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):
In “Brian Frye Fails to Masturbate” he focuses the film on his performance on stage. The awareness of the performance is of paramount interest to Frye.
Minimalism:
Well in Anatomy of Melancholy he just takes the film and puts his name on it. By using minimalism here he is able to make the viewer become aware of and focus on the actors’ performances.
Fluxus:
He is interested in the post-modernist idea of Fluxus where the experience and creation of the art makes it art.
--How does Frye respond to the question about what he “adds” to films such as Anatomy of Melancholy?
By calling it a movie/film/work of art, it actually becomes a movie/film/work of art.
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?
Increased academic and public interest in independent and experimental film. Canyon created magazines/catalogues, with articles and art by/about independent and experimental filmmakers, that came out a few times a year.
--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?
Older filmmakers wanted Canyon to solely distribute film. Younger filmmaker’s and artists pushed for video to be incorporated in Canyon because they saw video as a continuation of the American avant-garde. Dominic Angerame posits himself in saying that he thinks the two mediums should be distributed separately.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Reading Response #9
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?
a. She relates to the Riot Grrl subculture by making diary/essayistic style videos
b. Riot Grrl subculture is similar to punk subculture because both scenesmade use of low-technology and each preached the belief of the existential DIY aspect (i.e. just do it).
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?
a. Advantage: Benning’s videos can be viewed subjectively/personally. Its essayistic nature helps liberate it from other genres. And radical feminist essayistic form refers to Benning’s videos being so opinionated that they she is basically creating/standing for some kind of movement of action.
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?
a. Minimalist and post-modernist ideas led to the liberation of sculpture as merely a skillfully/artfully created structure. New ideas of what structure is/can be revolve anything that interacts with time and space.
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?
a. Minimalist sculpture is post-modernist because it places more emphasis on the interaction/experience of the viewer with the object.
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:
a. Burden was fucking crazy → he allowed himself to be shot, crucified, and almost drowned all in the name of art. They both believed that by using their bodies as the artistic centerpiece, they could nullify permanence, therefore cancelling art as an object.
6. 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?
a. These days, unlike artists of the 60s/70s, artists like Barney focus and work towards documenting their performances. By blockbuster, they refer to huge and expensive sets like those created for Barney’s Cremaster Cycle.
Walley, "Modes of Film Practice in the Avant-Garde"
7. 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: film practices/techniques/movements that are distinct in how they distribute, exhibit, and produce films.
8. What are some of the key differences between the experimental and gallery art worlds in terms of production and distribution?
a. Gallery art is more collaborative, their works are not widely distributed (helps jack-up the price of the piece), and usually have bigger budgets.
b. Experimental films are usually produced and created by a sole filmmaker, they distribute the films through co-ops or film organizations/clubs, and usually have very small budgets.
a. She relates to the Riot Grrl subculture by making diary/essayistic style videos
b. Riot Grrl subculture is similar to punk subculture because both scenesmade use of low-technology and each preached the belief of the existential DIY aspect (i.e. just do it).
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?
a. Advantage: Benning’s videos can be viewed subjectively/personally. Its essayistic nature helps liberate it from other genres. And radical feminist essayistic form refers to Benning’s videos being so opinionated that they she is basically creating/standing for some kind of movement of action.
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?
a. Minimalist and post-modernist ideas led to the liberation of sculpture as merely a skillfully/artfully created structure. New ideas of what structure is/can be revolve anything that interacts with time and space.
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?
a. Minimalist sculpture is post-modernist because it places more emphasis on the interaction/experience of the viewer with the object.
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:
a. Burden was fucking crazy → he allowed himself to be shot, crucified, and almost drowned all in the name of art. They both believed that by using their bodies as the artistic centerpiece, they could nullify permanence, therefore cancelling art as an object.
6. 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?
a. These days, unlike artists of the 60s/70s, artists like Barney focus and work towards documenting their performances. By blockbuster, they refer to huge and expensive sets like those created for Barney’s Cremaster Cycle.
Walley, "Modes of Film Practice in the Avant-Garde"
7. 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: film practices/techniques/movements that are distinct in how they distribute, exhibit, and produce films.
8. What are some of the key differences between the experimental and gallery art worlds in terms of production and distribution?
a. Gallery art is more collaborative, their works are not widely distributed (helps jack-up the price of the piece), and usually have bigger budgets.
b. Experimental films are usually produced and created by a sole filmmaker, they distribute the films through co-ops or film organizations/clubs, and usually have very small budgets.
Reading Response #4
2. 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 think that Fluxus fits into his central argument/definition of American avant-garde. He thinks that Fluxus filmmaker’s practices are too laissez faire to be considered as artists attempting to represent the human mind.
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)?
He thought that Montez was the quintessential drag queen. She is very exotic.
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?]
