Experimental Film and Video Since the 1960s - Essay Example

Experimental film and video since the 1960’s Abstract This essay describes the way experimental videos and films have made the difference in the past 40 years. Essay contains the contributions of two famous filmmakers, focusing on their strategies of making films and discussing one film from each. Title: “Film making – with a new approach” Introduction: This essay discusses the role of the artists of the past 40 years in the society. As how they have revealed different issues of the society and have brought awareness and changes to the society with their experimental work. In the past 40 years the films and videos being made experimentally brought to the light, many different issues, as feminism, human history, cultural and social differences etc. Chantal Akerman has a great name in the feminist filmmaking. Her films explore the ideas about the image, the look, freedom, performance and narration. The viewer finds himself giving completely to the film, as he gets involve in the film with open eyes and an open mind, too. According to Gwendolyn Audrey Foster: To label Akerman's work ‘minimalist’ or ‘structuralist’ or ‘feminist’ is to miss most of what she is about. Chantal Akerman’ work practices independence, creativity and arts. Her film “From the Other Side” is about poor Mexican people who want to raise their living status and for this purpose they move to US. The film indicates to the social thinking of people who migrate to other sides for their living standards. The other artist is Trinh T. Minh-ha. She is currently the associate professor of cinema, San Francisco State University. Her theme of work is always surrounded to others, as an aspect of one’s personality that he/she considers himself in relation with other people, culture, and society (Foster, 1999). She puts a challenge towards those who are the theorists of culture or make the concept of traditions or in fact are presenting a twofold of their subjects. Her specialty is the viewpoint that she observes different perspectives of social life that are not too obvious, nor quite unfamiliar. She adapts a traditional method of making films, based on the study of people, with a wide range of relationships, and other factors that divide a nation into many social, political and economic classes, based on their status, education (Bruno, 2002).    Many of her films propose an unending restlessness. The style of making video and Trinh's constant eager desire give her films the atmosphere of philosophy of illustrated lecture over travel. In the journey through cinema of Trinh, travel is twice as much. But they also make people think in different angles for their souls, as a commitment with the reality that how different people feel and think about the life. The most important elements found in Trinh’s films are appealing harshness and political commitment observed with the eye of humanity and sensitivity. Her films represent a feminist thought as a living representation of women’s live, not as a theory only (O’Pray, 2003). Films and videos since 1960’s Chantal Akerman has brought a change in the film history in the field of feminism. Chantal Akerman is the pioneer of this field in cinema. Akerman, throughout her career influenced to survey possibilities of developed film, as the moving image, the silence, dialogues, the static scenes or the actions, mentally and visually and did not remain stuck into the boundaries of conventional styles of representing and plotting a film (Foster, 1999). The many arguments about what form a ‘new women's cinema’ should take revolved around a presumed dichotomy between so-called realist (meaning accessible) and avant-garde (meaning elitist) work; Akerman's films rendered such distinctions irrelevant and illustrated the reductiveness of the categories. 1976 the French newspaper Le Monde heralded Chantal Akerman's Jeanne Dielman 23, quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles as "the first masterpiece in the feminine in the history of the cinema." The unconventional style and subject made the film a powerful sign of a decade when feminism erupted into the arena of politics and film (Aitken, 2001). Trinh, with her innovative ideas and experimental work, has brought a traditional approach to the cinemas by bringing in light different social issues. Trinh not only studies comparatively the form and structure of traditional approach of people but has also dealt with philosophy behind this process. She is great in revealing the avoiding un-raised points that show a complex relation between apparently appropriate and true documentation of those cultures, which were not brought into consideration before, and those who were known for representing themselves and the human history which was surely the cause of this impurity to the intent look towards culture. Her film “Shoot for the content” is again with terms to her ideology, representing the culture, politics and arts in rural China. Trinh, however, pushed back those conventional documentaries or so drawn picture of a culture and instead managed by focusing on echoing of strong relation between the organisms living in close physical association, of social significance and changes (Sitney, 2002). Trinh pulls the art of investigating the truth by logical argument of post-coloniality towards the dispute of feminism in an attempt to infuse the earlier art of effective writing with the language of feminism. She explains that if she does not, the "Third/First" world debate will continue to operate with an oppression of women, regardless of any other effects to the benefit of the "Third" world. Framing, the gesture, rhythm and sureness development are specific to the art of making films, which can be found easily in Trinh’s work and can be considered as her contribution to the process of innovation in film making. She has created a different space for the films (Sitney, 2002). Different issues revealed in films and videos Feminism Feminism refers to the advocacy of women right and sexual equality. There are yet many places where women are not getting there rise. They are not allowed to raise their voice; no one even bothers to listen to their problems, wishes, desires and issues. These issues are raised through media to provide awareness about the rights of women, and to reveal their importance (Rees, 