This course will provide an introduction to the canon of abstract (non-objective, absolute, non-mimetic, etc.) filmmakers and their methods, aesthetic goals, and works. We will begin in the 1920s and sweep through to the present day, studying Richter, Eggeling, Ruttmann, Lye, McLaren, Fischinger, the Whitneys, Belson, Smith, and Breer. Along the way we will familiarize ourselves with related developments which will inform our viewings (Kandinsky’s non-objectivism, Op art, Kinetic art, the workings of visual perception, and transcendental meditation). One of our main concerns will be to try and develop a working vocabulary to discuss the films on their own terms, not in reference to traditional narrative film. Accordingly, we will have to gain a proper understanding of what each filmmaker is trying to communicate through his choice of medium, and then evaluate the progress made towards that goal. The class will meet once every week for discussion, and once every two weeks for film screenings in the T.A. Students will be expected to view films extensively outside of these scheduled screenings, and also to keep up with the moderate amount of reading. Students will be evaluated based on their participation in class discussion, seven informal web board responses, and seven short (2-4 pgs.) written responses. While there are no prerequisites, students with some art history background are preferred. Limited to 10 students.
Course Requirements:
Weekly discussion meetings: (Old Caples, 1.5 hrs/wk)
Bi-weekly
film screenings: mandatory attendance, only ( 2) absences allowed. To be held
in the T.A. every 2 weeks- several films studied in the following 2 weeks will
be shown.
Web
Board: Short responses to the T.A. film screenings. Must be posted before class
meeting.
Bi-weekly
short (2-4 pgs.) written responses (to both films and readings) - 7 total.
Study questions will be provided to students for consideration, and at least 4
of the written responses must reference one or more of the study
questions/topics. Up to 3 responses may be free otherwise.
Unit
1: Pioneers of a new medium (1921-26): Hans Richter, Viking Eggeling, Walter Ruttmann, Fernand Leger. (2
wks, ~85 pgs. Reading)
FILMS:
Richter – Rhythm 21 (1921) (3:30)
Eggeling – Diagonal Symphony (1925) (7:30)
Ruttmann – Lightplay Opus I (1921)
(10:00)
Leger – Ballet Mecanique (1924)
(15:00)
WEEK 1: Aug 23
READINGS:
Russett/Starr, Experimental Animation. pp. 13-34 (“Origins of a New Art”), 40-56
(Ruttmann/Eggeling/Richter)
Alves’ Student papers - Mugler - Kandinsky04.pdf “The Art of
Wassily Kandinsky”
-
Kagan – Eggeling04.pdf
“Viking Eggeling’s Thorough Bass and the Diagonal Symphony”
-
Kodumal – “Eggeling’s
Ambition in Symphonie Diagonale”
WEEK 2: Aug 30
READINGS:
Le Grice, Abstract Film and Beyond. pp. 1-31, 36-40, (optional p.45-53)
Rees, A History of Experimental Film and Video. pp.
35-40
Pilling (ed.), A Reader in Animation Studies. “Restoring the Aesthetics of
Early Abstract Films” by Moritz pp. 221-227
Sitney, Visionary Film.
snippet on Eggeling (in study packet)
STUDY
QUESTIONS:
Does
Richter’s Rhythm 21 seem particularly
rhythmic to your eyes? If so – in what ways? If not – why not? What visual
elements can be understood as rhythm? In contrast, what visual elements can be
understood as melody?
In what
ways does Eggeling’s film work towards a universal ‘visual language’? How
closely does the metaphor fit? Can the elements of Diagonal Symphony be ‘parsed’ into grammatical units such as
‘words,’ ‘phrases,’ or ‘sentences?’ Or does the metaphor fit more loosely, not
being directly translatable to textual/verbal language? Is there a conflict
between the visual language metaphor we know through scholarship and the visual
music metaphor we imply from the title? Is Eggeling ‘piggybacking’ on music to
convey a sense of language? Why would or wouldn’t music be a useful model to
base an attempt at visual language on?
