It wasn't until this year that I even knew the name Stan Brakhage. In my documentary film class we watched "The act of seeing with one's own eyes" which was shot by Brakhage in the early 90's. All I heard about him was that his films were always silent, and considering the heavy use of bone saws in that film, I was grateful for that. However, after viewing the film and thinking about his other films - of which I saw perhaps, two - I came to the conclusion that he was a quack of a filmmaker who couldn't make it as a "real" filmmaker and thus had to resort to painting by numbers on film like a three year old. In my opinion he was given recognition solely because of the difficulty of his work's creation.
After reading this article, I respect the man a great deal more. This wasn't just mindless tinkering with film that he was doing, that was serious, legitimate study and exploration of the possibilities of the medium. Sure, film was created with the idea that it should be used in a camera, but truly great minds take an idea like that and build on it. The most impressive part of the article to me was when he was discussing synchronized projection to whoever he was writing the letter to. I feel odd making this comparison, but it was almost like reading one of the letters of Paul in the New Testament. He was giving careful advice and instruction to this other filmmaker based on his experiences. I particularly liked his description of the 1958 screening of Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome, which he estimates about 15 people saw in it's correct form. I think it illustrates well the difficulties in all areas of this type of filmmaking.
Half the article, it seems like, was written on splicing methods. That's pretty insane considering splicing is just a tiny aspect of making these films work. I can't imagine working in darkness or animating with inks for hours on end then having splicing issues and distribution issues on top of that. It seems like a lot of work for not a lot of payoff, but for Brakhage I suspect the payoff came to him in other ways. I am extremely impressed by the work of his that I've seen and reading this article and being in this class has played a big role in that change for me.
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Great! I'm glad you gained a lot from reading the article. The part you mention about the 15 people seeing Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome in the correct form makes me think about the Brakhage collection on DVD. The fact that Brakhage's work is now out on DVD exposes a lot of people to his work but at the same time, seeing the work on DVD is nothing like seeing it on film (maybe someday, this will change) and so while more people see his work, a smaller percentage see it in the "correct" form. Good or bad? Who knows?
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