Reading Response 5: Due Oct. 27 @ 5 p.m.

Reading Response 5: Due Oct. 27 @ 5 p.m.

Sitney, “Structural Film”
Visionary Film, Chapter 12

You may find it helpful to read the first few pages of the other assigned reading for this week (James Peterson, “Rounding Up the Usual Suspects”) before tackling this chapter, focusing particularly on p. 72-76. Read that overview, which will review key concepts from the first half of this class, then tackle this chapter and answer the following questions.

1. How is structural film different from the tradition of Deren/Brakhage/Anger, and what are its four typical characteristics? What is meant by “apperceptive strategies”?

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/apperceptive

The structural film insists on its shape and what content it has is minimal and subsidiary to the outline. The four characteristics are, fixed camera position, flicker effect, loop printing, and rephotography off the screen.

"Apperceptive strategies" means it is the cinema of the mind rather than the eye. The cinema is more about a experience internally rather than just images shown to the viewer.

2. If Brakhage’s cinema emphasized metaphors of perception, vision, and body movement, what is the central metaphor of structural film? Hint: It fits into Sitney’s central argument about the American avant-garde that we have discussed previously in class.

Again it has to do with the cinema of the mind rather than the eye. Sitney says that Avant-Garde cinema is aboutthe human mind and Brackhage's cinema emphasized metaphors of perception, vision, and body movement, all of which is essential to the mind.

3. Why does Sitney argue that Andy Warhol is the major precursor to the structural film?
He say's that Warhol turned his genius for parody and reduction against the American Avant-Garde film itself. Instead of doing all the things that Brakhage and Anger did, which was not wasting any frame, Warhol did just the opposite, he just walked away from the filming.

4. The trickiest part of Sitney’s chapter is to understand the similarities and differences between Warhol and the structural filmmakers. He argues that Warhol in a sense is anti-Romantic and stands in opposition to the visionary tradition represented by psychodrama/mythopoeic/lyrical films. But for Sitney’s central argument to make sense, he needs to place structural film within the tradition of psychodrama/mythopoeic/lyrical films. Trace the steps in this argument by following the following questions:

a. Why does Sitney call Warhol anti-Romantic?
Sitney say's that the way Warhol uses Pop art, he essentially repudiates romanticism in the form of Abstract Expressionism. Sitney seems to think that Warhol rejects romanticism because he uses Popart.

b. Why does Sitney argue that spiritually the distance between Warhol and structural filmmakers such as Michael Snow or Ernie Gehr cannot be reconciled?
Because Warhol abandoned the fixed camera for in-the-camera editing while Snow and Gehr's camera is fixed in a mystical contemplation in a portion of space.

c. What is meant by the phrase “conscious ontology of the viewing experience”? How does this relate to Warhol’s films? How does this relate to structural films?

"Conscious ontology of the viewing experience" means that the filmmaker is aware of the effect his films have on the viewer. Warhol knows how his films effect people because they are so simple that they have an almost hypnotic trance to them. As far as structural films Warhol challenged people with the length of his films. Other filmmakers did as well but they were apologetic about it. Warhol was not. He knew how long they were and didn't care, he used it to convey his message.

d. Why does Sitney argue that structural film is related to the psychodrama/mythopoeic/lyrical tradition, and in fact responds to Warhol’s attack on that tradition by using Warhol’s own tactics?

5. On p. 352 Sitney begins an analysis of the Wavelength rooted in conveying the experience of watching it; this style of analysis is admittedly hard to read without having seen the film (we’ll discuss this style of analysis in class). Try your best so that you can answer the following question related to p. 354: What metaphor is crucial to Sitney’s and Annette Michelson’s interpretation of Michael Snow’s Wavelength?

The metaphor that is crucialis the very unsteadiness of the forward movement and its perceptible tiny jolts forward.

For the rest of the chapter, focus on the discussions of the following films:

Paul Sharits: T,O,U,C,H,I,N,G

George Landow: Film in Which There Appear Edge Lettering, Sprocket Holes, Dirt Particles, Etc.

James Peterson, “Rounding Up the Usual Suspects”
[Found in "Kreul Articles" folder on your flash drives]

The following questions ask about three reading strategies for the minimal strain of the avant-garde. They are all previewed on p. 77. Your answers should incorporate details from the subsequent discussions of them (see page numbers in the parentheses).

6. What is the reading strategy associated with the “phenomenological schema” (include details and examples from 77-80)?

The reading strategy is outlined n Michaelson's work "Toward Snow" remarking on Michael Snow's work saying it contains " any long take ithout appreciable dramatic action can be read as the inscription of time on the image

7. What is the reading strategy associated with the “art-process schema” (include details and examples from 80-85)?

Critic Paul Arthur says that the "art Process schema" means the description of structural filmas having a simple shape that s the primal impression is just too vague. He goes on to note the earlier work of Brakhage with Mothlight looking at in a new light. Arthur says that the filmbelongs to a new class of films ones that take the attention away from the screen and onto the physical object in the projector.

