Reading Response #6

-It seems as if the sexual content of films throughout the semester has slowly began to increase, and Fuses is an perfect example. It was much more abstract and manipulated compared to Flaming Creatures or Fingered, but we'll talk about that later. The lack of lighting with the red tone is pretty enjoyable to watch and sets the mood for what is happening in front of the camera. There is a unique mystery to Fuses that is hidden behind the dark red lighting that makes you want to squint and tilt your head as if it will make the imagery more clear. The content of these films doesn't really bother me, its more of the extensive close up shots of penis's and male ejaculation that kinda get to me. Aside from that note, I thoroughly enjoyed Fuses, Flaming Creatures, and Fingered. The intriguing imagery of the bodies in all three films is fascinating and like nothing else that I've really seen. They show the beauty of the human body regardless of anybody else's morals. While they do push the envelope CONSTANTLY, its pretty cool that they basically said fuck it when they made this films. Thumbs up minus the cocks.

1. The four typical characteristics of the structural film are the flicker effect, a fixed camera, loop printing, and rephotography. Deren/Brakhage/Anger films focus on the function of the brain and how the eye perceives things. While the structural film explores the human mind and its conscious.

2. Structural film's metaphor is that the mind's experience is what's most engaged? I think it's something like this, hard to put it into words

3. The reason for Sitney being able to believe in this is because Warhol was a minimalist in his early films. He focused on the pure essence of film and not the need to fill every frame with an important detail. The longevity and stillness of his films is what seems to be the biggest piece of evidence leading to Sitney's argument. Warhol seems to refuse the typical film structure and created his own style which lead to, what Sitney says precursor for the structural film.

4.

a. Warhol was deferentially an anti-Romatic artist because he normally would set up the camera and simply filmed one subject as he pleased and would do no other production work with lighting, sound, or narrative. He didn't follow the traditions of past avant-garde filmmakers who would focus of every aspect of their film giving it a deeper meaning.

b. They all used the idea of a fixed camera but for different reasons. Warhol wants to make the views mind work and become interested in the not so interesting. Snow and Gehr would use the fixed camera for a mysterious compilation of imagery. These two were also much more prepared when it came to shooting a scene, as Warhol would just go, set up, and shoot.

c. This seems to relate to the experience that each viewer has consciously while viewing the stylistic choices of each artist. Warhol's whole viewing experience is based on the duration of his films and how the viewer will perceive what is on screen. It relates to structural films because of their usage of stillness and their strive to create a subconscious experience.

6. The metaphor of the minds consciousness.