The following are a selection of films I feel are relevant to the current brief, aside from informing me of the loose conventions of experimental film, most of them have been highlighted because they inspire me in some way. Its music that seems to be the structural starting point from which the films are built around and it is this method that I will be adopting in my own work.
This film was the very first inspirational piece I saw and is similar to what i hope to achieve myself. The main elements that i hope to mimic and explore is the use of careful editing to achieve images to seem to move with the beat of the music track. I love the fact that something so simple, in terms of the original footage, can be turned into something as dynamic and arguably as beautiful as this. The principle draw back to this film however, at least when I apply it my set brief, is that while its interesting to look at for the duration of this particular song, my task of creating a five minuet piece might stretch its ability to entertain and to hold an audience for that length of time. While I would really like to incorporate this style into my experimental film, it would have to feature as an element of the entire piece.
The way in which this film takes something ordinary and alters it through post production into something abstract is another element in which i want to explore. Its possible to film and present anything in such a way that it no longer resembles its original state, the use of macro lens is something I'm planning to experiment with, by magnifying something you instantly get the chance to see a different perspective of it that you wouldn't normally see and by doing so give an audience something fresh. I hope by doing this, along with other methods, the fact that my film will follow no linear pattern or won't repel those who watch it but rather interest and draw them in.
The use of color is an important factor of this film too, by filming a variety of unnatural light sources and by constantly contrasting the colors and also size of the shapes, the vibrancy and sporadic nature of the music has been nicely captured and portrayed well, something I'll need to think about when making my own film.
Both these videos are from director Chris Cunningham, a guys who's experimental film making is widely renowned as some of the weirdest and most creative. Visually, his films are often quite similar, making use of low lighting and applying heavy coloring alterations in post production. For this reason, along with others, I have chosen to highlight his work as its a style I wish to try and imitate in my film. Since writing about the first example of experimental film, it has been decided by our group that rather than basing the whole project around shape, color and light, a loose narrative thread will guide the audience through the film and ensure a more pleasing finished work. With this in mind, the use of abstract characters, such as in both these Cunningham films is the kind of idea we're leaning towards.
The editing too, especially in 'Flex', is without a doubt tailored to fit the piece of music accompanying the visuals. While we are quite clear we don't want to make a film that feels like a music video, we want to achieve something where the music feels like an integral part of the production, rather than simply layering a track over the top at the very end in an attempt to justify whats on screen. 'Flex' is inspirational as its using the music as diegetic and non-diegetic sound within the world he creates on screen an interesting take on the music video genre. In my own film i would like to experiment with this, perhaps one way in which the music can relate to the visuals, other than editing according to the beat of the track, would be to have the characters react in certain areas of the song, or incorporate certain sounds the song makes in places into an event that happens on screen. An example of this in 'Flex' is when the shaft of light hits the fighting couple, the sound of the music fits perfectly to this and both visually and musically connotes the idea of an alien presence.
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