Experimental Film

Pipolotti Rist - Be Nice To Me (flatten 04)

Experimental film, also known as Avant Garde or Underground film, is an non-conformist method that works against the typical conventions of film making. They can vastly differ in length ranging from under a minute to several hours and have minimal language throughout. Film makers frequently use this platform to experiment with audio as well as visual, often making films expressing eccentric topics or personal/everyday experience. Because of this 'theme' of personal experience, video art can often be interpreted as narcissistic, as film makers like to use themselves in the film, but this is usually done for a specific reason. Underground films makers have also been known to use archive footage and re-contextualise it to manipulate the visual to fit the film. Screening of the film is often thought through as the artist may want the film to be seen in an unorthodox way such as: projected against objects/running water, being screened in certain areas or by making the film interactive. This can be for experimentation or symbolic purposes. Video art is usually seen today influencing music videos as the surreal visual can make the song seem more interesting. When watching an 'experimental film' thinking of your own experiences while taking in the film often aids in understanding the film better.

Pipolotti Rist is a Swiss film maker focussing her work mostly on gender, sexuality, and the human body, her work is often seen as part of the feminist movement. She usually uses projection to screen her work. Her use of intense colours, obscure visuals and calming soundtrack aid in making an interesting yet hypnotic video. One of her films that I found compelling was 'Ever is Over All' (1997) initially because of the way Rist chose to screen the film. Its seems as if the film is two different videos on to different screens that have merged together. On one screen we see a field full of flowers and on the other we see a immensely happy looking woman walking up the street smashing car windows with a flower the same as the ones in the field. 

Jan Svankmajer is a Czech surrealist film maker who regularly uses stop motion animation as well as real people in his films. He varies from using mediums like claymation to dolls to create his sequences. His short film 'Neco z Alenky', which means 'something from Alice' is based off Lewis Carroll's character from Alice in Wonderland. The film depicts a doll walking around a house, seemingly looking for something until it finally finds a small potions. The doll drinks the potion and grows larger and becomes a young girl that resembles the doll. The film ends with the girl sitting in the house, now too small for her, looking at the bottle she had just drank from.

Sources

Fig 1. Open My Glade (2000) [film still] Available from: http://www.photography-now.com/images/Bilder/gross/26683.jpg [accessed on 4th Jan 2016]

Michael Rush (2007) Video Art: Revised Edition. Thames and Hudson 

Papillate Rist Biography (2015) Hauser and Wirth [online] Available from: http://www.hauserwirth.com/artists/25/pipilotti-rist/biography/

Alice (1988) YouTube [online] Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5Of_ULSjCM [accessed on 4th Jan 2016]

Ever is Over All (1997) Youtube [online] Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a56RPZ_cbdc [accessed on 4th Jan 2016]