8. What is the reading strategy associated with the “anti-illusion schema” (include details and examples from 85-90)?

Art critic Clement Greenberg says ny element on screen that does not produce an impression of three dimensional space is read as a demonstration ofhe inherent flatness f the cinematic image.

My first part of the post is posting up some examples of music video's and music that Professor Kreul and I spoke about. The first one is from BT. He is a DJ that collborated with different artists for his music videos from his 2006 album This Binary Universe. Here are some examples:

http://www.vimeo.com/3633531

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7JiCZvJh5Q&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNvFpWCUlxQ&feature=related

Another couple examples we had talked about were from the visual artist Scott Pagano that worked on BT's video(first one):

http://www.vimeo.com/14098220

http://www.vimeo.com/14099196

http://www.vimeo.com/2388735

Just some different things we had spoke about some people may be interested in.

First, write a brief response to the Ann Buchanan screen test. How is it similar to / different from the Fluxus films screened in class?

The Ann Buchanan screen test was very similar to the other fluxus films we screened in class because there was really nothing to it. It was a girl sitting in a chair, not blinking, looking at the camera. The difference was that because she was not blinking and completely transfixed looking into the camera I felt myself wondering how hard that would be and my eyes started watering because it made me feel uncomfortable and then I would see tears welling up in her eyes and my eyes would water again. It was a simple shot of a girl but because there was nothing(no blinking) going on when there should be something(blinking) it was different and more engaging.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhYfCWd5XQ0 (I would advise muting the recently added music track).

You might find this blog post by JJ Murphy (my advisor back in Madison) interesting and/or helpful
http://www.jjmurphyfilm.com/blog/?p=82


J. Hoberman, Jonathan Rosenbaum, The Underground

1. What were some of the venues associated with the early underground film movement in New York City? What were some of the unique characteristics of the Charles Theater and its programming?

Some of the venues were Cinema 16, Charles Theatre, American Underground Theatre.

The unique thing about Charles Theatre was the amount of diversity it featured in its programming. It offered an eclectic program from all areas of art.

2. Which filmmakers did Jonas Mekas associate with the “Baudelairean Cinema”? Why did Mekas use that term, and what were the distinguishing characteristics of the films?

Ron Rice, Jack SMith and Ken Jacobs were Meckas' most important protege's in the "Baudelarian Cinema"

He used the term because he compared the films of the filmmakers previously mentioned to Baudelare, the marquis de sade, and Rimbauldand what they gave to literature. These characteristics that stood out were"illuminating and were opening up sensibilities nobody had ever experienced in cinema before.

3. Why did underground films run into legal trouble in New York City in 1964? What film encountered legal problems in Los Angeles almost on the same day as Mekas’s second arrest in New York City?

The underground films were running into legal trouble because of what was being shown. Essentialy the content of the films was being shot down. Scorpio Rising was shown almost on the same day Mekas was arrested again in NYC.

4. What were some of the defining characteristics of Andy Warhol’s collaboration with Ronald Tavel? What were some of the unique characteristics of Vinyl? How does Edie Sedgewick end up "stealing" the scene in Vinyl? (You may choose to add your own observations of the film based on our screening.)

THe defining characteristics of Warhol's collaboration with Tavel were the long takes with little to no cutes and having the actors kind of come and go as they please. These were also some of the unique characterisitcs of Vinyl. There were only three cuts in the entire film and some people in it were going in and out of the scene, Edie just sat around, lines were obviously read off a cue card. Edie stole the scenes because she just sat there stretched out. Here is this scene playing out and a beautiful girl is just laying there smoking. You as an audience member keep getting drawn back to her because of how she looked.

5. In what ways did the underground film begin to "crossover" into the mainstream in 1965-1966? What films and venues were associated with the crossover? How were the films received by the mainstream New York press? Underground film began to crossover into the mainstream when the popular press started to feature the filmmaker sand MOMA had a symposium on the new American Cinema. THe Bridge and The Gate would regularly screen underground films.

6. Why was Mike Getz an important figure in the crossover of the underground?
Mike Getz sent the films to his uncle Lois Sherwho owned some movie house and he would show midnight showings essentiallyproviding the spadeworkfor the midnight movie explosion of the 70's

7. How do Hoberman and Rosenbaum characterize Warhol’s post-1967 films?
Technologically improved nudity film

Robert Pike, “Pros and Cons of Theatrical Bookings”
[in folder: notes_from_the_creative_film_society_pros_and_cons_of_theatrical_booking]

8. What were some of the advantages and disadvantages to the move from non-theatrical to theatrical bookings for experimental films? The advantages of the move were simple: 1) Money and 2) Prestige. THe disadvantages were : 1) Wear and tear on prints because most 16mm film projectors were poorly designed and scratched and tore the film and 2) was a lack of respect from the theatre owners for the physical print.


