The Snfluence of Avant Garde Film Movie in Pop Cinema - Essay Example

The influence of Avant Garde film movie in Pop Cinema Introduction Labelled the hallmark of modernism, avant-garde films are experimental films created through the handling and experimentation of different film production techniques and equipment. The films stretches the normative ways of developing films since they permit trials in the process of developing a film permitting a developer to instil creativity thereby creating a unique masterpiece. The trend that began in the early 1900s affected the development of film by stretching the reality, social and cultural manifestation of the society. Unlike in the mainstream films where developers strive to capture the social and cultural features of the society, avant-garde film developers infuse their creativity and thoughts into the development of films thereby pushing the boundaries of possibilities in such creations (Kostelanetz & Brittain, 2000). Avant-garde film therefore increased the bounds of film development thereby providing developers with more possibilities, this has consequently revamped the industry thus perpetuating both competition and creativity in the industry as espoused in the discussion below. Mesh of the afternoon is one such film in which the developers experiment with different features and elements of film development. The short is film is a perfect example of avant-garde film. The film adopts a circular narrative structure with the developers repeating similar motifs and symbols. Among the motifs are flowers, a knife and a falling key among others. The simplistic structure easily portrays the ease of developing the film as the developer manipulates the camera angles, shots and lighting of different scenes in order to develop the sequential flow of concepts in the film. The film therefore provides a realistic manifestation of avant-garde film in the contemporary society. Andy Warhol is yet another contemporary developer of avant-garde films who has depicted understanding of the intricate features in film developments and the need to infuse creativity and experimental aspects of films in film developments in the contemporary society. Among his greatest works is Ann the girl who cried a tear. In his works, Andy Warhol portrays the role of arts in the society; he developed films and music that provided a perfect reflection of the society through his artistic and analytical eyes. This provides him with the relativity to experiment on different issues. He for example pioneered the use of computers in the generation of arts including films. Ann the girl who cried a tear is one of his famous works, which portray his understanding of avant-garde films. The film has several similarities with the Maya Deren’s and Alexander Hammid’s Meshes of the Afternoon key among which is the circular narration technique. The film circulates Ann, the main character. He incorporates the name of the lead character in the title of the film just as one of his primary ways of portraying the role she plays in the film. Such as a technique, helps sell the film by growing the suspense in the film (Bazin, 1969). Film is a medium that communicates through myriad ways; it combines numerous media including images, audio and texts among many other media. Andy Warhol therefore applies strategic use of these media in the single film in order to promote the film. The name of the film for example helps evoke more suspense from the populace. The developer portrays creativity in different aspects of the film including the features he uses. He maintains a circulating narrative technique as he tells the story. Among other features, he manipulates in developing the film, include camera shots, which successfully help the developer, provide prominence to particular features of the society which he wishes to depict to the public. Changing camera angles provide different views to the characters and the setting. Each angle communicated specific concepts in the film. Changing the angles in the film therefore follows a particular pattern with the developer positioning particular angles to communicate specific features. Camera shots are yet other fundamental features in the development of film. A shot refers to the images a camera capture. The shots vary depending on the concentration of the lenses of the subjects on set. The lenses concentrate on particular aspects of the character, which they capture conspicuously. This helps communicate particular feature through the provision of detail. Long shots help establish the background in films. Andy Warhol uses the shot at the beginning of the film and in the introduction of new concepts. Through the long shot, the developer introduces the specific characters on a scene. He varies the shots in the film tactfully thereby communicating different aspects, close up and extreme close up shots for example help provide details in the film. The developer zooms in on different parts of the setting and characters thereby providing fundamental details on the film and the social features he seeks to present to his target audience. Modern day films do not have to capture the manifestation of the social and cultural features of the society in order to obtain relevance to a particular target audience. The development of science fiction as a genre in films draws its origin from the development of avant-garde films. Additionally, the development of avant-garde films has made film production both easier and cheaper. The technique of developing films promotes the use of simplistic ways of film development owing to its experimental approach to the practice. Developers can manipulate such features as camera angles, manipulation of shots among other production techniques to improve on the dynamics of film development thereby adding color to film development. Modern day film developers have perfected the art of manipulating features of the film development techniques such as camera angles and shots among other editing techniques to provide sequential flow to the action in films a feature attributable to the avant-garde age in film development (Berg & Walter, 2009). Another vital change that the avant-garde films introduced to film development was the length of films. Films are storylines developed around particular social or cultural concepts. Most films therefore develop a conflict and strive to solve it within the set time a feature that influences the lengths of such products (Crane, 1987). An average film plays for about one hour thirty minutes. Such a duration sustains the development of a conflict and provides the developers with an opportunity to solve the same. The introduction of avant-garde films provided developers with opportunities to experiment with various feature of film key among which is the lengths. Most avant-garde films play for varying durations owing to the possibility of a developer to depict different aspects of the films thereby enabling them to shorten the durations of films. The experimental aspect of the film permits the developers to experiment on the lengths of films as well. In the film Meshes of the afternoon, the key character sees an image and believes she is dreaming. She therefore