Fuses

I definitely see the homage or reaction to Brakhage in this film. Even though Brakhage seems to be regarded very highly in this film movement, I just do not care for his work. Not that I do not respect it, just do not enjoy watching it. So for the same reasons I do not really care for this one either. I did enjoy Christmas on Earth, I almost want to find some old porn footage, use multiple projector and colored gels and .....now we have art!.. just kidding...sort of.

Nostalgia

As I think I mentioned in class I thought the play on memory by use of the description not aligning with the image interesting. Memory is a mental construction that is usually not entirely accurate, in contrast a photograph is unbiased and has no emotional quality into itself but can trigger memories of time past. Although I can watch embers burn at a campfire for hours, I do not feel the same way about watching it on the screen. Possible because it is leaving out the other sensory inputs that create the experience.

Sitney - Structural Film

Sitney, “Structural Film”

2. How is structural film different from the tradition of Deren/Brakhage/Anger, and what are its four typical characteristics?

Structural film differs in that it is “cinema of the mind, rather than the eye” Fixed camera, looped film, flicker and rephotography

3. 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.

The metaphor of consciousness, the mind is the central metaphor

4. Why does Sitney argue that Andy Warhol is the major precursor to the structural film?

Warhols films attempted to outlast viewers attention, staring at the same thing for hours, enduring sameness emptiness, how long before your mind begins to wander. Essentially Warhols films also attempted to address the inner workings of the mind, like structural film

5. 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? Sets up the camera and walks away, indifferent to direction lighting photography associated with the others.

b. Why does Sitney argue that spiritually the distance between Warhol and structural filmmakers such as Michael Snow or Ernie Gehr cannot be reconciled?

Warhols fixed camera gaze at sameness attempts to outlast perception and force viewer to make interesting, Snow and Gehr are more contemplative, like purposeful meditation on ontology

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?

(I love how these film theory writers enjoy being pedantic ….sometimes I wonder if they aren’t trying to outdo each other)

Purposely examining the nature of reality, existence…metacognition… as it relates to how the eye perceives and the mind interprets that information. For Warhol, as earlier stated, it is about emptiness…how long can the mind remain fixed on sameness before it begins creating variations or simply wanders. Structural films are trying to induce an alternate state of consciousness to some means. Simply Warhol achieved this by duration no intention to guide the mind, now they are using this technique to manipulate your mind

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? I think I have already answered this… Warhols reactions to the others film forms was to not control what happens in front of the camera, by not attempting to use metaphor to try and represent what we think our minds reality is, but simply allowing the mind to do this on it’s own. Using these techniques the structure filmmakers are trying to induce specific state of perceived reality not with representation but more like meditation.

6. What metaphor is crucial to Sitney’s and Annette Michelson’s interpretation of Michael Snow’s Wavelength? Consciousness.

Chelsea Girls, Vinyl....Warhol

I know I am supposed to talk about Chelsea Girls, and I will but I enjoyed Vinyl much more. Chelsea Girls, I think it would have been more impressive with the random switching of sound from screen to screen, than what I saw as a static version... meaning only the screen with the pope and sweat guy received my attention, I do not even know what happened in the other. Of course I was aware that Nico was crying, but it had little effect on the popes tyrant monologue, for me anyway. Vinyl on the other hand, I quite enjoyed, Edie sitting there while everyone else was performing Tavel version, A Clockwork Orange was brilliant. I loved the long take, showing the progression away from sobriety, I think it actually improved with the spiral into chaos, instead of the terrible acting. I like the strange camera angle, showing and not showing he different planes of action. I can not entirely explain why I just liked it more than most we have seen thus far.

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?

Cinema 16, Fashion Industries Auditorium, Living Theater, the Charles Theater, Thalia, New Yorker, the Bleeker Street Cinema
The Charles Theater had a diverse venue, from musicals to jazz shows to Italian neorealist dramas, cheap B movies and even Orson Welles's. Local art adorned the theater and it catered itself to the local art scene. Discussions would about film would erupt during the intermissions.


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?