9. What issues developed concerning non-exclusive and exclusive representation by distributors?
It is better to give exclusive representation to theatrical booking because in this instance the distributor is in a position to demand the highest possible price for his film. For Non-theatrical productions it is best to have non-exclusive representation because each distributor in each major city has his own share of loyal customers and is therefore in a position to obtain rental bookings no other distributor can get.

10. What problems did the Creative Film Society run into with devious theater owners?

The theaters were running untitled "beaver" films under the Titles of different films essentially using false advertising and alsothe theaters were also duping the films they rented and showing them at other theaters.

1. Respond to Chieko Shiomi's Disappearing Music for Face. How does the minimalism and duration of the film affect your engagement with the image? How does the film relate to the following issues:
a. Maciunas's definition of art vs. his definition of "fluxus art-amusement"
b. art as object vs. art as performance and activity.

The minimalism of the film and the duration encouraged me to detach myself from the film. At first I tried to see if I could notice the difference in the smile fading but eventually I got kinda bored with it and my mind unwillingly went other places. I started to think about other stuff and was distanced from the film because it was so minimal .

a.I believe it was more in tune with 'fluxus art-amusement' because it was very simple and nothing special. it was almost a stab at 'art'

b. This was art as performance and activity but it was interesting because it was almost as if I was looking at a painting or photograph so it was not art as an object but it very well could have been if you take a still photo from it, you would have the same effect if you stared at that for 11 minutes.

2. Look up “Fluxus” and any of the Fluxus artists in the index of Visionary Film. Why are they not there? Are the Fluxfilmscompatible with Sitney’s central argument about the American avant-garde?

There are some beat authors like John Cage there but Fluxus is not mentioned. Not sure why they are not there. It must be because of Sitney's central argument, "American Avant-Garde filmmakers aspire to represent the human mind and fluxus films might not do that. They sometimes are opposite of what is going on in my mind. The Smile film was not representative of my mind ever. I would never stare at someone's anything for that amout of time so essentially Sitney may not associate Fluxus films with Avant-garde cinema.

Mary Jordan, Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis

3. What are some of the reasons suggested for Smith’s obsession with Maria Montez? What are some of your responses to the clips from the Montez films (especially Cobra Woman)?

She was the goddess of film and I think most importantly hailed as the queen of technicolor. She was gorgeous and was very entrancing so I can see why Smith was obsessed with her. I thought she was the epitome of a WWII pinup girl on screen.

4. What were some attributes of the New York art community in the 1960s, and what was the relationship between the economics of the time and the materials that Smith incorporated in to his work and films? [How could Smith survive and make art if he was so poor in the city so big they named it twice?]

The art community experienced a flood of creativity because the conformity of the 50's was coming down. People were embracing the differences and creating different colorful artistic communities. SMith was able to make these colorful films using materials he would find out back of the department stores where they threw out clothes and materials and manequins. He did not need to spend any money because he used what the department stores didn't reflecting that he showed what people didn't want.
5. What is John Zorn’s argument about Normal Love? How does his argument relate to some of the changes in the New York art world in the 1960s that we discussed in class? What are some arguments made about the influence of Jack Smith on other filmmakers (including Warhol)?
John Zorn says that the real show of Normal Love was the filming. He says there should have been an audience there while he was filming becasue that was the real show. It relates to what we discussed in class because the the experience of the film fesival like chips and salsa and the integration of the audience was what makes the show. Jack Smith did the films he wanted to do when and how he wanted to and other filmmakers saw different parts of his films and got famous using different influences from his films.

6. What is meant by the slogan, “no more masterpieces” and how did Smith resist commodification (or the production of art products)?

SMith thought that if he didn't finish a piece of work it could not be banned again like his other film. THat way to see the film he would have to be with it. He was editing during the filming

Callie Angell, “Andy Warhol, Filmmaker”

7. How does Angell characterize the first major period of Warhol’s filmmaking career? What are some of the films from this period, and what formal qualities did they share? What are some significant differences between Sleep and Empire?

The first major period of Warhol's filmmaking career were comprised of notoriously longand static silent films. Some of these films were Empire, Kiss, Eat, and Haircut. All of them were very long, Empire was 8 hours and simple long shots. They were very minimal and almost no editing but comprised on one long reel. Significant difference between Sleep and Empire were the cutting that Sleep was comprised of while Empire was one long unedited shot.

8. What role did the Screen Tests play in the routines at the Factory and in Warhol’s filmmaking?

Warhol used Screen Tests to play in the background while the plays were going on

9. How does Angell characterize the first period of sound films in Warhol’s filmmaking career? Who was Warhol’s key collaborator for the early sound films? What are some of the films from this period and what formal properties did they share?
Warhol's first period of sound films were unique because he didn't mind improve or flubbed lines and using cue cards that were easily noticed. He embraced chance factors in his films. Edie Sedwick was his key collaborator. He used Edie in films, Afternoon, Restaurant and Poor Little Rich Girl. They were films of Edie just hanging out with her friends or eating dinner with her friends.