ASSIGNMENTS:
Short (1 pg.) web board response
to follow film screening
2-3 pg. Written response to films
and readings. (due at 2nd Film Screening meeting)
Unit
2: Len Lye & Norman
McLaren: Hand painted/scratched film, Kinetic & Op art. (2 wks, ~110
pgs)
WEEK 3: Sept 6
FILMS:
Lye: A Colour Box (1935) (4:00), Kaleidoscope
(1935) (4:00), Trade Tattoo (1937)
(5:00), Colour Flight (1938) (4:00), Swinging the Lambeth Walk (1939) (4:00),
Color Cry (1953) (3:00), Free Radicals (1958) (4:00), Particles in Space (1967-71, 1979)
(4:00), Tal Farlow (1960, 1980)
(2:00)
READINGS:
Barrett, Op Art. pp.
38-98 (Optical Effects: b/w & color; Reliefs, Moving Objects, Light) (~25
pgs)
Le Grice, “Colour Abstraction –
Painting – Film – Digital Media” pp. 259-272 (from Experimental Cinema in the Digital Age)
Lye:
Bendazzi, Cartoons. pp.
73-76
Curtis, Experimental Cinema. pp. 36-37
Russett/Starr, Experimental Animation. pp. 65-71
Le Grice, Abstract Film and Beyond. pp. 70-73
Sitney, Visionary Film. pp. 230-232 (excerpted in study packet)
ASSIGNMENTS:
Short (1 pg.) web board response
to follow film screening
WEEK 4: Sept 13
FILMS:
McLaren: Creative Processes (documentary on McLaren)
(117:00), Boogie Doodle (1940) (3:23), Begone Dull Care (1949) (7:48), A Phantasy (1952, 7:45), Blinkity Blank (1955) (5:15), Lines- Horizontal (1961) (5:58), Mosaic (1965) (5:27), Synchromy (1971) (7:27)
READINGS:
McLaren:
Russett/Starr, Experimental Animation. pp. 116-128
Pilling (ed.), A Reader in Animation Studies. “McLaren & Engel:
Post-modernists,” by Moritz pp. 104-111
McLaren,
Creative Processes booklet. pp. 17-45, 74-80, 82-84, 88-93
Wees,
Light Moving in Time. pp. 1-30 (Intro & “The
Camera-Eye”), 55-76 (“The Untutored Eye”)
STUDY QUESTIONS:
Compare Leger’s Ballet Mecanique with Lye’s Rainbow
Dance. How does each film appropriate human, mechanical, or real-world
motion into its agenda of kinetic cinema? Which film is the more successful,
and by what criteria?
Compare Lye’s Free Radicals and Particles
in Space with McLaren’s Blinkity
Blank. What techniques does McLaren use that Lye does not (and vice versa)?
What implicit characteristics of the scratch film method are used by both
filmmakers, and to what effect? Compare the synchronization of music and image
in each film.
What optical effects predominate
throughout Lye’s films? McLaren’s?
Examine the role of repetitious
patterns in Lye’s films, in particular the dot pattern frequently used.
Apply (elements of) Kandinsky’s
visual composition theory to any of Lye or McLaren’s films.
ASSIGNMENTS:
2-4
pg. Written response to films and readings.
Unit 3: Oskar Fischinger (4 wks, ~200 pgs.)
WEEK 5: Sept 20
FILMS:
The Art of Oskar Fischinger (0:30) [discussion with
animation historian William Moritz and Fischinger’s widow, Elfriede.]
Wax Experiments (1923),
Spiritual
Constructions (1927), Walking from Munich to Berlin (1927), Study #5 (1930), Study #7
(1930-31), Study #8 (1931), Study #9 (1931), Study #12 (1932), Muratti Gets in
the Act (1934), Muratti Privat (1935).
