cannot have one clear without the other being out of focus. 

Quote 4 

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"Art for art's sake"

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This is my favourite quote. Often when people watch experimental films, this is a phrase you'll often hear from critics. And indeed Bordwell and Thompson mention this quote in the context of pretending to be a critic. Art for art's sake suggests the experience the critic just had was pointless. That whatever they were put through, it has not altered them, it has simply allowed them to acknowledge that there is pointless art in front of them. But then you need to start asking the question, well what is art? If it is something able to elicit an emotional response, then the new question becomes: "What isn't art?" Does every emotional response have or need a reason? These are the questions this quote raises with me.