1st Presentations

The presentations were really great this time around. I really liked learning more about Jonas Mekas. The opening video was a great wait to show him off. My favorite quote by him by far now is the one that says, “We don’t want false, polished, slick films-we prefer them rough, unpolished, but alive; we don’t want rosy films,- we want them the color of blood.” I thought it was a great and powerful way to put it and I so agree with this statement. I could not believe that at the age he is, he started the 365 Day Project. He is quite a character so I really want to look into more of his films.

Viking Eggeling works were very new for me. I thought his designs were strange yet powerful. I really enjoyed how he was able to put sound into the abstract art forms. It was also interesting how he went about creating it with tinfoil and all. I liked the idea of “seeing sound”.  

Harry Smith’s works were a bit too abstract for my tastes. I give him a lot of credit for how much time and effort it took to create the films but it was very hard for me to stay interested. I enjoy much more the works by Brakhage. 

I love the way Brakhage is able to handprint color and create beautiful images. Each image I wanted to put on my wall so I could have it. The final film shown about Brakhage and his family was really great as well. I had never seen it and really enjoyed how he used light throughout. I’m so glad there was time to see the flicker of light in the boys’ room. It was pretty beautiful how the “light” was given so much purpose in the film. I think it is something to think about because Brakhage really did treat light as a character that added so much to the film. Really enjoyed learning more about each guy!