Reading Response 3: Due Oct. 7 @ 5 p.m.

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.
http://www.ubu.com/film/fluxfilm.html

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

Sitney doesn’t believe that the Flux filmmakers were truly artists because of the fundamental differences in what they believe. Flux filmmakers believe that anyone can make art and therefore their art is far more dynamic than most other Avant-Garde filmmakers. Sitney did not believe that Flux filmmakers were on the same level as other Avant-Garde filmmakers and so did not believe they were part of the American Avant-Garde.

Mary Jordan, Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis
[An .avi file of this documentary is on your flash drive. If you have difficulty playing it, try VLC Player and follow the instructions I put on your flash drive: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/]

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)?

Jack and his sister went to the movies every Saturday and that’s when he first saw and fell in love with her. She was someone he could relate to because of their silmilar backgrounds of trying to make it. He came to New York to make films and she was from the Dominican Republic now one of Universal’s greatest actresses. She was always in colorful and vibrant technicolor films and had a personality on screen to match.

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?]




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)?

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

Here are some helpful links for those interested in the debate about the Jack Smith estate. This is not required, but this is fascinating, frustrating, and crazy (and it will put the documentary in a new light):

http://www.hi-beam.net/fw/fw25/0459.html
http://www.hi-beam.net/fw/fw25/0050.html
http://www.hi-beam.net/fw/fw25/0459.html

And a summary of the debate and legal proceedings. http://www.villagevoice.com/2004-03-02/news/flaming-intrigue/


Callie Angell, “Andy Warhol, Filmmaker”
[This can be found in the Kreul Articles folder from your flash drive]

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?

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

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?

J. Hoberman, Jonathan Rosenbaum, The Underground

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?

The Living Theater, the New Yorker, the Charles, and Thalia. The Charles theater charged 0.95 cents per movie (Meka’s doing) or people could also watch their own film if they brought it in. Also, different kinds of films were shown including Italian Neorealist films and Astaire-Rogers musicals.

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?

Jack Smith, Ron Rice, and Ken Jacobs, the Kuchar Twins, and others. He used the term because the films open up the experience in art, literature, and perversity. Most people would not want to see these types of films because what these guys considered art would not be by the average person. Graphic nudity was one characteristic.

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?

Because many of the films shown had qualities from the previous question. Scorpio 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? (You may choose to add your own observations of the film based on our screening.)

They worked together with Vinyl and so their characteristics showed in Vinyl. One characteristic was the single take from the camera that made up the film. They improvised as they went, with the actors in front of the camera reading their lines straight from the cue. Edie stole the show because she was beautiful and the fact that she was improvising like the rest just gave her a fresh look. Also, she was the only female in the film, so the audience was drawn to that as well.

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?

Magazine articles about the films increased, more festivals picked up the films, and word of mouth (Stephen Koch, NY times). Films like My Hustler and Chelsea Girls and venues like Underground Cinema 12. Bosley Crowther of the NY times warned that Andy Warhol and his associates were taking things too far.

Why was Mike Getz an important figure in the crossover of the underground?

Not only was he in the spot light for his controversial film Scorpio rising, but he figured out how to package several films together and ship them off to theaters throughout the country. This made the films more popular and therefore made them more money, proving that they could profit and that people did want to see films like this. He became very successful with this.

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

Warhol’s post ’67 films were filled with more nudity than previous films. Even though this was possibly based on sex selling, they argue that these films were not as artistic as previous films and that his career was possibly suffering.



What were some of the advantages and disadvantages to the move from non-theatrical to theatrical bookings for experimental films?

Advantages would be that the more viewers mean more money for the filmmaker and possibly a chance to make a profit. Independent filmmakers could also be approached to make studio films, such as Andy Warhol for Chelsea Girls. Disadvantages include damaged reels for two reasons. One, the increased screenings would cause damage to the reels and two, the exhibitors were known to damage them because they did not respect the material.


What issues developed concerning non-exclusive and exclusive representation by distributors?

A non-exclusive representation meant that there could be many different exhibitors showing the film, but that all came down to how many customers wanted to view the films, in other words, loyalty. Exclusive meant one distributor, making a monopoly possible and they could charge what they wanted.


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

They would use false advertising. In order to get people to come to the theaters, they would advertise the wrong film, most of the time something that was not going to be shown until later and maybe in a different theater, and show them “beaver” films instead.

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”?

Fixed camera position, the flicker effect, loop printing, and rephotography. Apperceptive strategies are cinema of the eye rather than the mind. Because of this strategy, the medium of film is interpreted and not so much the content.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/apperceptive

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 central metaphor has to do with what we are thinking about in response to what we are seeing on the screen. In other words, our eyes are simply bringing these metaphors to light and our minds are having to do the work creatively to figure out what they mean. It’s not as cut and dry as typical narrative films.