They were breaking away from/fighting against squareville/Levitt town American conformity. Lots of artists didn’t have much money and Jack Smith was one of them. He made dumpster diving a frequent activity in order to collect the necessary attributes of his mise-en-scene.
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 thought that Mekas was exploiting Flaming Creatures’s censorship press for money instead of art. Lobsterism merged from the conflict between Smith and Mekas. It means that someone takes something that is not his own and exploits it selfishly.
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)?
To Zorn, the making of the film was the art of the film. The finished product as a commodity was not what he sought; it was the experience of making the film.
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 fought mass-distribution and commodification by creating unfinished works and often completing them while they were being exhibited. If he never officially completed a film or project then it could never be a masterpiece, or if the piece was changed each time it was shown, it would have no permanence and without permanence, you can’t have a final masterpiece.
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?
Warhol evolved and explored styles in his first major period – he used more hand-held camera shots and what-not, opposed to his later style of not touching the camera or editing the film. Sleep and Empire both use long durations of time as style but Sleep is edited and uses hand-held camera while Empire is not edited and uses fixed camera position.
9. What role did the Screen Tests play in the routines at the Factory and in Warhol’s filmmaking?
Warhol got to practice with light and framing techniques. The Screen Tests were also like moving portraits – similar to the portraits he produced in the 70s and 80s of famous people.
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?
The sound film are characterized by the start of Warhol’s fascination with capturing reality in front of the camera. Ronald Tavel was his main collaborator. Films like Vinyl from this period showcase Warhol’s methods of non-editing and capturing the reality of performance.
Sitney doesn’t think that Fluxus fits into his central argument/definition of American avant-garde. He thinks that Fluxus filmmaker’s practices are too laissez faire to be considered as artists attempting to represent the human mind.
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)?
He thought that Montez was the quintessential drag queen. She is very exotic.
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?]
They were breaking away from/fighting against squareville/Levitt town American conformity. Lots of artists didn’t have much money and Jack Smith was one of them. He made dumpster diving a frequent activity in order to collect the necessary attributes of his mise-en-scene.
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 thought that Mekas was exploiting Flaming Creatures’s censorship press for money instead of art. Lobsterism merged from the conflict between Smith and Mekas. It means that someone takes something that is not his own and exploits it selfishly.
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)?
To Zorn, the making of the film was the art of the film. The finished product as a commodity was not what he sought; it was the experience of making the film.
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 fought mass-distribution and commodification by creating unfinished works and often completing them while they were being exhibited. If he never officially completed a film or project then it could never be a masterpiece, or if the piece was changed each time it was shown, it would have no permanence and without permanence, you can’t have a final masterpiece.
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?
Warhol evolved and explored styles in his first major period – he used more hand-held camera shots and what-not, opposed to his later style of not touching the camera or editing the film. Sleep and Empire both use long durations of time as style but Sleep is edited and uses hand-held camera while Empire is not edited and uses fixed camera position.
9. What role did the Screen Tests play in the routines at the Factory and in Warhol’s filmmaking?
Warhol got to practice with light and framing techniques. The Screen Tests were also like moving portraits – similar to the portraits he produced in the 70s and 80s of famous people.
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?
The sound film are characterized by the start of Warhol’s fascination with capturing reality in front of the camera. Ronald Tavel was his main collaborator. Films like Vinyl from this period showcase Warhol’s methods of non-editing and capturing the reality of performance.
Reading Response #2
Reading Response #2 (from when I got snowed-in, in Greensboro):
1. While Brakhage’s Reflections on Black is a trance film, why does Sitney argue that it anticipates the lyrical film?
a. Sitney argues this because unlike the usual trance film, Brakhage is concerned with the subjective experience of the individual character.
2. What are the key characteristics of the lyrical film (the first example of which was Anticipation of the Night).
a. The camera depicts the subject/protagonist/filmmaker’s eye/subjective point of view
3. Which filmmaker was highly influential on Brakhage’s move to lyrical film in terms of film style, and why?
a. Menken because she focused on observation and camera movement as metaphors
4. 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.]
a. Hard montage is a bunch of images juxtaposed in rapid succession and the subject matter or images conflict. Soft montage is the more traditional idea of montage to link images and ideas together.
5. 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.]
a. Brakhage sought to break the preconceived ideas of vision that we ignore each day. He wanted to capture the entire process of vision, even capture what it looks like when your eyes are closed but bright sunlight shines on them. Brakhage seeks to define vision as much more than just what we see.
Sitney, “Major Mythopoeia”
6. 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.”
a. Because Brakhage scratched and painted/dyed film stocks. Sitney compares Brakhage to Pollack, saying that he film to express himself in the same way that Pollack exlpored paint.
