My inner 8 year old...

When I signed up for this class, I was hoping for a venue in which I could let my creativity and inner 8 year old run wild. So far, it has not disappointed. I always find it odd that after middle school, the opportunities to sit down with raw materials such as ink, tape, or glitter for that matter and create something out of them decline rapidly. I frequently find myself sitting with my 6 year old niece, helping her figure out an art set or coloring and creating simple things. Every time I do this, I always wish I did it more often, albeit with more grown up materials.
This is where 6x1 has really impressed me. There is definitely thought that goes into many experimental films and I’m sure some of them have a method or meaning that lies behind the scratches, paint, and light. However, up to this point in the class, it has been fun to let the tendency to over-think things too much go and just enjoy the opportunity to use my creative engines and explore new ways of manipulating film besides actually filming with it. As we progress through the semester, and I become more comfortable with the various methods and devices, I am sure that I will begin using them to better create a physical representation of the mental ideas I hope to convey. For now, I’m happy to just have a little fun.
As for the techniques that we have learned so far, I believe that I enjoy animation and painting the most. Each technique has its very own allure, yet these two seem to give me the most control over what will actually be seen on the screen when the film is projected. Scratching allows some control as well, however it can be a bit difficult to create intricate designs by way of scratching. The precision of drawing animation or painting with oils is very attractive to me because it makes it easier to see my creativity manifested into images on screen.
Magazine transfers were very intriguing and fun to do, but for the work that it took to get a fraction of a second projected, it didn’t seem quite worth it. I couldn’t help but think, though, that one day I would love to help my kids make magazine transfers for some free time activity as an alternative to video games or some other unimaginative game. I did feel that I had a bit more control over what would be projected than I initially thought I would, but it was still very difficult to try and predict what certain designs would look like when they were projected. It was interesting to try and find things in the magazines that were already the size necessary to fit onto the film without chopping off parts of the image. I think that with more exploration, this technique is one that I could really begin to enjoy a lot more.
I hope to try and embrace the unpredictable nature of magazine transfers and rayograms more as the semester progresses. Perhaps this will help me give up that annoying desire to control every aspect of what is on screen and give in to the “experimental”, or unpredictable virtues that film manipulation offers.

Vonnegut, is that you?

As I read "A Moving Picture Giving and Taking Book", I could not help but laugh at his wit which reminded me of that of my favorite author, Kurt Vonnegut. It took me a few pages to realize that the information he was trying to convey was actually getting through among the jokes and overtly simple explanations for processes. His humor seemed to help in some ways make the material easier to digest. It felt as if I was having a conversation with Brakhage himself, relaxing in his living room amongst all of his toys. Although it may have taken up more time and energy to convey the information that way, it certainly made the information much more enjoyable than the exact numbers would have been.
If the humor kept me reading and interested, then some of his passages that delve too far into his linguistic games kept me confused and reading sentences over again. Most of the time, I would eventually understand what he was trying to say. However, sometimes I didn’t. Had there been less wordiness, I believe that I would have comprehended the material easier at times.
Another aspect of the reading that gave me a bit of trouble was that it seemed to jump around. It should be noted that Brakhage frequently apologizes for getting off topic in the writing itself. This was part of what made it seem conversational, but in turn made it slightly more difficult to stay adjusted to what point he was trying to make or to what technique he was trying to describe.
Aside from how the article read and its ease of comprehension, it was informative for sure. The article and its sections on the operation of a projector and how film stock is utilized in many different ways helped me to understand the tools I would be working with throughout the semester in 6x1. With my still photography background, the information on apertures was nothing new but I’m always interested to see how the inner workings of a camera, either still or moving, are explained in a way that makes it easy to understand. I’ve frequently tried to explain those processes to others with very little success. So in that respect, the article impressed me.
Finally, this article definitely stirred my excitement for the rest of the semester in 6x1. I think Brakhage was a huge fan of creativity, even to the point of pushing technology and possibilities to their limit. I’m anxious to do so, especially after reading this article.