'Experimental Film requires a different kind of spectatorship.' Has this been your experience?

I would agree with this statement. Many experimental films are designed to generate a different kind of audience response, such as curiosity or boredom. 

Chris Cunningham's experimental film 'Rubber Johnny' is an extremely elaborate and dark short with no narrative or context. It starts with an extreme, out of focus close up of an inhuman creature. This close up is accompanied by the diegetic sound of the cameraman talking calmly to the creature, and it replying with a series of squeaks and growls, which made me very uncomfortable. The sequence is filmed with a handheld camera and is a long take which gave it a home-made style and realistic effect.

Some expanded films require a specific kind of spectatorship, such as Stan Brakhage's 'Stellar'. The film comprises of hundreds of random flashing images, which were made by hand-painting each film slide. Brakhage then played all of the slides through a camera to create the film. The film has neither diegetic nor non-diegetic sound, yet I found it mesmerising and beautifully abstract whereas other mainstream audiences would find it boring.

Luis Bunuel's 'Un Chien Andalou' was one of the first experimental films. The opening scene features a mid shot of Bunuel himself looking at the moon from a balcony. After a cut to an extreme close up of a woman's eye, he witnesses a cloud pass over the moon, seeming to cut it. The film then cuts to the eye, and Bunuel slicing it with a razor blade. The image of one of the most delicate parts of the human body being sliced is a shocking image and my initial reaction was disgust. The image would have shocked audiences when it was shown and is not one that is easily forgotten. 
The dragging scene is one that portrays challenging images to the audience, with the male character shown dragging two ropes ending at pianos with dead donkeys lying on them. The scene is designed to shock the audience, and create a mixed response of confusing and awe. Personally I found it confusing as I could not relate to it.

How far can it be argued that your chosen films provide a 'realistic' representation of the people ad places they focus on?

City Of God

City of God provides an accurate and realistic representation of the people and places it focuses on. 

Over 7 million Brazilians now live in favelas, and the life expectancy of those involved in drug gangs rarely exceeds 20. Children as young as 10 are walking the streets, fully armed with military grade weapons and committing murders and other crimes.

This involvement in the drug gangs originates because of a dysfunctional family. In City of God, we see Rocket's brother Goose being told off by his Father in their bedroom just after the motel heist. The eye-level close up two shot shows the characters face to face, indicating conflict. However Rocket does not come from a dysfunctional family because he has a Mother, Father and Brother, so he has been raised with morals, as shown when he says 'I don't want to be a hood because I don't want to get shot'. This shows that Rocket is an exception - a break in the rules of society in the favelas.

A2 Film Project Aims & Contexts

• Genre: British Crime Thriller
• Target Audience: Mainstream audiences, 18+, open to a range of viewers.
• Influences: Matheiu Kassovitz (La Haine), David Fincher (Fight Club) and Jean-Luc Godard (Bande à part)
• Sequence of a full film.
• Film noir techniques to be used e.g low key lighting, black and white, close ups and narration.
• We will turn a lot of attention to our lighting to create high contrast scenes, as well as exploiting symmetry and rule-of-thirds.
• We will use a wide variety of camera techniques, such as pans, tracking, dutch angles etc.
• We will also experiment with more advanced camera shots such as reverse zooms and the use of a dolly.
• We want to try and break the fourth wall to create a link with the audience and remind them that they are watching a film.
• I will use a range of editing techniques such as jump cuts, split screen and gun flashes.
• We want to incorporate sections of screen tests into our film of the characters, to subtly distinguish between film and reality.
• Last year the actors we chose limited our film. We only had 2, whereas this year we plan on having many more actors (up to 7) to play parts in our film.
• The roles within our group have been clearly assigned as follows:
• Director/Cinematographer - Alice Hone
• Editor - Daniel Barnett
• Camera/Lighting - Michael Baker
• Sound - Ellis Cooper

Experimental Question

Discuss some of the ways in which the film or video work you have studied for this topic requires a different kind of spectatorship from that which spectators bring to their mainstream film-going.

It is argued that experimental films are easy to write about as they are difficult to understand. I agree with this statement. I personally find that expanded films such as 'Un Chien Andalou' and 'Stellar' are much more challenging to watch than mainstream films such as 'Titanic', or 'Transformers'.

Un Chien Andalou was made in 1929 by filmmaker Luis Bunuel. The film is primarily based on dreams that he and Salvador Dali had experienced, and it often has no meaning at all. The piano scene shows how abstract the film is, as the male character is shown by a series of static long shots dragging 2 grand pianos with dead donkeys draped across them. This scene confused me on first viewing and the image stuck in my head as it was so vivid. I found it disgusting as I did not expect a scene so graphic in a time period such as the 20s. The confused effect is added to by the non-diegetic music which I found particularly annoying as it was repetitive, high pitched and constant.