7. What archetypes are significant motifs in Dog Star Man, and which writers in what movement are associated with these four states of existence?
a. Vivid experience of a child, transition of innocence into sexual frustation and desire, man vs nature, and redemption. Romantic writers such as William Blake are associated with similar states (especially experience and innocence).
Sitney, "The Potted Psalm"
[This is an addition to the syllabus. After reading the introductory paragraphs, focus on the discussions of The Cage and Entr'acte (p. 47-54 and The Lead Shoes (p. 68-70).]
8. According to Sitney, what stylistic techniques are used to mark perspective and subjectivity in The Cage, and why is this an important development in the American avant-garde film?
a. The camera movement; it rolls around and takes on the point of view of a runaway human eye. This point of view shot took film in the direction of exploring different perspectives via camera movement.
9. For Sitney, what are the key similarities and differences between Entr'acte and The Cage?
a. Violence, chase scenes, and subjective camera movement. The Cage is a more serious film than Entr’acte.
10. How does Peterson synthesize the seemingly incongruent suggestions of his Workshop 20 students into The Lead Shoes?
a. He listened to everyone’s feedback and allowed himself to be comfortable with structured chaos.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Structural Film from sometime in March
2. How is structural film different from the tradition of Deren/Brakhage/Anger, and what are its four typical characteristics?
4 Characteristics: fixed camera, flicker effect, loop printing, and rephotography. Structural film became more simplistic and moved away from anything complicated.
4 Characteristics: fixed camera, flicker effect, loop printing, and rephotography. Structural film became more simplistic and moved away from anything complicated.
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.
Sitney postulates that the avant-garde tries to represent the human conscious - Structural film is aligns itself with this argument because it too uses metaphors of the human conscious.
4. Why does Sitney argue that Andy Warhol is the major precursor to the structural film?
The 4 primary attributes of Structural film were basically introduced to the avant-garde by Warhol.
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?
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?
That means that the viewer is aware of their own viewing experience. Warhol did this but not necessarily on purpose while Structural film did this for the conscious experience of the 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?
6. What metaphor is crucial to Sitney’s and Annette Michelson’s interpretation of Michael Snow’s Wavelength?
A metaphor for human consciousness.
Monday, April 5, 2010
1. Realist's use the footage to validate their arguments or points in a more literal sense by the images usually following the soundtrack while figurative use of found footage consists of montages used to create new ideas or meanings via juxtapositions of images. Tribulation 99 uses figurative found footage techniques that relate to American history.
2. Low budget equipment and whatnot. Both scenes believe in learning from experience of just picking some technology up and playing around with it. Both scenes denied conventional beliefs.
3. Medium specificity, concept of autonomy of art, smooth handheld camera movement, "high art" over pop-culture, and the imperative to simultaneously reflect universality and individual sensibility through innovative and unique works.
4. Camera work wasn't smooth.
5. She shoots non-professionals in their natural states/living conditions and uses super 8 film to do so.
6. Mainstream porn focuses on the male getting off. In The Color of Love the male isn't even hard so the possibility of him getting off is negated by his flaccid penis. Instead of everything focused around the dude reaching a climax, The Color of Love doesn't even give a shit about the dude getting satisfaction.
7.
7.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Warhol (Whoops - still suck at this whole blogging thing)
Underground Cinema and Warhol
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, Bleeker St. Cinema, and the Fashion Industries Auditorium were all NYC venues of the underground film movement. The Charles Theater held jazz shows, local artist exhibitions, and other art house programs.
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?
He associated Jack Smith, Ron Rice, and Ken Jacobs with “Baudelairean Cinema”. Baudelairean comes from the French poet’s name because these guys used new techniques (like Baudelairean did) to shock audiences and break social norms.
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?
The World Fair was coming to town around 1964 and shutting down some of the underground cinemas was an attempt to clean-up the city. Kenneth Anger’s ‘Scorpio Rising’ encountered legal problems and protests in LA.
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 took the novel ‘A Clockwork Orange’ and wrote a script just using the main/essential plot elements of the book. Tavel thought this would be a better structure for how Warhol made his films. Edie stole the show through her mesmerizing, trance-like performance.
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?
Warhol’s ‘Chelsea Girls’ was one of the first, if not the first underground film to “crossover” to the mainstream in 1965-1966. The film was showcased at mainstream cinemas from NYC to LA. Most of the mainstream press did not like the movie, but Newsweek gave the film an excellent review.
6. Why was Mike Getz an important figure in the crossover of the underground?
He gave underground film more exposure than anyone had done before by sending out compilations of underground films to 22 different cities around America. These compilations were mostly played at midnight screening and eventually were referred to as ‘The Underground Cinema 12’.
7. How do Hoberman and Rosenbaum characterize Warhol’s post-1967 films?
They characterize Warhol’s post-1967 films were stylistically similar to his early work but his subject matter began to become increasingly explicit via images of drugs, sex, and other taboo subjects
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