Cameraless Filmmaking... thus far.

Cameraless filmmaking thus far… well with the cancelation of one class due to the birth of little Silva and then the following week missing class because of going out of town, I feel a little out of the loop, but I will base this blog off of what I have experienced so far, although it may not be as much as others in class.

On the first day of class I didn’t really know what to expect, other than the 48 hour projects I saw at the screening last semester and one of my friends telling me to take the class. The first Scratch Film we watched was impressive in its own sense but I still wasn’t sure how it was made other than using paints and such on film strips. I wasn’t sure how it was all put together though and made into a five minute or so piece. Then we began our own filmmaking by first learning how to splice film and then scratch on it with sharpies, markers, push pins, hole punches and other cool tools to use. I felt like I was entering the arts and crafts of filmmaking and it reminded me of my days in kindergarten, which is nice in this time of my life when everything seems to be so serious and “it has to be done this way.” I know film gives one the opportunity to explore and try new things, but when taking classes you are only taught one way, the way the professors see fit to best educate you, but this class breaks those boundaries. You are open to try anything and everything, like Brakhage stated, to find ways to make camerless filmmaking.

The next week was even better as we got to cut out pieces of magazines and transfer them to our clear leader film strips and also got to use inks and oils to paint on. I found this really cool and loved every bit of it. I feel like these methods are much more sufficient to use when trying to work on our first assignment instead of just using markers like we did the first week. I am now more excited about using these methods to create what my partner and I feel represents “earth, wind, fire, and water” on the film strip. Although I missed last class and the workshop on rayograms, I am glad we will spend more time on it this week so I can get caught up to speed. I do feel, however, that the Brakhage article helped me understand rayograms and the process even though I haven’t done it yet.

So now comes the point of no return, moving into the future, and beginning our own work on our assignment after learning some cool techniques. We haven’t started on our project but I imagine over the next week we will get together and knock it out. I am still thinking of ideas of how to represent these elements and I think after tonight’s class I will have a better idea. I have loved every minute of this experience so far though and I am glad we have such a cool class/ professor because everyone seems excited to learn and partake in this experience. Until next time.

LWR