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

Warhol studied Deren, Brakhage, and Anger and learned from their work, but he did his own thing. He would let the camera keep rolling and let the action play out in front of it. He cared little about thinking about the final product look. He used three of four techniques in the first question in one of his films, Empire.

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:

Why does Sitney call Warhol anti-Romantic?
His work was very unlike the works of Deren, Brakhage, and Anger, especially his parody works. Because of this, his ideas were outside the scope of what was considered anti-Romantic (his use of techniques above contributed to this).

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

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?

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?

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)?

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

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

Reading Response 2: Due Sept. 29 @ 5 p.m.

Coincidentally, a major retrospective of Abstract Expressionist painting is just about to open at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Here's a description of the exhibit for those interested:
http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1098#related_events

For those who would like an overview of Post-WWII American Painting, take a look at the documentary Painters Painting:
http://www.ubu.com/film/deantonio_painters.html

Now, on to the questions:
Post a brief response to one of the following Brakhage films: The Wold Shadow, Window Water Baby Moving, Dog Star Man Part 2, Dog Star Man Part 3.

Window Water Baby Moving was a film I personally enjoyed. I liked the color and the fact that it was silent. I don’t think I could have handled the baby screaming when it was born! It was a unique experience watching the woman in the bath juxtaposed to images of the baby being born.

Sitney, “Apocalypses and Picaresques”

Why does Sitney argue that synechdoche plays a major role in Christopher Maclaine’s The End, and how does the film anticipate later achievements by Brakhage and the mythopoeic form? (Implicit in this question: what is synechdoche? It is a figure of speech, but what kind?)

Synedoche means a part of the whole. It also can be used the other way around in order to explain the uses of techniques in films, particularly Brakhage’s films. In the Dog Star Man films, stylistic techniques are used to show the man in relation to the seasons. They have their own characteristics, but they are put together to make the film as well as the idea of the seasons in a year. With different scenes in Maclaine’s films, such as arms flexing or a man on the bridge, they represent bigger ideas through the fact that all the characters are connected somehow.

What are some similarities and differences between the apocalyptic visions of Christopher Maclaine and Bruce Conner?

They both have visions of apocalyptic despair. Sitney says that Connor is not naive in his vision of doom and Connor has irony and symbolism in his films.

Bruce Jenkins, “Fluxfilms in Three False Starts.”
NOTE: This is in the "Kreul Articles" folder on the Flash Drive that you gave me.

4. How and why were the “anti-art” Fluxfilms reactions against the avant-garde films of Stan Brakhage and Kenneth Anger. [Hint: Think about Fluxus in relation to earlier anti-art such as Dada, and Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain."]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3671180/Duchamps-Fountain-The-practical-joke-that-launched-an-artistic-revolution.html

Flux filmmakers were more like everyday people and not just filmmakers that believed art shouldn’t be a certain way when it came to film. As a result, they were against the established avant-garde which was Brakhage and Anger at the time. Because they were also involved with other parts of the art, they were known for incorporating other artistic items in their films, but in such a way where anybody could be a part of it. Flux kits became part of the Flux movement.

5. What does Jenkins mean by the democratization of production in the Fluxfilms?

He’s talking about the fact that due to the fact that Fluxus films can be made by anybody, then when a group is making one, everybody should have a say in what the film should look like. It is the making of the film that makes it art.

6. Critic Jonas Mekas divided avant-garde filmmaking into the "slow" and the "quick"; which filmmakers were associated with "slow" and which filmmakers were associated with "quick"? Which Fluxus films were "slow" and "quick" (name one of each)?

Slow category and films: Andy Warhol and Yoko Ono; Disappearing Music for Face and Joe Jones’ Smoking
Quick category and films: Stan Brakhage and George Maciunas; Sun in Your Head and Opus 74

7. How is the Fluxus approach to the cinema different from both Godard and Brakhage?

Brakhage and others were concerned with creating a new art form through the medium of film in a new and rebellious way, but Fluxus artists sought to create art through many mediums.

8. Why does Jenkins argue that Nam June Paik’s Zen for Film “fixed the material and aesthetic terms for the production of subsequent Fluxfilms”? How does it use the materials of the cinema? What kind of aesthetic experience does it offer? A version of the film (and other Fluxfilms) is available here:
http://www.ubu.com/film/fluxfilm.html

Because a 7 minute film of a white screen is the perfect way to downplay Avant-Garde films up to this point. All the while filmmakers are trying to break into a new art form, Zen For Film is unbeatable according to the Fluxus logic because not only can a blank screen be art, but everybody participates because everybody is going to have a different take on it.

