Sunday, February 28, 2010
Responce to Chelse Girls
To be honest, I really was not very satisfied with this film. In fact the shooting style was so outrageous it actually made me dizzy and lightheaded. I'm fine with playing with the camera and all, bu this was just too much for me. I though the Pope part was very funny until he actually hit the girl. After about ten minutes of that I was really conflicted whether it was still funny or serious. I think the real problem was that everyone that was involved with this film was so overwhelmed by drugs that it is just very difficult to take this film with a sober eye. It wasn't even that out there compared to some of the other films we watched, but it was just so difficult to consume at a sensory level that I had a lot of trouble with it. Also, I didn't really like how the sound was exclusively on one reel. I would have rather had it jump back between the two as it was supposed to happen when it was live. I understand there are technical limitations to this, but I really don't think this should have been shown if we couldn't understand or, at least, play with it in its proper way.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Responce 5 + Kiss
I really liked Warhol's kiss because it managed to access and release an incredible amount of emotions for such a short and simple film. Just the image of a couple kissing can trigger so many emotions: happiness, loneliness or disappointment, humor, etc. I also liked how limited the shots and camera movements were. Warhol could have easily gotten very crazy with how he controlled the camera or manipulated the film stock, but he was smart and kept it very simple.
1. Some venues included Bleeker St. Cinema, Cinema 16, and Fashion Industries Auditorium. The Charles Theater (bought by Ed Stine and Walter Langsford) often showcased local artists, jazz concerts, and other rare and unique programs such as displaying Kurbrick's rare first film.
2. Mekas associates Baudelairean cinema with filmmakers such as Jack Smith, Ron Rice, and Ken Jacobs. Mekas used this term as many of the same characteristics these filmmakers were using were used by French poet Baudelairean. These filmmakers attempted to explore cinema and tired to access all the inner workings of the medium without being inhibited by social norms or conventions.
3. Both of Jack Smiths films, Flaming Creatures and Normal Love ran into legal trouble when they were displayed in NYC. Strangely enough around this time, Kenneth Anger's Scorpio Rising caused protests in LA leading to additional arrests.
4. When Ronald Tavel worked with Warhol, he seemed to purposefully sabotage his own scripts making them very bad on purpose. Vinal took the novel (not the movie) of A Clockwork Orange and constructed the plot only around its crucial moments, giving it the bare amount of story necessary to understand. Edie Sedgewick ended up stealing the show with her very powerful trance and dream like performance.
5. Some of the more popular underground films began to make their ways into larger venues during this time. Film such as The Cheetah Girls and Breathdeath were shown all over NYC and even found their ways into other major cities such as Buffalo, Chicago, even as far south as Atlanta. While most film critics felt it was okay to show these types of films in private venues, as soon as they entered main, more distinguished venues, they were received very negatively.
6. Mike Getz was a significant player in the crossover of the underground because his uncle owned several mainstream movie theaters. He was able to set up several showings of underground films in these movie theaters. These screenings were often very successful and began to get mainstream America accustom or interested in underground cinema.
7. Hoberman and Rosenbaum claim that Warhol's post '67 films took the styles of his early films, but only changed in terms of shock value. Their use of taboo drugs or sexual content increased, but otherwise were very similar in style to his older work.
1. Some venues included Bleeker St. Cinema, Cinema 16, and Fashion Industries Auditorium. The Charles Theater (bought by Ed Stine and Walter Langsford) often showcased local artists, jazz concerts, and other rare and unique programs such as displaying Kurbrick's rare first film.
2. Mekas associates Baudelairean cinema with filmmakers such as Jack Smith, Ron Rice, and Ken Jacobs. Mekas used this term as many of the same characteristics these filmmakers were using were used by French poet Baudelairean. These filmmakers attempted to explore cinema and tired to access all the inner workings of the medium without being inhibited by social norms or conventions.
3. Both of Jack Smiths films, Flaming Creatures and Normal Love ran into legal trouble when they were displayed in NYC. Strangely enough around this time, Kenneth Anger's Scorpio Rising caused protests in LA leading to additional arrests.
4. When Ronald Tavel worked with Warhol, he seemed to purposefully sabotage his own scripts making them very bad on purpose. Vinal took the novel (not the movie) of A Clockwork Orange and constructed the plot only around its crucial moments, giving it the bare amount of story necessary to understand. Edie Sedgewick ended up stealing the show with her very powerful trance and dream like performance.
5. Some of the more popular underground films began to make their ways into larger venues during this time. Film such as The Cheetah Girls and Breathdeath were shown all over NYC and even found their ways into other major cities such as Buffalo, Chicago, even as far south as Atlanta. While most film critics felt it was okay to show these types of films in private venues, as soon as they entered main, more distinguished venues, they were received very negatively.
6. Mike Getz was a significant player in the crossover of the underground because his uncle owned several mainstream movie theaters. He was able to set up several showings of underground films in these movie theaters. These screenings were often very successful and began to get mainstream America accustom or interested in underground cinema.
