A brief history of experimental film



IB Film 1: W30.3Experimental Film ProductionExperimental FilmsAs anyone who has ever made an experimental film can tell you, experimental films can sometimes be hard to talk about.Rather, they are meant to be experienced.Take a look at a few these examples of classic experimental films.Review -?Louis Bunuel’s?Un Chien AndalouReview -?Maya Deren’s 1943?Meshes of the AfternoonReview -?Chris Marker’s 1961?La Jetee?(English language version)Review -? HYPERLINK "" Eoin Duffy’s 2016?I am hereReview -?Andy Kennedy’s 2016?Slow WaveReview -?Damien Livesey’s 2011?LXIVA brief history of experimental filmWhat do all these films have in common? Well, nothing. They each take a unique, original approach to using the medium of film to convey something important to the filmmaker and to the audience.So that means that when your film is experimental, you can do anything you want, right?Wrong.As counterintuitive as this may seem, good experimental films often require even more planning than narrative films. That’s because the best experimental films involve risk. In an experimental film, you don’t have the “safety net” of a conventional story to fall back on. Instead, you are expressing your creative vision. But is that vision clear and compelling? Does it say something unique or original? If you’re encouraging your audience to interpret your film in their own way, is your film rich and deep enough to make multiple interpretations possible?Making an experimental film DOES NOT mean creating something that no one can decipher. In fact, just the opposite: a great experimental film has an abundance of meaning. So that you and I and the guy who lives down the block from us can all watch it and get something personal and significant out of it.That’s hard. But oh so satisfying when it works.Check out this history of experimental film.Review -?A (Very Brief) History of Experimental CinemaMake your own 60 second experimental filmGo back to your very first production project of the year. Do you remember it?You were asked to imagine a scenario where a child does something wrong and has to tell his or her parent about it. There was no dialogue in the scene and the entire scene was no longer than 30 seconds. You were then asked to create a storyboard for this scenario showing your use of motivated framing.Now, you’re going to look at this scenario again. But THIS time, you’re going to do something TOTALLY different with it – something that will give IB examiners a good idea of your creativity and your skills in the role you’ve adopted.You will create a 60 second experimental film that will involve the same scenario where a child does something wrong and has to tell his or her parent about it. But this time, you will not tell the story as a narrative film. Instead you could imagine the scenario by:Telling the story as a stream of consciousnessFilming it as a dream sequenceUsing animationUsing stop motionAnimating titlesExperimenting w/color gradingExperimenting w/After Effects or another special effects programExperimenting with sound designMixing different kinds of footage, photography, and/or mediaUsing another approach approved by your teacher -?if you choose to come up with your own approach, you must get this approved by your teacher by the end of this week.Sometimes the best way to decide how to create your own original approach is by studying the works of others. So here is a list of some of the greatest experimental filmmakers of all time.?You should review some of the best-known, highly regarded contemporary experimental filmmakers.Review -?The 15 Greatest Avant-Garde Filmmakers Of All TimeReview -?Films ShortReview -?Short of the WeekHere are some student examples of the Experimental Film project: GuidelinesFor every production project you complete, you will need to submit a document that provides documentary evidence of your work in the film production role undertaken during the task. By the end of Year One, you will have six productions completed, satisfying 2/3 of your FPA evidence and commentary.? Of course, you can go back and make alterations before submitting the final FPA in Year Two, but our goal is for you to have already compiled a strong foundation for your FPA before entering Year Two. Then, in semester 3, you will compile a number of these documents for your final Film Production Assessment (FPA).?Since your final FPA can be no longer than 9 portfolio pages in all, 3 of which you will probably want to devote to the complete film you will work on in Year 2, each portfolio commentary you provide for each film clip should be at most 1 ? pages.These pages should indicate key influences from research, clearly define?your filmmaker intentions,?and articulate the approach, planning, and process you took to acquire and develop the production skills needed to fulfill each?film production role.Each document should contain a balance between written work and visual evidence, and might consist of annotated extracts from the student’s planning documentation (including excerpts from scripts, storyboards and planning notes), relevant illustrations, charts, mind maps, visuals, diagrams or designs, photographs, images or scans, as necessary, ensuring they are of an appropriate quality (See the Live Lesson located here for suggestions).All evidence must be clearly labeled and if not created by the student, appropriately referenced to acknowledge the source, following the protocol of the referencing style chosen by the school.To help you complete each document as successfully as possible, we are requiring that you use the directions below to organize your commentary and evidence. You may either use the exact layout we’ve supplied or create your own layout. Either option is fine AS LONG AS YOU MAKE SURE TO INCLUDE ALL THE MATERIAL REQUIRED IN THE DIRECTIONS AND DESCRIBED BELOW. When you are done, please submit your portfolio page(s) as a Word document so that your teacher can easily comment on it.?Download –?FPA Directions (MS Word format)As you work towards a complete NINE (9) pages final Film Portfolio Assessment (due in Year 2), you are encouraged to start tailoring your individual film production work (commentaries) to what will be submitted next year.??Here is a template to use where you will place every production commentary that you have done so far in Year 1 within it.Download—FPA Pages Nine Page Commentary TemplateAs you can see, the directions ask you to document your work in each of the three phases of your production process: Pre-production, Production, and Post-production and to include the following information: ................
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