FM4: Spectatorship Issues – What is Experimental Film?
What the specification says:
The study of radical ‘alternatives’ to mainstream film form and representation, challenging our sense of how we see and consequently how we respond to audio-visual material. Examples may be taken from both the historical and the contemporary. Where possible candidates should visit galleries and other venues where work is installed in relation to specific physical spaces. The focus may be on a number of works seen in locations, on a number of short films, on two feature length films or on a mixture.
Experimental film is very difficult to define. Critics and theorists argue over even defining it as experimental – some prefer avant-garde, underground, alternative etc. However, we can suggest some general conventions:
- ‘By and large, this is film-making without story, characters or plot’ – A. L. Rees
- No budget
- Intensely personal
- Completely different distribution and exhibition (Societies/museum/universities versus cinemas)
- Individual versus team
- Does not have a mass audience ideology/ conventions to consider
First we have to consider what is conventional in film? Consider Micro techniques (mise-en-scène, sound, cinematography and editing), funding, distribution, narrative/content, technicians, representation (women, ethnicities, sexuality), audience, promotion, genre etc. What normally occurs and how could film-makers experiment with these different conventions?
What is the different between mainstream, art cinema and avant-garde? If you’re not sure on definitions, research the terms.
Why does it change our expectations as spectators and how do we react to the different and unusual in film? Consider how you feel when you watch a ‘mainstream’ film and compare it to art cinema or avant-garde? There are loads of avant-garde films on the Internet – search on Google video.
Miss Hurdley