My responses to Titanic differ greatly to that of Un Chien Andalou. Directed by James Cameron in 1997, it had a huge budget and Cameron even had a replica of the unsinkable vessel built into a massive custom studio. Despite the money and world class actors, I found the film incredibly boring. I find it to be too slow, and although the story of the Titanic does interest me, the film carries too much of a love story. Even with a second viewing my opinion does not change.

An experimental film that I do like is Stellar, by Stan Brakhage. It is a short film with no sound, made entirely of flashing images. Brakhage painted on each individual frame individually using different colours. There are no significant camera shots or techniques used in the film, which is why I find it appealing. When the film is played it creates a vibrant show of colours and shapes which I really like, and I appreciate the amount of work and time Brakhage put into this short film. On my first viewing I found myself completely fixated on the film even though it is silent and incredibly simple. Although Brakhage is American, I think he has a very European style to his films, as shown in 'The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes' which depicts autopsys. It has an extremely blunt and harsh style, showing me highly graphic images of corpses being dissected for examination.

This style is also evident in the work of the Quay brothers, who are also American but have an clear European style. Their film 

Fight Club - A Critical Approach

How useful has a particular critical approach been in giving a deeper understanding and appreciation of your chosen film?

When analysing Fight Club, I like to use the Freudian's idea of the id, ego and superego to increase my understanding of the narrative. I prefer this approach as I can relate it to specific scenes in the film to give me a deeper knowing and appreciation. Fight Club was directed by David Fincher in 1999 and stars Edward Norton and Brad Pitt. It is a visual representation of the attack on society and consumerism by men in America who suffer a conformist, mundane lifestyle.

I can apply the freudian approach to the sit-ups scene. Jack is shown doing sit-ups on the floor by a long shot, cutting to a close up of him and then tilting up to the ceiling, showing it crumbling above him. Tyler is upstairs having sex with Marla causing the ceiling to crumble. This scene demonstrates freudians approach through the position of each character. Jack, the ego, is shown beneath Tyler, the id. The id is metaphorically in the front of Jack's mind, fulfilling his desires to be with Marla however the id is repressing the ego by keeping him down below. The ego knows the id is in control, as shown by the noise and bits of ceiling falling onto Jack.
During this scene I felt sorry for Jack, as his desire is to be upstairs, shown clearly by Tyler. At first I did not notice that this scene was a big part of the freudian approach, but with a second viewing I find understand it more.

The kitchen scene is another that I can apply the freudian approach to. This time the id and ego are positioned contrastingly from the previous scene. A long shot tilted down shows Jack looking at Tyler at the bottom of the stairs in the basement of the house, hiding him from Marla. Another long shot, tilted up shows Tyler looking up at Jack, the ego. I find this to be a good use of shot-reverse-shot by Fincher as it displays the close, yet distant relationship the two characters share. The fact he seems to be hiding Tyler shows me that he is also trying to hide his primordial desires from Marla. The idea of the freudian approach is apparent when Jack says 'I'm sorry. Do you hear this?' in reaction to Tyler's constant banging in the basement - a question to which Marla replies 'Hear what?'. This gives me an idea that Jack may be the only one able to perceive Tyler, and Tyler is only a primal, powerful and sometimes annoying fragment in his mind. During this scene I developed a small idea that Tyler was not real, but I knew that I would have to watch until the end of the film to find out. However watching it a second time I understand how 

The realisation scene near the end of the film, where Tyler tells Jack that they are the same person is ideal for me to apply the freudian approach to. Tyler and Jack are shown sitting opposite each other by a two shot, cutting to mid shots of each character as they talk. Tyler says 'All the ways you wish you could be - that's me.' This single line demonstrates the full idea of the id and the ego. Tyler is a visual representation of how Jack wants to be.

Freudian approach:

- sit-ups scene, Jack is beneath the id, his desire is with Marla in bed. He is repressed by the id.

- kitchen scene - the id is beneath Jack, constantly in the back of his mind knocking and interrupting.

- realisation scene - 'I look like you wanna look, I fuck like you wanna fuck'

Answering An Exam Question:

Follow these steps when answering an exam question and you'll be rollin':

• Directly answer the question (include words from the question in your answer)
• Keep referring to the question repeatedly - don't forget about it!
• Clearly state the directors of the films, and the year they were released. Remember how to spell the names too. It's embarrassing if you can't…
• Refer to scenes in DETAIL. Try to include: 
• mise-en-scene
• lighting
• sound
• camera angles
• camera movements
• camera shots
• framing
• remember that technical language

• Add in your own personal response - such as 'I think' 'for me' 'I believe' 'In my opinion' 'with a second viewing'
• Say what how feel when doing the personal response. If you feel: bored, confused, scared, excited, intrigued, disgusted etc… Say what you feel!