Sitney, “The Lyrical Film”

1. While Brakhage’s Reflections on Black is a trance film, why does Sitney argue that it anticipates the lyrical film?
The film uses techniques and materials that reflect on filmimaking as a form.
2. What are the key characteristics of the lyrical film (the first example of which was Anticipation of the Night).
Filmmaker behind the camera; as the 1st person protaganist. The film consists of movement that is percieved to be the visions of the filmmaker. Brings to light the limitations of the screen.
3. Which filmmaker was highly influential on Brakhage’s move to lyrical film in terms of film style, and why?
Marie Menken for her emphasis on rhythmic camera movements, as well as her direct influence on the image.
4. What does Sitney mean by "hard" and "soft" montage? What examples of each does he give from Anticipation of the Night? {Tricky question; read the entire passage very carefully.]
hard is a collision of shots; soft is a “preview” shot cut with camera movement or a drift in colors.
5. What are the characteristics of vision according to Brakhage’s revival of the Romantic dialectics of sight and imagination? [I’m not asking here about film style, I’m asking about Brakhage’s views about vision.] We’ve been taught to see things a certain way, but that’s not actually how we see them. The Romantic dialects were all about focusing on the argument of which is truer reality, or our perception of reality.

Sitney, “Major Mythopoeia”

6. Why does Sitney argue, “It was Brakhage, of all the major American avant-garde filmmakers, who first embraced the formal directives and verbal aesthetics of Abstract Expressionism.”

7. What archetypes are significant motifs in Dog Star Man, and which writers in what movement are associated with these four states of existence?
Divided Titan, Blake, Romantic

Sitney, "The Potted Psalm"
[This is an addition to the syllabus. After reading the introductory paragraphs, focus on the discussions of The Cage and Entr'acte (p. 47-54 and The Lead Shoes (p. 68-70).]

8. According to Sitney, what stylistic techniques are used to mark perspective and subjectivity in The Cage, and why is this an important development in the American avant-garde film?
Use of Radical lens techniques as metaphors for perception and consciousness that led to future cinematic ideas regarding perspective.
9. For Sitney, what are the key similarities and differences between Entr'acte and The Cage?
They both use camera distortion, and slapstick comedy but Entr’acte has more emphasis with snubbing their nose at the beourgoius(In the Dada tradition), while The Cage seems to be focusing more on the Artform.
10. How does Peterson synthesize the seemingly incongruent suggestions of his Workshop 20 students into The Lead Shoes?
Carried the editing principle into conception of the film.
11. Compare your response to The Lead Shoes with the descriptions by Sitney and Parker Tyler.
Their responses seem to be focused on the themes of the piece, where as mine was on a different level. I didn’t try to figure the story out, rather I just focused on how the shots were juxtaposed. I guess I assumed that the meanings behind the juxtaposition were convenient, and the real meat of the film is its sampling of what editing can offer.