For those looking for more information about Fluxus, here is an interesting podcast called "The Sounds of Fluxus" by the Poetry Foundation:
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/audio/agat_may2010.mp3

Posted by kreulj at 10:01 AM

1. What are some characteristics of the American psychodrama in the 1940s?

The American psychodrama of the 1940’s was dominated primarily by the trance films. One well known artist was Maya Deren and her film Meshes of the Afternoon. Trance films involve the character, or protagonist, struggling with external struggles in a dreamlike state or “trance.” The camera typically does not track; rather, it pans or tilts. Because of the trance state, the films don’t follow a linear structure. Another quality involved hard and soft montage, as in Brakhage’s The Wold Shadow. In this film, through soft montage, images of trees slowly become images of abstract images.

2. What does Sitney mean by an “imagist” structure replacing narrative structure in Choreography for the Camera? For reference, you can see the film here:
http://www.ubu.com/film/deren_study-in-choreography.html

Maya Deren is noted for the “imagist” structure because she believed that a film could revolve around a single image. In this film, a dancer is this image because we see him in all different sorts of settings.

3. Respond briefly to Sitney’s reading of Ritual in Transfigured Time (27-28); Is his interpretation compatible with your experience of the film?

I was able to follow the film as he wrote about it, but the imagist symbolism was very dense according to Sitney. For instance, the statues and what they represented in history was not something I readily knew. As a result, I knew there was much more to get (like Sitney) if I was aware of such histories behind the “imagist” structure.

Sitney, “The Magus”

Paraphrase the paragraph on p. 90 that begins “The filmic dream constituted…” in your own words.

Basically, during the 1940’s Avant-Garde, filmmakers such as Deren and Anger made films in which the camera was the subject and everything in front of the camera was to be interpreted, instead of a person in front of the camera having to interpret his or her world while a camera films it. The camera is literally the eye of the filmmaker.

According to Sitney, what is the ultimate result at the end of Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome? How does his reading of the film compare / contrast with your own experience of the film?

He’s redeemed, but I personally hated the film. Sitney, as always, was able to interpret several parts of the film, but upon watching it in class (before any discussion) I didn’t see any structure to it whatsoever. It was a hard watch because the music was primarily the same and all I saw was colorful, distorted images of the same thing. Apparently Sitney got more out of it.

Sitney, “The Lyrical Film”

What are the key characteristics of the lyrical film (the first example of which was Anticipation of the Night).

The protagonist’s point of view is represented through the camera’s point of view. Therefore, the films are jarring, with many angles and colors throughout.

What does Sitney mean by "hard" and "soft" montage? What examples of each does he give from Anticipation of the Night? [Tricky question; read the entire passage very carefully.]

Brakhage explains soft montage as something becoming another thing. Sitney describes “soft” montage similarly by explaining that images similar to one another are juxtaposed to one another until one item or subject “becomes” the other. “Hard” montage involves juxtaposing images that don’t have commonalities with each other, producing a jarring effect on the viewer.

8. What are the characteristics of vision according to Brakhage’s revival of the Romantic dialectics of sight and imagination? [I’m not asking here about film style, I’m asking about Brakhage’s views about vision.]

Brakhage says a lot about vision. First, his concept of the untutored eye involves the assumption that most of us don’t “see” (according to him). Because we have been brought up knowing what certain objects and colors are and/or what they represent, we do not look at the world with an “untutored” eye. He asks what grass looks like to a baby unfamiliar with the color green. He makes distinctions between open-eye vision, the way our eyes operate while awake and about, and closed-eye vision, the way our eyes see the back of our eyelids and also think back on memories. Brakhage calls them “brain movies.”

Sitney, “Major Mythopoeia”

9. Why does Sitney argue, “It was Brakhage, of all the major American avant-garde filmmakers, who first embraced the formal directives and verbal aesthetics of Abstract Expressionism.”

Brakhage was the first to incorporate other art forms into his films. He would scratch the surface of the film on certain frames to convey a particular idea. He would put dirt, leaf particles, etc on the film stock and photograph it. These were directly related to abstract expressionism and up to this point were unique and fresh to the world of Avant-Garde filmmaking.

What archetypes are significant motifs in Dog Star Man, and which writers in what movement are associated with these four states of existence?

Innocence, experience, damned, and liberated. Writers like Black, Pound, Stevens, and Witman wrote about these archetypes.