Reading Response Three

1. Brakhage believes in the experience of the vision, rather than the actuality of what the viewer witnesses. He basically states that there is much more to the viewing experience than simply what is physically seen. Mentally and emotionally, there is just as much going on in a human's mind when he/she watches a film, and Brakhage urges viewers to focus on discovering that side of the experience.

2. In Sitney's opinion, Brakhage was the first of all the avant-garde filmmakers to actually make films in the abstract expressionist style. Before him, other artists claimed to work in this style, but they were clearly still too influenced by conventional filmmaking. Brakhage truly opened the doors to a new way of watching film (as discussed above).

3. Synechdoche plays a major role in "The End" because there were specific decisions made by the filmmaker that represent the film as a whole. For example, the ellipsis. By themselves, they are somewhat insignificant. However, with particular stylistic decisions, they guide the viewer to an understanding of the conclusion of the film.

4. From what I gathered, MacLaine is a bit more intense than Connor. Both represent the downfall of the human race, but MacLaine does so much more blatantly. Both filmmakers allow the viewer to have his or her own experience with the film. While watching, one strives to find meaning behind the images, and surely everyone will take something different from it. I think both artists would approve of this.

5. Nelson and Rice's films are difficult to reach conclusions from. Sitney states that the films usually are representative of larger themes, but it may take some knowledge of the filmmakers in order for the viewer to be able to decode the messages.

6. Fluxfilms were basically mockeries of the avant-garde movement. Dadaists especially, rebelled against who they thought were pretentious filmmakers by making films that were seemingly avant-garde. However, these films had no depth or hidden meanings (unlike those of Brakhage). They were compilations of random images thrown together, and although they might be visually pleasing in some cases, the filmmakers didn't mean for there to be any meaning behind them.

7. "Democratizing" the production means to steal a director's thunder in a way. It means taking someone's creation and style and reproducing it to make it seem unoriginal.

8. "Zen for Film" was made in a very minimalistic way so that people who are not part of the elite can afford to make films too. All one would need to make a film was a roll of it. People didn't even need cameras to make a piece of art. This opened up doors for new filmmakers and helped destroy the pretention that formally came with avant-garde filmmaking.