Deren and Brakhage

This week was odd.

I think I'll start with Maya Deren. This was the first time in our class I watched a film and wasn't struggling to make a story out of it. It seemed like a lot of people in class had their own ideas of what was going on within these short films, but I truly watched them and thought a lot about what the camera was doing, and what film in general can do that no other art form can. I tried to kind of strip my mind of everything I think about film, and think about it different. What I mean is, I tried to imagine how revolutionary the camera and film must have been for audiences that weren't used to the special effects our generation knows so well. Nothing phases us in movies any more, because we know that with computers, anything is possible on screen. But it's interesting to think about what is possible with only a camera, no other technology.

I noticed quirks about the camera right off the bat. The very first shot in "Meshes of the Afternoon" showed an arm lowering a flower onto pavement-- pretty simple. But it was shot in such a way that it appeared the arm was unnaturally long, almost creepy. Without any special effects, I believed that this arm was inhuman. We talked about the effect of the tilting camera on the staircase in class. With just an easy tilted back and forth of the camera, audiences experience the sensation of walking-- and truly believing the staircase is tilting, throwing this woman around.



There were so many images captured in this movie that could be captured by no other medium in the art world. Only with a camera can we watch waves rolling and not hear their crash, see them go in reverse and retreat from the shore, or see them slow down to an unnatural pace, inching forward. Only through film can we experience a dancer frozen in midair, suspended for seconds, and then fall to the ground at true speed and continue on.

I feel like Maya Deren really made me see the uniqueness of film as an art form. It is the only thing that can capture 'reality' as we see it. It is the only medium that can capture the movement of a curtain blowing the wind-- something so uncomplicated yet in a way revolutionary. In her essay she discussed the manipulation of time and space through film. These days we take for granted that manipulation I think, creating entire new worlds and creatures with computers. It was cool to see how with only a camera, an audience can be coerced into suspending their disbelief that reality has been stretched and made unfamiliar.



Stan Brakhage's creations also provided a completely new experience for me in film. His were even harder to dissect and take in than Deren's. First I want to talk about his 'Mothlight', the one I liked the most (I know I'm not supposed to say that, but I can't think of another way). I admit, when Mothlight started I was like "Ok... this is weird." After a few moments I was kind of looking around the classroom, wondering when it would end. Then I remembered what Dr. McRae told us about Brakhage's intentions for his audience with his films-- that he wanted the audience to be as close to the visual experience as possible with as little distraction as possible. After remembering that, I forced myself to focus on the screen and not look away. The sensation of this was cool- it was like feeling the texture of a moth with my eyes. There were no true images of a moth, but just with abstractions the 'feeling of moth' was communicated.

We talked so much about 'Window Water Baby Moving' in class that I don't want to focus very much on it. What I will say is that it made me experience childbirth in a way that I never had before in any film-- whether some stupid romantic comedy or 'The Miracle of Life' in high school Bio. I think I might need to still mull this one over before I know what to truly make of it.

Deren and Brakhage's works are much to take in for the untrained eye. As Brakhage wrote, his films are for an audience with a developed optical mind, those who have perception that is deep and original. I feel like I qualify for none of these things, but just to begin to try has been fun and interesting.