READINGS:
Bendazzi, Cartoons. pp. 120-125
Le Grice, Abstract Film and Beyond. pp. 30-31
Curtis, Experimental Cinema. pp. 52-54
Moritz, Optical Poetry. pp. 1-44
(“Gelnhausen, Frankfurt, & Munich,” “Berlin”)
ASSIGNMENTS:
Short (1 pg.) web board response
to follow film screening
WEEK 6: Sept 27
READINGS:
Moritz, Optical Poetry. pp. 45-66
(“The Nazi Terror”), 173-175 (“My Statements are in My Work” – O.F.), 179-184
(“”Black-and White Studies,” “Sounding Ornaments,”– O.F.), 197-98, 204-08,
210-24 (film notes on nos. 1, 7, 9, 13,
14,16-26, 32, 35, 37)
STUDY QUESTIONS:
Comparing Fischinger with Lye, how does each artist make kinetic art (with movement through time as the film’s content)? As a starting point, compare Fischinger’s clearly defined individual forms moving in 3D space with Lye’s less tangible colors and lines moving in jittery 2D space.
In what ways can Fischinger be said to be continuing Eggeling’s pursuit of a universal visual language? Where do the two’s techniques cross over? How does Fischinger diverge or progress from Eggeling’s earlier attempt? Again, what importance does music (as a metaphor, or as a synchronization with the animation) play in the assistance of conveying a visual language to the viewer?
ASSIGNMENTS:
2-4
pg. Written response to films and readings.
WEEK 7: Oct 4
FILMS:
Circles (1933), Composition in
Blue (1935),
Allegretto (1936), American March (1941), Organic Fragment (1941), Mutoscope
Reels (1945), Muntz TV (1952), Motion Painting #1 (1947)
READINGS:
Le Grice, Abstract Film and Beyond. pp. 63-69
Moritz, Optical Poetry. pp. 67-108 (“Hollywood,” “Disney &
Guggenheim”), 226-236 (films notes on nos. 40, 42-47, 49-53)
ASSIGNMENTS:
Short (1 pg.) web board response
to follow film screening
WEEK 8: (FALL BREAK): Oct 11
WEEK 9: Oct 18
READINGS:
Moritz, Optical Poetry. pp. 109-148 (“Painting,” “Oskar and Bach”), 181-192
(““Composition in Blue,” “Four Documents Related to Radio Dynamics,” “…Motion
Painting #1,” “A Statement About Painting,” “A Document Concerning Painting,”
“True Creation” – O.F.)
STUDY QUESTIONS:
Compare Fischinger’s first and second periods (before and after he fled to America from Germany) in terms of the quality and character of his films. Did exposure to novel methods (cel transparency animation) and major studio access help or hinder his creative output?
Comparing Fischinger with Ruttmann, what would you characterize as the predominate differences between Opus I and the black/white Studies? What similarities or differences can be seen regarding the use and creation of space, and the films’ structures?
Read Moritz’s interpretation of the “action” of Composition in Blue (in filmography). What grounds does the work itself provide for such a specific interpretation? Propose an alternate interpretation, not necessarily focusing on the same aspects as Moritz.
ASSIGNMENTS:
2-4
pg. Written response to films and readings.
Unit
4: John & James Whitney: Digital harmony & mandalic film. (2
wks, ~105 pgs.)
WEEK 10: Oct 25
FILMS:
John Whitney: Moondrum (1991) (60:00)
James Whitney: Yantra
READINGS:
Bendazzi, Cartoons. pp. 244-248
Russett/Starr, Experimental Animation. pp. 180-192
Le Grice, “Computer Film as Film
Art” pp. 219-233 (from Experimental Cinema in the Digital Age)
Wees, Light Moving in Time. pp. 123-146
(“Making Films for the Inner Eye”)
Youngblood, Expanded Cinema. pp. 222-228
Alves’ student papers – “John
Whitney – Moon Drum.doc”
- “Islamic Art.doc”
ASSIGNMENTS:
Short (1 pg.) web board response
to follow film screening
WEEK 11: Nov 1
READINGS:
Whitney, John - Digital Harmony pp. 37-96
STUDY QUESTIONS:
What significant differences are there between a still image mandala and a film-mandala? How might these differences enhance or retard the meditative power of each? Which requires more participation on the part of the viewer?