ignores the images of the man with a mirror face. He chases the hooded mirror and tries to assassinate him. The plot of the film appears jumbled with the woman falling asleep in a chair and begins to dream. The sequential flow of the dream persists even after she wakes up only to realize that the dream was actual since the events manifested themselves in real life and continued even after she wakes up. Such portray the amount of creativity that the developer portrays. Unlike in most films where a developer would incorporate a dream in order to provide effective background to the plot, the developer of the film continues the plot into the dream and beyond. The plot therefore appears both sarcastic and unrealistic but the film still became a success thereby portraying the success of avant-garde films. The same is applicable in Andy Warhol’s film Ann the girl who did not cry a tear. As unrealistic as the title sounds, the film follows an equally unrealistic plot of a girl who no matter how much she cried did not shed a tear. Andy Warhol experiments with both natural and cultural features of the society, which the avant-garde film seeks to portray. He therefore adopts a simplistic structure and tells the story chronologically without eliminating aspects of the film as captured by the film, Meshes of the afternoon. Both films therefore capture different psychological features of humanity. The choices of the topic that the developers select provide them with a conducive platform to execute their desires to experiment in the films. Investigating psychological features of humanity permits the developers of films to use unrealistic social and cultural features arguing that such are thoughts of an individual, which may hover on any social or cultural concepts. Dreams are major psychological aspects that as the films portray, the developers use to facilitate their experiments in film development. As explained earlier, the effectiveness of a film relies on the cohesive and realistic nature of the plot. The developer of a film must develop a cohesive flow of the plot by addressing realistic issues. Dreams on the other hand provide the developers with a platform to present their ideas in a jumbled manner without necessarily explaining to their audience the reasons for their choices. In the meshes of the afternoon for example, the developer portrays a character in a mirror face. Such is an unrealistic social phenomenon that may not achieve any authenticity from the audience viewing other forms of mainstream films. However, the developer of the film breaks the norm when he extends the plot to the real world when the woman character wakes up and still experiences the mirror faced character who threatens to kill her. The developers of the two films seek justification for their films through the appropriateness of the topical issues they decide to address in the films. Psychology is a social feature that influences the relationship among people in the society. The topic is of immense importance since it helps develop a relationship pattern in any society. Any audience would readily identify with such psychological concepts as dream, which the developers readily introduce. Avant-garde films provide filmmakers with opportunity to experiment with different elements in film development. By enjoying such, film developers enjoy the liberties of arts by using minimal resources while seeking to obtain the same experience in film development and audience satisfaction. Developers therefore play about with the same elements as they develop a sequential flow of concepts and facts in the films with the view of achieving audience satisfaction. Computer generated graphics have revolutionized film development. The widespread of use of computers in generating media content has facilitated the development of films. Computer makes it possible for developers create and arrange their concepts in a manner that narrates the plot without necessarily shooting the film in actual settings. The developers of the film, meshes of tomorrow use computers to generate some of their contents including the mirror faced man. The generic content helps create a being that the developers could not find in real life. The absence of such beings in real life implies that the film does not provide a realistic representation of the social and cultural features. In their understanding of the same and the need for the film to capture realistic cultural and social features, the developers introduce the film with a dream. Dreams are unrealistic platforms in which people can create and destroy characters. The woman therefore dreams of unrealistic being which remains unrealistic beings in his dream until the developers of the film purport that she wakes up to realize that the actions of the dream manifested themselves in real life. However, at the point of including such, the audience is already too engrossed in the film to quit watching. The suspense the developers create in the dream thus sustains the audience to the conclusion of the film. Light is yet another element in film development that developers have used to portray specific social and cultural features. The developers of the two films use light relatively to communicate specific concepts in their films. Among the concepts that light communicate include time of the day and seasonality. The developers vary the lighting in the scenes thereby portraying different times such as daytime and night. Varying the lighting of scenes, helps portray the concept of time naturally. Lighting is therefore a feature introduced by the propagators of avant-garde films. The use of computers to generate contents makes it easier for developers to manipulate the lighting of scenes just as it permits the creation and manipulation of contents. The two films use light differently but with similar motives to communicate time among other fundamental aspects of the films. The woman in the film meshes of the afternoon takes a nap in the afternoon, the lighting in the film helps portray the timing of the setting thereby corroborating the claim encapsulate in the title of the film. In retrospect, avant-garde films are contemporary aspects in film development that has succeeded in enhancing the quality of films and promoted the development of arts. The concept makes film development easier since it propagates for the use of computers to generate contents. By permitting developers to experiment with different features and elements, the concept encourages creativity. The concept has consequently simplified the art of generating content for films thereby expanding the art of film development. Through persistent experimentation with different aspects of films, the concept perpetuates the discovery of better ways of developing films. Bibliography Bazin, G. (1969). The Avant-garde in Painting. New York: Simon and Schuster. Berg, H. & Walter, F. (2009). Metzler Lexikon Avantgarde. Stuttgart: Metzler. Crane, D. (1987). The Transformation of the Avant-garde: The New York Art World, 1940–1985. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Kostelanetz, R. & Brittain, H. R. (2000). A Dictionary of the Avant-Gardes, second edition. New York: Schirmer Books. Read More