Experimental Film

• What is Experimental Film?
• Bizarre Stories
• Abstract qualities of film images
• Exploring one technical aspect of film 
• Motivated by emotion, outside factor (political, social)
• Associated with art and social change movements including:
• Surrealism
• Queer Cinema
• Feminism 

• Theorist Scott MacDonald: "these films confront us with the necessity of redefining an experience we were sure we understood."

• Barriers to Experimental Films
• Rarely present straightforward stories or characters
• Aesthetic, philosophical and / or political means of expression
• Isolate items of film language and scrutinise
• Reject traditional methods of combining sound and image: could have two completely different stories running, audience naturally tries to process what's happening, but there could be no story

• Gestures of Rebellion
• Time lapse photography
• Fast, slow & reverse motion 
• Negative images
• Scratching and painting (directly onto the film)
• Superimposition
• Non-synchronized sound
• Sensual, emotional & aesthetic experiences as opposed to linear, chronological film 

• Characteristics of Experimental Films
• Autobiographical elements are common
• Create own language and symbology
• Value chance and spontaneity 

• Try walking around with camera non-stop

• Surrealist Cinema
• Rebelled against narrative form
• Grew out of Dada and Surrealist art in Paris
• Explored the unconscious mind beneath the surface of reality 
• Subvert chronological time and narrative 

• Un Chien Andalou (1928)
• Most Shocking Moment: Slicing of the Eye
• Motivation: Not doing anything that makes sense
• Vigorously mocks narrative form
• Sequence of events not coherent
• No cause-effect logic
• Titles are useless
• Characters have no clear goals
• Soundtrack parodies narrative cinema
• Slow motion use arbitrary

• Kenneth Anger
• Characters that represent archetypes and symbols
• Compilation soundtracks incorporating popular music
• Fragmentary narratives
• Lovingly ironic treatments of popular culture
• Scorpio Rising
• Recognisable soundtrack, no dialogue, pace is kept going through the music
• Connections can be made between the footage 
• Political Motivation

• Maya Deren (1917 - 1961)
• Personal and poetic
• Film works on two axes
• Horizontal: Narrative, character, action
• Vertical: Mood, tone, rhythm
• Less about what is happening but what it feels like or what it means