Would you characterize any of the films in Moon Drum as mandalic films? Why or why not?
View the unit’s films with and without sound, and explain how the films change when this element is left out or inserted.
Eggeling/Fischinger/John Whitney: Compare each artist’s conception of and aspirations towards the creation (or uncovering) of a common visual language. What techniques or approaches does each use? Are there any elements of visual language common to all three filmmakers’ works? Does James Whitney seem to fit into the ‘visual language’ club? Why or why not?
ASSIGNMENTS:
2-4
pg. Written response to films and readings.
Unit
5: Harry Smith &
Jordan Belson (2 wks, ~75 pgs.)
WEEK 12: Nov 8
FILMS:
Belson:
Cycles (1975) (10:00), Light, Northern Lights (1985) (6:00), Bardo
(2001) (13:00) (on Reserve)
READINGS:
Bendazzi, Cartoons. pp.140-145
Le Grice, Abstract Film and Beyond. pp. 74-85
Sitney, Visionary Film. pp. 262-274 (Belson)
Youngblood, Expanded Cinema. pp. 157-177 (“The Cosmic Cinema of Jordan Belson”)
ASSIGNMENTS:
Short (1 pg.) web board response
to follow film screening
WEEK 13: Nov 15
FILMS:
Smith:
Early Abstractions #1-5, 7, 10 (ca.
1940s-60) (22:00) (from Media Center Reserve)
READINGS:
Sitney, Visionary Film. pp.232-262 (Smith- with film guide)
STUDY QUESTIONS:
Do Belson’s films qualify as mandalic cinema?
Compare the amorphous, soft-edged ethereal forms of Belson’s films with the hard-edged, highly concrete geometric shapes of Smith’s. Use this as a starting point to explain the broad difference in tone and atmosphere evoked by each artist’s films.
Compare the effects of the rich, full textures apparent in Smith’s and Belson’s films with the relative lack of texture found in Fischinger’s films, where elements are generally a flat color.
How do Smith’s hand-painted films differ markedly from those of Lye and McLaren? Discuss technique as well as content and tone.
ASSIGNMENTS:
2-4 pg. Written response to films and readings.
Unit
6: Newer work: Robert Breer, Larry Cuba, Stan vanderBeek (2
wks)
WEEK 14: Nov 22
FILMS:
Breer: Form Phases IV, Blazes, 69, LMNO, Swiss Army
Knife with Rats and Pigeons
READINGS:
Bendazzi, Cartoons. pp. 243-244
(Breer)
Russett/Starr, Experimental Animation. pp. 129-136
(Breer)
Burford, Jennifer, Recreation booklet (Breer)
ASSIGNMENTS:
Short (1 pg.) web board response
to follow film screening
WEEK 15: Nov 29
FILMS:
Cuba: Calculated
Movements
READINGS:
Russett/Starr, Experimental
Animation. pp. 150-153 (Conrad), 197-202 (vanderBeek)
Wees, Light Moving in Time. pp. 146-152 (Sharits)
STUDY QUESTIONS:
Compare Breer’s Form Phases IV with Richter’s Rhythm 21. How does each film play or compose with figure/ground reversals? How is space created or destroyed? Does the use of color in Breer’s film help or hinder these effects?
Compare Cuba’s Calculated Movements with Eggeling’s Diagonal Symphony, in terms of how both films use line-based temporal tensions and structures. Which film more clearly conveys itself as having a structure based on music?
ASSIGNMENTS:
2-4 pg. Written response to films and readings.