1999). Cultural and social issues Almost every nation faces the problem of discrimination among economic, social, cultural and political classes based on their race, color, education, economy and view points. These traditional issues are also brought to light through films and video (Rees, 1999). Chantal Akerman – artist About the artist According to Micheal Rowin,it is almost impossible to speak of feminist cinema without speaking of Chantal Akerman. The artist was born in Brussels, Belgium in 1950; she is a film maker who makes a film in an independent manner. Chantal Akerman has proven herself to be uncompromising and devoted towards her work. Her films not only concentrate on the story but on feminine perspective, as well. Her movie themes include all kind of women, working at home, in office, with men, children, food, romance, art and every other thing (Foster, 1999). From the other side – a film by Chantal Akerman The Film was produced in 2002 by Chantal Akerman. “From the Other Side” is about the self-satisfaction and contention and the consequences which come in its way. The film maker has swapped between the imaginary description and the documentary, between misfortune and mess up. There are few restricted methods in a beautiful order. This film is developed with the technology of military, presenting the dangerous deserts of Arizona. The film maker focuses on the border towns of Agua Prieta, Sonora, where people from all over Mexico wait in limbo before immigration, and adjacent Douglas, Arizona, a town encircled by mountains and desert plains (Feaster, 2004). From the other side by Chantal Akerman is an example of European experimental movies of 1970’s. In the shooting of this movie, images are multiplied using different monitors. Large screen is mounted on the border from which last pictures were captured. The faces, back and front were taken determined by the side in which the border is watched. All this was arranged in three rooms, having monitors, which worked in a sequence. This technique provides a real impact of the picture, and extended the viewers thought for borders. This method quite effectively worked for the film in order to reveal its true meanings. The reason for choosing such a technique was to give a picture of the situation that would quite easily reflect those hurdles which Akerman wanted to reveal. The enlarged picture of the border, the two sides of it, the cars of Americans in the night, everything was accurately fitted in the technique, and the skills used proved to be of greater advantage to this film, as the film was fanaticizing its viewers. Minimalist technique is used in this film, by making manuscripts of small representations that have their own meanings. Film shows the harshly untreated unhappiness of untidy, poor and dusty Mexican countryside people. A controversy at both sides, America and Mexico, has been shown later, as Americans are worried about the immigration that it could bring diseases to them and could be a problem to their liberty. The film depicts the real meaning of its title “From the other side” as in one scene , on one side of the wall, America, shots a path for a long queue of cars and on the other side, Mexico, as there is no line ,the cars rush by. In the film, film maker’s voice is heard as organizing voice over the observations. And the film maker is found face to face coming across the others. The representation of this film is done interactively. The representation of this documentary video is done in the four basic modes, which are described briefly as follows: Disappointment from the diversion of fiction from its actual traits led the raise of expository documentary. The accessibility of itinerant and advanced equipments for recording gives rise to the observational documentary. (Nichols, 1991) Availability of advance tools and in order to make filmmakers point clear, interactive documentary started. To give a sense of reality in the films and to make obvious depiction of a film reflexive documentary arose. (Nichols, 1991) This film is about the Mexican people who, in order to raise their status moved towards America. This film also presents the aspect of Americans who live borders and government policies. The true idea is revealed by arranging interviews with all the related people. The poor people dissatisfied with their lives, in an attempt to survive, take a risk of their lives and move somewhere else, leaving everything behind to facilitate themselves with some content. But they are not wanted there (Margulies & Margulies, 1996). In conclusion, the documentary in its practice and form is strongly informative. And exercises creativity and explains the meaning of imagination in a true sense. Both the sound and image have been perceived as lively and as real as they could be. Trinh T Minh Ha – artist About the artist Trinh T. Minh-ha was born in Vietnam in 1952and in 1070, she settled in United States. She is a U.S.-based, French Vietnamese filmmaker. She is well known for her traditional strategies for film making. Trinh has a different approach of making documentaries, she fundamentally apposes the way in which documentaries are generally made and claim to be reliable (Feaster, 2004). She is committed in making formal experimental videos and her desire that she refuses to accept the conventional style of story writing has provided her a great respectable position in experimental film circle. She is often found cynically refusing to go along with or become a promoter of the conventional style and stands firm with unconventional style of film making which may not lie within the comfort regions of much audience in both the areas of film and art (Feaster, 2004). Trinh has a different approach towards viewers; she encourages them to look towards the world through different eyes. Instead of simply arguing in usual documentary fashion for a specific idea or way of considerations, Trinh performs a more liberal gesture to reveal the issues in different manner. She has a powerful poetic range of experience and that is why she often refuses to focus literally on any incident. Trinh follows this approach demonstrate the difference between how she thinks about her work, and the specificity of much documentary, whether it is about African villagers or Japanese school girls, or heroes or historical movements. Trinh's films are not only formed