Week 9 Filmskis

The films shown this week were definitely the most interesting we've seen as we begin to drift into the avant gardeness of the '70s. I can already tell the filmmakers of this time were starting to experiment more with film, thinking outside the box so to speak.

Line Describing a Cone- This was pretty incredible to finally see in person. I remember hearing about it last year and trying to think about how it would really look. My predictions were basically correct, but it was awesome to see especially in such a small venue. This "film" really exists outside the screen which is an amazing thing since most films rely on the screen to get the images across. I've tried to imagine this film without the fog/smoke and have come to the conclusion that there'd be no cone but a really boring circle being formed. I also thought the doubled class size helped as more people were able to alter the cone's light, which made it ultra interactive. What stood out to me that maybe was a mistake was the quick bursts of small light beams caused by tiny scratches on the filmstrip. As a result of this film experience, I almost want to fill a theater with fake fog and watch some Blockbuster movie thats out, just to see what happens. And I'm sure glad that it was a cone being described and not a shark! (insert cheesy laugh here)

7 Days- This film was pretty cool and had a mediative feel to it in parts. I really enjoyed the film having the preface in class that a "gizmo" had created the images and something was happening causing it to film certain things. About a couple minutes into it, I realized that the sun was being covered by clouds and when the grass was being filmed, the sun was out because you could see the camera's shadow. The ambient sounds of the sky mixed up with the sounds of water created a cool soundtrack that reminded me of those sleep sound devices(as mentioned in class).

The Girl Chewing Gum- It was also great to finally see this in its entirety because I really enjoyed what I saw the first time. On first viewing, I didn't realize that a street was simply being filmed and it was not a movie set like the narration implies. It wasn't until the clock was zoomed in on that I realized I had been fooled, but I was fine with that. It reminded me of a Monty Python type sketch because they always seem to do clever things that mess with the viewer's perceptions of what film should be. If you just look at this on paper, its simple, a "director" is directing people to do everyday things. But really it is everyday life being filmed, which would be boring to view without the clever fake directions. Then, when the director guy started making assumptions about certain people(i.e. the guy who just robbed the bank) that's when it was even funnier because you began to see people in a different light. I remember as a kid, I would get bored easily when in public and start looking around at people, coming up with theme music or how their voices might sound, all in my head. This film to me was a lot like this childhood concept.