Variations
Nathaniel Dorsky
Silent
Shown at 18 fps
As said in class, the film variations relied on the "act of seeing." The 24 min. film was completely silent and seemed to rely solely on image. Many different shots were shown of people, places, and objects. I felt less like I was watching a film and more like I was actually seeing these people, places, and objects. The film was shown at 18 frames per second. Nathaniel Dorsky describes this as "sacred speed." I did feel a slight difference from a film shown at 24 fps and I feel that it did enhance the viewing experience. The images almost seemed softer. The colors were extremely vibrant at times. The shades of red and green seemed to leap out more than the other colors. I remember hearing in class that this was because of the type of film it was shot on. I enjoyed the shots of the static and stationary objects more so than the ones of people and cars. My favorite shot out of all of them was the shot of a red/orange apple laid on top of a similar colored background. A faint shadow accented the image and the colors of the apple and background, though blended, seemed to jump at me. In the middle of the film there was a slight change in pace. It became more abstract when we were shown lights behind (what seemed like) water droplets on glass. In all of the images before and after this we were able to know what we were looking at. These shots seemed to not follow that trend. This part was, in a sense, climactic. When we talk about a climax in a film we often are talking about a narrative. I do not think that this film had any narrative elements in it.
Overall it was a beautifully shot film and I enjoyed it.
In response to the reading: Nathaniel Dorsky’s Devotional Cinema
The first paragraph of our reading is as follows:
-“We view films in the context of darkness. We sit in the darkness and watch an illuminated world, the world of the screen. This situation is a metaphor for the nature of our own vision. In the very process of seeing, our own skull is like a dark theater, and the world we see in front of us is in a sense a screen. We watch the world from the dark theater of our skull. The darker the room, the more luminous the screen.”
Dorsky’s Film, Variations, seemed to perfectly show this relation of film to our minds. However, it describes the mind to have the ability to process only one sense, sight. What were left out of consideration were hearing, taste, touch, and smell.
I do agree that this film could be used to illustrate a break down in sensory perception. Being in a dark room your vision only focuses on the images presented to you. As you become more engrossed in the film you lose touch of taste, smell, and touch. The film is silent so you no longer hear anything. You rely only on vision in the dark theater.
Market Street
Tomonari Nishikaka
16 mm
B&W
5 min.
I have seen this film before and it always leaves an impression on me. It is one of those films that I would like to take apart and analyze over and over again. I want to see what went into making this film what it is. As image after image flash before you, you start to notice a pattern. You can see shapes and lines forming and moving about the screen. It is not so much about the images shown to you as it is about the patterns. I’m sure each individual frame shows a great picture of a street or building but you don’t really have time to observe that before the next image flashes in front of you. The images go so fast that you can only wonder what it is that you just saw. Every so often I could hold a frame in my mind and see what it was but I wouldn’t have enough time to hold on to that image. I would have to see what the next image was. I wonder if it would be harder to see the film in single frames if the images had no patterns.
Short responses to films/what was on my mind
Wot the Ancient Sod
Diane Kitchen
This film was cold but compelling. The imagery was in a way depressing. The only thing we saw was dying leaves. It made me think about how people find so much beauty in autumn. The colors are so vibrant on the leaves in autumn; people often ignore the fact that those leaves are dying/decaying. It is one of the only times that people find beauty in death.
Commingled Containers
Stan Brakage
We were shown multiple ways of filming water. I found this film only slightly interesting. It didn’t provoke many thoughts or feelings. The imagery was calm and the colors were soothing.