KCC's FST 553 Experimental Film Blog

  Reflection of filmmaker presentations: Viking Eggling Well, I went into information overload when I dove into my Eggeling research. I was started early enough to be able to find a few books when he was mentioned extensively, and also found several very helpful websites. The greatest find was a PDF version of O’Konor’s book devoted exclusively to Eggeling. Her research was one that all the other sources mentioned, so it was like striking gold. While at first glance, Eggeling’s work may not be impressive, but put in the context of the time period, state of technology, and other factors, it’s astounding. I’m also intrigued by his commitment (obsession?) with his work. One source even stated that his living conditions and ultimately his health were so poor because he only made time to draw and create his film. He made the ultimate sacrifice for his art. Jodie Mack What a treat to come across her work. I wish that I would have had time to play more of her films, especially Yard Work i...

  Reflect on your sound design experience Having been in the trenches of research about Viking Eggeling and Jodie Mack, I noticed that I was hyper-aware of rhythms in the sound library. I specifically looked for sounds that were “musical,” then I tried to layer them and manipulate them to continue the music on the previous tracks. In some cases, I increased or decreased the speed of the sound to match the current rhythm. In hindsight I wish I would have manipulated the sound more, adding reverb or panning, etc. Overall, it was fun “playing” with all the sounds, and it was a nice switch to focus ONLY on sound instead of first completing visuals then completing sound!   Respond to this week's reading "A Night at the Movies" Katz’s definition of “arthouse” (theater specializing in the exhibition of quality films, either classic revivals or new films of limited box-office appeal) made me immediately think of Cinematique of Wilmington that screens films at Historic Thalian Hal...

                Presentation Reflection: There were a couple of ideas that I loved during Holden’s presentation. The first was when he said that Mekas “was creating a living clip of history” with his experimental diary films. Not only do I think that the idea is a beautiful and poetic way of looking at his work, but it is also a wonderful way to look at any work of art. Art reflects life, and life reflects art. Mekas' art told his history, and his history inspired his art. That reminds me of a movie I watched a while back (I can’t remember the name) where a guy wanted to be a blues singer. After not having much success, his mentor told him, “If you want to sing the blues, you must have had the blues.” I suspect all artists to some degree, have painful parts of their past that they have channeled into creative outlets. The other idea was when Mekas explained how he used “bits of time” and “”bits of footage” to make his films. I was reminded of...