by the unavoidable viewpoint of cultural and traditional thoughts, but are also obvious by the awareness that the construction of documentary filmmaking, which proves to be primary roadmap by which these theme full exhibitions are made, is a kind of cultural impact that lets the writer think and direct in such a logical manner (Feaster, 2004). Shoot for the contents – a film by Trinh T Minh Ha Shoot for the Contents, whose title refers to a Chinese guessing game, was forced by Trinh’s longing to walk around her Vietnamese ancestry. As is the theme of Trinh T Minh Ha’s films, this film also considers the questions of power, change, politics and culture. The film is focusing on Vietnamese women or we can say focusing on female identity and differences. In the film Women’s voice is found (O’Pray, 2003). Other then providing journalistic information, Trinh T Minh ha is more involved in poetic aura. The audience of the movie may be amazed as coming across a thesis or documentary in past which is in the form of a video or displayed on a big screen. An exploratory chat with audience is found in this movie. And has variety of image displacement. Using this approach in her film is quite challenging and convincing to the audience as it gives a real impression to the viewer. Trinh seems to direct the way for showing history as well as directs continually to the passage of any account of past which is changing ceaselessly with the passage of time. Trinh is not capturing the attention of audience by a single articulate voice or a lot of people on the screen, rather there is a series of words and an image that is presented before the viewers, and one can find great confidence and assurance behind that. As found in the Chinese cultural legacy, the power speaks in Trinh’s movie, both visually and as a vocal feature of this film. The skills and methods adapted by Trinh to present the history and culture in such a way were really awesome. Cutting down the conventional methods she is giving the innovative ideas in film making through her techniques. The camera movements, gestures, strong intervention of sound and image, scenes and cultural art, everything shows the skills of directing. The reason for involving such a technique is that she wants to depict a very clear picture of art and tradition from a specific culture, and it was the demand of scenes to make it such a way. And she is very much successful in her goal. The film explores color, rhythm and changing relationship between ear and eye. It has proved to be a creative process of filmmaking. There are the words of many Chinese scholars, philosophers. There are the sayings of Mao and Confucius. The video is giving a real picture of rural China. The movie reveals the current Chinese politics and culture in a very realistic way. Chinese culture is approached from an outsider’s position or through a sequence of different outsides’ position with the enclosed viewpoints (O’Pray, 2003). The video images intimate the gestures of calligraphy. It is through the characterization that she can contest and challenge in attempt to resolve her own reservations or peculiarities regarding Chinese culture in view of a historical fight with her own country. This film may confound spectators looking for a thesis or the kind of false knowledge proffered by conventional documentaries; as usual, Trinh is interested in thoroughly opposing the means by which documentaries generally claim to be authoritative. But the dispersed presentation–which is used as video as well as shown on 16-millimeter footage and consists largely of tentative exchanges with filmmakers and various kinds of illustration displacement–is great. The approach used by Trinh in this film led this movie to be described as an accomplished and talented film. (Aitken, 2001). Comparison of the two movies: “From the Other Side” and “Shoot for the Contents”, both are based on the documentaries of specific culture. The directors of both the films have tired to their apex for depicting the clear pictures of the areas they have considered. If Akerman is trying to reveal the hurdles and unhappiness of poor Mexican people, Trinh is focusing on the feminism and languages of authority from Chinese culture. Akerman is describing the odd behavior of Americans, and Trinh is explaining the symbol of imperial power through her film. Akerman is focusing on the deserts of Arizona and Trinh giving a look into the scholars and philosophers of China. Where Akerman is depicting a very clear picture of Mexican people, their hunger, and the Americas attitude, in Trinh’s film, she is explaining the culture of China through rhythm color and classical dances. In “From the other side” the INS behavior has been revealed and in “Shoot for the Contents” the political and cultural aspects of China are under view. Thus both movies/documentaries are giving an insight to the cultures, their problems, their traditions, their social and political aspects, their nature and also give a clear picture of the nature of people living there. Both have done well in their own work areas and are very much successful in showing the social perspective of the respective areas. Conclusion: In the past 40 years experimental films have really made a difference. There are many names in this field, but the two discussed earlier have their own place. One is working for the feminism and bringing her ideas to the light and the other has a traditional approach of making films focusing on culture, social and political aspects. Bibliography: Aitken, Ian, 2001. European Film Theory and Cinema: A Critical Introduction. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Bruno, G. 2002. Atlas of Emotion: Journeys in Art, Architecture and Film. Verso. Feaster, F. 2004. Glowing with Vivid Intensity. Art Papers 28 no3 28-33 May/June. Foster, G. A. 1999. Identity and Memory: The Films of Chantal Akerman. Flicks Books Margulies, I. & Margulies, I. 1996. Nothing Happens: Chantal Akerman's Hyperrealist Everyday. Duke University Press. Nichols, B. (1991), Representing Reality, Bloomington, Indiana University Press. Rees, A.L, 1999. A History of Experimental Film and Video. London: British Film Institute. Sitney, P. Adams, 2002. Visionary Film. New York: Oxford University Press. O’Pray, Michael, 2003. Avant-Garde Film: Themes, Forms and Passions. London/New York: Wallflower Press. Read More