Ray Privett & James Kreul, “A Cinema of Possibilities: Brian Frye Interview”

--How does Frye relate his work (including his film programming) to the following movements / concepts / genres:

Performance (and performance art)
Minimalism
Fluxus

Performance (performance art) like masturbation for the camera, go onstage and masturbate for the audience- a joke you do not have to do anything yet in front of the camera it is a performance

Minimalism - not trying to assert oneself over the film but tease out the paradox - theology for the atheist

Fluxus- concepts of exploring the medium of film itself and film as perception.

likes to view programming as a whole not just random assortment of films

--How does Frye respond to the question about what he “adds” to films such as Anatomy of Melancholy?

Frye helps films do what they are supposed to do, presents them in a way to express themselves


Scott MacDonald, “Maintenance”

--What are some of the reasons for rental income growth at Canyon Cinema between 1980 and 2003? How did Canyon distinguish itself from the Filmmakers Cooperative and the Museum of Modern Art?
Interest in American avant garde in acedemia
Up to date video reviews
Distinguished itself by having "surprises" like articles from Burroughs, and artistic covers

--What problems and controversies did video distribution cause for Canyon in the 1990s? To what degree were the sides of the debate related to the age of the filmmakers on each side? Based upon the interview with Dominic Angerame at the end of the chapter, what was his position on the video debate?

Controversies over whether video should be apart of their distribution, the older favored film, the younger more open to new technology such as video. Angerame position was that the video market was to broad and they already had a means of distribution.


--What were the advantages and disadvantages to funding from the National Endowment from the Arts? What controversies developed related to the publication of Canyon Cinema Catalog #5?

NEA advantage funding, disadvantage controlling content, eliminating anything it deemed as pornography
Ads in the back, lucasfilms

Christie Milliken, "The Pixel Visions of Sadie Benning"

1. How is Sadie Benning's work related to general trends and characteristics in Riot Grrl subculture? How is Riot Grrl subculture similar to and different from punk subculture?

Riot grrl movement was like the punks in that they were untrained musicians using outdated or low tech equipment, but the riot grrls focused on the female, grrl power. Bennings use of the pixle vision and untrained stlye reflects this movement.

2. Why does Milliken refer to Benning's work as visual essays? What are the advantages of viewing the work in relation to this genre? What is meant by "radical feminist essayistic" form?
Sadie Benning's work is considered "essay" because of the highly personal nature of her films, which take confessional, autobiographical tones much like a diary. However, she does not limit herself to only making autobiographical films and her incorporation of fictional aspects to her stories make them more universal.


Keller and Ward, "Matthew Barney and the Paradox of the Neo-Avant-Garde Blockbuster"

3. What has changed in the gallery art world that allows Barney to describe his work as “sculpture”? In other words, how has the definition of sculpture changed since the 1960s, and why?
In the 1960's the definition of "sculpture" broadened to incompass many seemingly unrelated disciplines such as media-based works, performance, and architecture.

4. Tricky but important question: Why was minimalist sculpture seen as a reaction against the “modernist hymns to the purity and specificity of aesthetic experience”? In other words: Why do they say that minimalist sculpture is post-modernist?
Minimalist sculpture is post-modernist because it tries to eliminate the hand of the artist. The pieces seem like that could be recreated without that artist present. It emphasized the concept of the experience a viewer has while interacting with a particular work of art.

5. Describe the role of the body in the works of Vito Acconci and Chris Burden. You may wish to consult the following links to supplement the descriptions in the readings:


5. In the opinion of the authors, what are the key differences between performance art of the 1960s/1970s and Barney’s Cremaster cycle? What do they mean by the term "blockbuster" in relation to the gallery art world?

Barney's work pushed the human body to extremes, the 60's 70's did not torture the artist. Blockbuster refers to big budget and is unusual

Walley, "Modes of Film Practice in the Avant-Garde"

6. What is meant by “mode of film practice”? Give two well known examples of non-experimental modes of film practice. Why does Walley argue that the concept of the mode of film practice can help distinguish between the experimental film and gallery art worlds?

A mode of film practice is a specific style within avant garde, post modernism, classic hollywood are examples of non experimental film

7. What are some of the key differences between the experimental and gallery art worlds in terms of production and distribution?

Experimental films are more accessible and have more support than gallery. Universities, festivals and the web are ways people can be exposed and discover avant garde films. Gallery art is more exclusive and has less financial support

tribulation 99 and punk cinema

First, respond to Tribulation 99 in relation to Zryd's description of student responses in his own classes.

Tribulation 99
Although the images are rapidly cut and the film extremely complex, the ironic and political overtones were evident. Similar to Zryds' student responses at times the film is overwhelming and it is easy to zone out and lose touch with what is fiction and what is reality. Overall I believe that is part of the success of the film, it parodies our multi-media consumer driven culture. Our lives have become an onslaught of sound bites, misinformation and excess media driven consumerism in which the lines are constantly blurred and misconstrued.


Michael Zryd, “Found Footage Film as Discursive Metahistory: Craig Baldwin’s Tribulation 99”

1. Explain Paul Arthur's distinction between the "realist" use of found footage and the "figurative" use of found footage. Which becomes important in Tribulation 99 and why?

The "realist" use of found footage is essentially using the footage to back up or provide evidence for what the narrator is saying. The images follow the sound track. "Figurative" use is more common and is essentially the re-contextualization of footage by montage to create a new meaning. In Tribulation 99, this figurative use of footage creates an ideological discourse on US history pertaining to our handling of SA.


Marc Masters, “The Offenders: No Wave Cinema”

2. Name at least three similarities between the punk music scene and the punk/no-wave filmmaking scene, in terms of technology, style, and community.
The punk scene in both music and film, was a rejection to the convention and confines of the structural artist or formal artist. They used people that were friends to form a band or make a film, not based on talent but desire. The instruments and film equip. all low budget. The style was raw, the music was angry and aggressive most of the time they couldn't sing or play but the energy and anarchy made up for lack of talent. The films also had an aversion to conventional, just make the damn film...f*$#@r!

William Wees, “Peggy’s Playhouse: Contesting the Modernist Paradigm”

3. According to Wees, what are the 5 characteristics of the modernist paradigm dominating North American avant-garde filmmaking before the 1980s?

Characteristics include the concept of autonomy of art, meduim specificity, “high art” over popular culture, and the imperative to simultaneously reflect universality and individual sensibility through innovative and unique works

4. Given the 5 characteristics above, how does Awhesh reject or question each of them (give examples from throughout the article).

She rejects the conventions of narrative structure by using non-professionals in everyday living conditions with Super 8.

5. What does Ahwesh mean by rejecting the “aesthetics of mastery” and how is this related to punk filmmaking


6. Why does Wees argue that The Color of Love subverts conventional wisdom about mainstream pornography?

mainstream pornography the penis rules, In the Color of Love, the male is not important, the penis is flacid, male satisfaction is irrelevant

7. In what ways does Awhesh transform images from Tomb Raider in She Puppet?

In She Puppet, the Lara Croft character is not on an action adventure. Instead variations and repetitions of the character’s movements, along with dream-like environments and ambiguous happenings where the avatar would normally be interacting familiarly with the surroundings.

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.