Artist such as Jack Smith, Ron Rice and Ken Jacobs were associated with the bauderlairean cinema, coined from the writer Baudelaire these films contained images of violence and sex and anything else considered taboo.


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?

That damned Worlds Fair -didn’t China just do something similar? Scorpio’s Rising
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?
Tavel rewrote Clockwork Orange, stripped it down to its basic elements, and helped document Warhols factory -Vinyl was shot with one stationary camera. Sedgewick just sat on a truck and flicked her cigarette, but her eyes were so intense that they stole scene

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?
After Warhol's series, "The Chelsea Girls" was released, it gained popularity, partly due to an impressive review in "Newsweek," gave legitamacy to the film . It was the first underground film to screen at a major theater. Then the film spread throughout other major theaters around the country.


6. Why was John Getz an important figure in the crossover of the underground?

Midnight screenings of underground films at a theater owned by his uncle. called the " The Underground Cinema 12". This gave underground film more exposure then ever before.


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

He never again created anything that caused much of a buzz, but he did remain as a great influence over the sexual content in experimental films of the following era.

Fluxus

Yoko Ono - One

Although not quite as much of an assault to my optics as some of others, this film and all of the Fluxus films, in my humble opinion, take minimalism a little far. Which to answer the next question, is why the are not listed in the index of visionary film and do not fit the model of American avant garde according to Sitney. The films do not attempt to portray the mind but only explore the medium of film itself.

Responses- Smith and Warhol

Mary Jordan, Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis

3. Chapter 4. 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)?

Maria Montez, for Smith, was the epitome of a diva, she was the star of Technicolor and brought back pleasant memories of watching films as a child. She was exotic and melodramatic.

4. Chapter 5. 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?]

In the 60’s the NY artist were a close group, so close in fact they were considered akin to an ethnic group all their own. Smith dumpster dove, so to speak, to make his props and costumes, left over fabric, mannequins and whatever else he could find. Although Smith was poor, NY was not so expensive back in the day.

5. Chapter 6. What problems emerged after the obscenity charges against Flaming Creatures in the relationship between Jack Smith and Jonas Mekas? What metaphor emerged from the conflict between Smith and Mekas?

Smith felt the Mekas used his work for profit, thus ruining the purity of art. By taking his film to various shows and profiting, Mekas was considered a Lobster, a metaphor for a scavenger, bottom feeder.

6. Chapter 7. 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)?

Zorn argues that the real art was the making of the film not the film itself. During this time in NY, there was a reaction to commercialism. Artist exploited commercial media in protest of conformity and materialism. Smith is said to have influenced many other artist that saw his films. Fellini used his imagery, Warhol copied style and he used many of the same actors that Smith did. The Factory was even reminiscent of Smiths earlier apartment film shooting.

7. Chapter 9 and 10: In what ways did Jack Smith become “uncommercial film personified”? What is meant by the slogan, “no more masterpieces” and how did Smith resist commodification (or the production of art products)?
Smith kept it real, did not sell out, his vision of the world was that art should be free and accessible. After Flaming Creatures, Smith never made another “masterpiece” in other words did not make another complete film. Later showings of his work would be edited during projection so that you would have to be there to experience it. In this way his work could never be bought and sold as a commodity.


Callie Angell, “Andy Warhol, Filmmaker”

[I have emailed part one of this article to the class, it is not on reserve.]

8. 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 films were long, minimal and silent. Sleep, Kiss, Haircut, Blow Job, Eat, Empire, and Henry Geldzahler. Sleep was shot from multiple angles, different shot sizes and edits. Empire was a continuous shot without movement.

9. What role did the Screen Tests play in the routines at the Factory and in Warhol’s filmmaking?
Screen tests shot at the Factory, documented life there. Capturing and framing the people and visitors of the factory, like a series of still photographs, these tests informed Warhol’s production technique.

10. 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?

Ronald Travel was his main collaborator. His films had the quality of stage productions of life as it occurs. Vinyl, Poor Little Rich Girl, Restaurant, and Afternoon are some of the films.