7. Hoberman and Rosenbaum claim that Warhol's post '67 films took the styles of his early films, but only changed in terms of shock value. Their use of taboo drugs or sexual content increased, but otherwise were very similar in style to his older work.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Responce 4
1. I chose to watch Joe Jones Smoking. To me, it fits well into the fluxfilm category, very similar to the one where Ono stops smiling. It does use an extremely slow motion camera which, as I stated in class, I feel kind breaks the fluxfilm rules. It is an incredibly interesting and beautiful image though, personally, I felt I would have enjoyed and appreciated it more if were a bit faster. To me, these slow motion type films are just too slow. I feel there has to be some higher level of movement in this to truly appreciate it. But, again, that is just personal.
2. Fluxus films don't fit Sitney's definition of the avent-garde and, thusly, aren't there because, according to him, the avent-garde should represent the human mind, but fluxus films are just created for the sake of creating something. They aren't about (or don't have to) representing anything other than the art of creation.
3. To Jack Smith, Maria Montez seemed to be this image of liberation and compete freedom from this world. She seemed to create her own world and then make you apart and comfortable with it. She was, in some ways, also seen as a drag queen. Not that she was a drag queen, but her costumes were so elaborate and daring (as in Cobra Woman) that she was seen as a very liberating figure. Smith states that he couldn't tear his eyes away from her during the film. While I would agree with one of the interviewees that she doesn't appear to be a good actor, she certain seems to bring a strong presence and her design is just gorgeous. She almost seems like a proto-Lady Gaga.
4. Many filmmakers, including Jack Smith, often used garbage and trash that department stores, or really anyone, was throwing away in order to make their film sets, costumes, or props. Hollywood often spent huge amounts of money to hide these sorts of things, making the world look flawless, where people like Smith would put them right out in the open for everyone to see. The material was very cheap, if not free, and gave his films amazing unique looks.
5. Jonas Mekas began showing Flaming Creatures around the country, putting it almost on tour. He took much of the money and fame from doing this and gave little on no credit to Smith. Even by being arrested it seemed he was the one defying the culture not smith. The metaphor of a lobster was used and he was often referred to as "Uncle Fishhook".
6. Normal Love appeared to be the true reality of people. That it was more real than the world most people walk through everyday. It was their imagination and their dreamlike states let loose and allowed people to live these kinds of dreams and "realities" through his film. Many people copied Smith's image and look (as he called the "icing") but failed to see the importances and messages of his film. They entirely overlooked the freedom they provided and simply focused on his aesthetics.
7. Jack, unlike Warhol and others, refused to let capitalism take his art and turn it into a commercial product or, at least, to not let capitalism change his art's meaning. He wanted so badly to resist the idea of capitalism and make art something unique and enjoyable, and something not for the masses. No more masterpieces meant that once art became a masterpiece, it was something known and desired by the masses and, more importantly, people wanted and desired as a piece of status or monetary value. When something reached that state, to Smith, it was no longer art.
8. Warhol's early films were very simple, minimalistic, and silent. Things like Kiss, Haircut, Empire, etc, were extremely long and "publicity films". They were not all the same, however. Empire was a camera on a tripod, rolling for hours where Sleep and different angles filed at different intervals and edited together.
9. Screen tests basically documented everyone or anything that came through Warhol's factory. He seemed to feel that everything was important or, perhaps, equally unimportant, but nonetheless he shot everything he could. Style or uniqueness was not important and he often shot people over and over in similar or identical fashions.
10. Warhol's first sound films were much like his earlier films and seemed to be portrait or documentary like films. Many of these films Restaurant, Afternoon, etc. followed Edie Sedgwick and Warhol's right hand man for sound was Ronald Tavel.
2. Fluxus films don't fit Sitney's definition of the avent-garde and, thusly, aren't there because, according to him, the avent-garde should represent the human mind, but fluxus films are just created for the sake of creating something. They aren't about (or don't have to) representing anything other than the art of creation.
3. To Jack Smith, Maria Montez seemed to be this image of liberation and compete freedom from this world. She seemed to create her own world and then make you apart and comfortable with it. She was, in some ways, also seen as a drag queen. Not that she was a drag queen, but her costumes were so elaborate and daring (as in Cobra Woman) that she was seen as a very liberating figure. Smith states that he couldn't tear his eyes away from her during the film. While I would agree with one of the interviewees that she doesn't appear to be a good actor, she certain seems to bring a strong presence and her design is just gorgeous. She almost seems like a proto-Lady Gaga.
4. Many filmmakers, including Jack Smith, often used garbage and trash that department stores, or really anyone, was throwing away in order to make their film sets, costumes, or props. Hollywood often spent huge amounts of money to hide these sorts of things, making the world look flawless, where people like Smith would put them right out in the open for everyone to see. The material was very cheap, if not free, and gave his films amazing unique looks.
5. Jonas Mekas began showing Flaming Creatures around the country, putting it almost on tour. He took much of the money and fame from doing this and gave little on no credit to Smith. Even by being arrested it seemed he was the one defying the culture not smith. The metaphor of a lobster was used and he was often referred to as "Uncle Fishhook".
