User:Luni/Thematic Seminars /Sabine

From XPUB & Lens-Based wiki


Defamiliarization (ostranenie) - artistic theory and technique of presenting to audiences common things in a strange and unfamiliar way, prolonging the perceptive process and allowing for a fresh perspective.

Subversion - something that’s likely to make the public question the values and the principles of a system in place, which in turn might lead to a change in social structures. Calls prevailing ideologies into question.

Juxtaposition - the fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect

When working with found footage - intentionality is reframed. The context might be (ideologically) changed.

Esfir Shub (1984-1959- one of the first women (publically) working with found footage -

Fall of Romanov Dynasty:

Idealogical "Perfection" --> Argument ---> Flip side of 'perfect ideology' ---> Propaganda on gender equality -> Warning

Recycled Images: The Art and Politics of Found Footage Films (1993). Willem Wees

( https://monoskop.org/images/3/34/Wees_William_C_Recycled_Images_The_Art_and_Politics_of_Found_Footage_Films.pdf )

1. Compilation. Not questioning the representational nature of the image. To illustrate the point - for example, in a documentary. Not subverting.

2. Manipulating the material. Avant grade. Not matching image and sound. Critiquing. Juxtapositions, irony, disruptions.

3. Appropriation. Not a critique. Meant to entertain, to illustrate the mood. A playful way of making an image into something else.


1ST cinema - Hollywood. Meant for entertainment. 2ND cinema - European auteur. Unconventional, experimental. 3RD cinema - Latin American film movement. Filmmaking relating to other cinema. Militant cinema, collective filmmaking. Revolutionary activism - against capitalism.

Santiago Alvarez - L.B.J. (1968)

Gunvor Nelson. Schmeerguntz (1965) - catalyst - a call to action—the circumstance that thrusts your protagonist into the story.

Harun Farocki - Respite (2007) "Are these images an embellishment?" close reading of images. Minimal intervention.

Strategies for image recycling:

- Removing sound - Adding audio that doesn't belong - Repetition - Match cut - Kuleshov effect. One shot is influenced by the other - Layering images - Refraction. Different images, different materials.

Intuitive editing :

1. Expertise. Intuition through skills. 2. Implicit learning. Non-conscious (watching films, reading, etc) 3. Judgement. Decisions are based on understanding. 4. Sensitivity. Attentiveness to detail. To reset anxiety - have someone to sit with you while editing, meditate, take breaks, anything to gain a new set of eyes. 5. Creativity. Capacity for problem-solving. Notes, sheet on the wall eg. - "Potential turning point". Don't drop what you are doing. 6. Break the time day by day, don't stay too long on one thing! Plan breaks!! Rumination - step away!!!

  • In the blink of an eye*