Barrett, Cyril Op Art (New York: Viking Press, 1970). Clear writing explains various optical/perceptual effects and illusions, as well as surveys and evaluates the canon of Op Artists. (NC library- Reserve)
Bendazzi, Giannalberto Cartoons: One Hundred Years of Cinema Animation (Indianopolis: Indiana University Press, 1996). A comprehensive text that attempts to document the international history of animation. Comprehensive yet concise, it is regarded as a premier reference for animation studies. (need to buy- Reserve)
Curtis, David Experimental Cinema (New York: Universe Books, 1971). Fairly comprehensive and now classic survey of experimental film-makers. Curtis’ analysis is generally incisive yet brief. (Eggeling, Richter, Ruttmann, Fischinger, Belson, Whitneys, Brakhage, vanderBeek, Breer, etc.) (NC library- Reserve)
Le Grice, Malcolm Abstract Film and Beyond (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1977). A detailed yet brief analysis and history of abstract film, from its roots at the turn of the century to contemporary works ca. 1977. Le Grice’s analysis is sound and firmly rooted in a formal visual art tradition. (Eggeling, Richter, Ruttmann, Fischinger, Lye, McLaren, Belson, Smith, Whitneys, etc.). (NC library- Reserve)
McLaren, Norman On the Creative Process (Montreal, Quebec: NFB, 1991). A booklet accompanying the McLaren 2DVD box set- gives original technical film notes, as well as various writings on McLaren’s work. (Reserve)
Moritz, William Optical Poetry - The Life and Work of Oskar Fischinger 246 pages, color and b/w illustrations. (John Libbey Publishing, 2004). Moritz was the expert scholar on Fischinger, and has worked closely with Elfriede, Oskar’s widow, to preserve, transfer, and document safety prints of many films. His writings on the individual films are exemplary in the field of abstract film criticism, as they pay close attention to nuances of change in time. (Need to buy- Reserve)
Pilling, Jayne (ed.) A Reader in Animation Studies (Sydney, Australia: John Libbey & Co., 1997). [“Restoring the Aesthetics of Early Abstract Films” pp. 221-227, “McLaren & Engel: Post-modernists,” pp. 104-111, by William Moritz] (Eggeling, Richter, McLaren, Engel) A collection of articles on various animators- Moritz’s articles deal with re-evaluating the works of Ruttmann, McLaren, and Engel. (Copies on E-Reserve)
Rees, A.L. A History of Experimental Film and Video (London: BFI Publishing, 1999). A concise overview of the genre from its origins to present day. (USF library- E-Reserve?)
Russett, Robert and Cecile Starr Experimental Animation: Origins of a New Art. (New York: Da Capo Press, 1976). Gives an excellent overview of experimental animators, which includes insightful interviews culled from other sources. (NC library- Reserve)
Sitney, P. Adams Visionary Film: The American Avant-Garde (New York : Oxford University Press, 1979). In-depth analyses of US experimental films (Brakhage, Richter, Eggeling, Lye, Smith, Belson, Breer, etc.). Section on Harry Smith surpasses all other studies of his work in its sheer attention to detail and background research. (USF library- Reserve)
Wees,
William C. Light Moving in Time (Los
Angeles: University of California Press, 1992). Wees interprets several
experimental film-makers’s work using fascinating scientific and historical
information regarding visual perception, inner eye vision, hallucinatory
imagery, and his camera-eye metaphor. (Belson, James Whitney, Brakhage,
Sharits, Anger, Snow, etc.) (online
format or E-Reserve)
Whitney,
John Digital Harmony : on the
Complementarity of Music and Visual Art (Peterborough, N.H. : Byte Books,
1980.) Whitney’s treatise on digital visual harmony and the need for harmonic
tension and release in abstract visual music films. (Need to buy- Reserve)
Youngblood,
Gene Expanded Cinema (New York: E.P.
Dutton & Co., 1970) [Belson pp. 157-178, Whitneys pp. 207-256, other
selections of theory material.] (NC library, Reserve)