Sitney, “Structural Film”
Visionary Film, Chapter 12
Visionary Film, Chapter 12
1.Structural film is less complex than the Deren/Brakhage/Anger approach and is identified by a fixed camera position, the "flicker" effect, loop printing, and re-photography off the screen. All of these things may not be in a single film and some may be modified. Apperceptive strategies is the same as a "self conscious" strategy, meaning the medium is "aware" of itself.
2.American Avant Garde attempts to recreate what occurs in the human mind. Structural cinema is based on not being an illusion. It still deals with the same concept yet it reveals more of what is going on behind the scenes by pointing to the medium.
3.Because it is minimal and he "advertised his indifference to direction, photography and lighting" probably because he started fresh as a filmmaker coming from the medium of painting. The roots of the four structural characters are found in his early works such as Sleep. They were long takes that used his fixed tripod technique instead of any movement which was described as obviously aggressive or ironic. Since the camera is so incredibly still it calls attention to the fact that it is indeed a film, throughout the entirety of the viewing experience.
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:
a. Warhol is pop art which Sitney defines as an obvious refusal, "fierce indifference" or reaction to the Romantic theory of Abstract Expressionism.
b. Sitney says that in the work of Michael Snow and Ernie Gehr that the camera is suspended in an obscure or mysterious space. He says that because each of these styles are polar opposite perspectives that there is no bridge to connect them. Snow and Gehr used the fixed camera for an artistic purpose in relation to the content while Warhol used it "because he could," (which is also an artistic purpose, just seen as rebellious I guess).
c.Ontology is defined as a branch of metaphysics that deals with the nature of "being." This relates to Warhol's films because his works are minimal and open ended, very self conscious. Like Warhols, the shape of the structural films themselves were very important while the content was not really as important. As Warhol said, his films were better talked about than seen.
d.Sitney claims that structural films were a response to Warhol's incredibly long stationary takes that had no specific outline. He relates them to the psychodrama/mythopoeic/lyrical tradition because they both replace the mediator with a longer presence of the camera. It also allows the viewer to see the filmmaker's vision and how he/she reveals it with the camera and montage. Sitney also points out that Deren's Meshes is also an example of the beginnings of consciousness in film.
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:
a. Warhol is pop art which Sitney defines as an obvious refusal, "fierce indifference" or reaction to the Romantic theory of Abstract Expressionism.
b. Sitney says that in the work of Michael Snow and Ernie Gehr that the camera is suspended in an obscure or mysterious space. He says that because each of these styles are polar opposite perspectives that there is no bridge to connect them. Snow and Gehr used the fixed camera for an artistic purpose in relation to the content while Warhol used it "because he could," (which is also an artistic purpose, just seen as rebellious I guess).
c.Ontology is defined as a branch of metaphysics that deals with the nature of "being." This relates to Warhol's films because his works are minimal and open ended, very self conscious. Like Warhols, the shape of the structural films themselves were very important while the content was not really as important. As Warhol said, his films were better talked about than seen.
d.Sitney claims that structural films were a response to Warhol's incredibly long stationary takes that had no specific outline. He relates them to the psychodrama/mythopoeic/lyrical tradition because they both replace the mediator with a longer presence of the camera. It also allows the viewer to see the filmmaker's vision and how he/she reveals it with the camera and montage. Sitney also points out that Deren's Meshes is also an example of the beginnings of consciousness in film.
5. Wavelength is supposed to have less of a paradox and less drama. It is supposed to be more "concrete" and more objective or sculptural. It is metaphorical because it is a "demonstration" of perception and concepts of orders/rules. The term metaphysics has shown up a lot so the concept seems to deal with this transcendental idea.
James Peterson, “Rounding Up the Usual Suspects”
6. Phenomenological schema was a term coined in criticism of Annette Michelson. It relates to a different way of interpreting a film, by the film’s presentation and how it is perceived by the viewer. For example, the way time is presented in One Second in Montreal (1969). Instead of elliptical editing there will be long periods of time without dramatic action, meaning, time is passing.
6. Phenomenological schema was a term coined in criticism of Annette Michelson. It relates to a different way of interpreting a film, by the film’s presentation and how it is perceived by the viewer. For example, the way time is presented in One Second in Montreal (1969). Instead of elliptical editing there will be long periods of time without dramatic action, meaning, time is passing.
7. Art process schema is a film like Mothlight that requires a different type of viewing. It is not conventional narrative form or even metaphorical. It takes the viewer away from the screen and captivates them through the images and objects actually inside of the projector. It is an intuitive type of filmmaking.
8. Anti Illusion Schema is suggestive of a flat image. It counteracts the mainstream and does not try to deceive the viewer by showing deep space as in a commercial narrative cinema. This relates to the aesthetics of Clement Greenberg or Minimalism and “Post-Painterly Abstraction.”
Good job.
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