6. Normal Love appeared to be the true reality of people. That it was more real than the world most people walk through everyday. It was their imagination and their dreamlike states let loose and allowed people to live these kinds of dreams and "realities" through his film. Many people copied Smith's image and look (as he called the "icing") but failed to see the importances and messages of his film. They entirely overlooked the freedom they provided and simply focused on his aesthetics.
7. Jack, unlike Warhol and others, refused to let capitalism take his art and turn it into a commercial product or, at least, to not let capitalism change his art's meaning. He wanted so badly to resist the idea of capitalism and make art something unique and enjoyable, and something not for the masses. No more masterpieces meant that once art became a masterpiece, it was something known and desired by the masses and, more importantly, people wanted and desired as a piece of status or monetary value. When something reached that state, to Smith, it was no longer art.
8. Warhol's early films were very simple, minimalistic, and silent. Things like Kiss, Haircut, Empire, etc, were extremely long and "publicity films". They were not all the same, however. Empire was a camera on a tripod, rolling for hours where Sleep and different angles filed at different intervals and edited together.
9. Screen tests basically documented everyone or anything that came through Warhol's factory. He seemed to feel that everything was important or, perhaps, equally unimportant, but nonetheless he shot everything he could. Style or uniqueness was not important and he often shot people over and over in similar or identical fashions.
10. Warhol's first sound films were much like his earlier films and seemed to be portrait or documentary like films. Many of these films Restaurant, Afternoon, etc. followed Edie Sedgwick and Warhol's right hand man for sound was Ronald Tavel.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Responce 3
1. I really enjoyed the clash of all the variety of images and subjects within Dog Star Man. The color in particular struck me as exceptionally beautiful. It wasn't very elaborate, extreme, or surreal as Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome, nonetheless they were very vivid and breathtaking. The reds, oranges, and blacks in the blood and sun standout in my mind, but the greens on the mountain were also very beautiful. I'm not sure if I would quite have gotten the story without it being explained to me though. And, as always, I really think Brakhage's films benefit largely without sound.
2. Sitney argues that the endings of episodes within The End, help to predict ideas and events in subsequent episodes. The film knows more than the viewer doesn't and foreshadows what will occur. Brakhage loved the idea of the episodic and attempted to emulate them in future films. Dog Star Man is the prime example, having a prelude and four sections for the main story arch.
3. Both filmmakers liked to use their own signature film styles and technical discoveries within their films. Both loved to play with the camera and find new and interesting tricks to give each film its own unique look. Conner, typically edited in the style where he kept his ideas and messages within the same episode whereas Maclaine liked to foreshadow and predict his own future episodes.
4. Both of these films are examples of beat sensibility because they display an everyday and innocent hero and his adventures. The Great Blondino manages to show off much of San Fransisco city scape which places it in the picaresque form.
5. Experimental filmmakers such as Stan Brakhage and Kennith Anger often tried to connect the audience with the protagonist, allowing the viewer to get inside and explore the head and psyche of the character. Fluxfilms attempted to destroy this. They wanted the audience to be as absent from the characters in the film as possible. Their goal was to make the viewer question their belief in reality.
6. What Jenkins is trying to explain when he says the democratization in Fluxfilms is that most of the Fluxfilm filmmakers were all working on each others films, contribution their own style (as well as how they marketed them). Films often felt much less personal and auteur.
7. Jenkins claims that Zen for Film fixed material and aesthetic terms for production because it removed many of the technologies of traditional film productions. These types of Fluxfilms avoided using things such as lighting, sound mixing, and many common foundations of basic film production. By removing many of these elements it creates a much more pure and primal film.
2. Sitney argues that the endings of episodes within The End, help to predict ideas and events in subsequent episodes. The film knows more than the viewer doesn't and foreshadows what will occur. Brakhage loved the idea of the episodic and attempted to emulate them in future films. Dog Star Man is the prime example, having a prelude and four sections for the main story arch.
3. Both filmmakers liked to use their own signature film styles and technical discoveries within their films. Both loved to play with the camera and find new and interesting tricks to give each film its own unique look. Conner, typically edited in the style where he kept his ideas and messages within the same episode whereas Maclaine liked to foreshadow and predict his own future episodes.
4. Both of these films are examples of beat sensibility because they display an everyday and innocent hero and his adventures. The Great Blondino manages to show off much of San Fransisco city scape which places it in the picaresque form.
5. Experimental filmmakers such as Stan Brakhage and Kennith Anger often tried to connect the audience with the protagonist, allowing the viewer to get inside and explore the head and psyche of the character. Fluxfilms attempted to destroy this. They wanted the audience to be as absent from the characters in the film as possible. Their goal was to make the viewer question their belief in reality.
6. What Jenkins is trying to explain when he says the democratization in Fluxfilms is that most of the Fluxfilm filmmakers were all working on each others films, contribution their own style (as well as how they marketed them). Films often felt much less personal and auteur.
7. Jenkins claims that Zen for Film fixed material and aesthetic terms for production because it removed many of the technologies of traditional film productions. These types of Fluxfilms avoided using things such as lighting, sound mixing, and many common foundations of basic film production. By removing many of these elements it creates a much more pure and primal film.
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