Exquisite Corpse:

Created by Alice, Ella & Liam

Group One Activity on Vimeo

Diversity to the Canon Video

Alice’s Statement:

We live in a more inclusive society now, a world where it’s not all white men running everything, there is a lot more diversity seen, but as you look at the film canon, still only focus on movies made or created by white men, shouldn’t people of colour, race and also woman be allowed to have their say in what goes in the canon.

Alice’s Summary:

Wanting diversity in a film canon is very important especially in today’s generation. This video shows gender, race and sexuality being represented to show just how important these type of films are why they should be recognised more. It’s not just the films to it’s also the people that help bring these films to life. This is what diversity is and we want to show that in a strong impactful yet fun way.

Ella’s  Statement:

The canonisation of films is an outdated system, focusing on the opinions of heterosexual white males. This needs to change. More people of colour need to be represented to have their ideas heard within the film industry.

Ella’s Summary:

The film canon is not representational of the world in which we live. It represents a time where white, heterosexual men had enormous power, and unfortunately still reflects these backward ideologies. It has never been more important or relevant to improve these canonical lists, as Black Lives Matter protests continue throughout the world. The video piece produced by Alice, Liam and I conveys these systematic issues within society, and that these minority groups must have their voices acknowledged in the ‘Greatest of all Time’ lists. All minority groups are a part of the world we inhabit, and must have their stories told and voices heard. 

Liam’s Statement:

To assert through the canonisation of films that the majority of the most influential, important and impactful films to ever be made are the works of heterosexual white men is an insult to great art curated by people of colour, members of the L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ community and those who society has continued to marginalize. If you’re attempting to form a canonisation of some form, you need to open up the conversation in order for more diverse voices to be heard!

Liam’s Summary:

We as group decided to adopt a visual method of storytelling as to tell our manifesto and in turn address the problems of diversity within the film canon, as well as the changes we wished to see made in the future. Once we had decided on utilizing footage from a multitude of different mediums, we looked towards Guy Maddin’s ‘The Green Fog’ as an inspiration of how to explore a narrative through the use of footage from other sources. Importantly to all of us, is the nature of our video, as we hoped to make our video as educational as it is engaging and entertaining. From looking over and judging (specifically) the ‘Sight and Sound Greatest Films of all Time’ list from 2012, it’s apparent almost immediately the lack of representation within the list, furthering the view that stories and films told by and for people that, throughout history, have continually had their voices silenced is still as prevalent today as it has ever been.

Exquisite Corpse

Created by Jacob, Shiloh & Mary

Manifesto – “I Believe…”

Cut-Up Manifestos

Marizelle Steyn

Positioning Statements

1. The world has become emotionless and unaffected by what we see. We have become a desensitized population. To sensitise is to expose and to expose is to desensitize. 
2. Everything has become an imitation, there is no longer originality. There is nothing we haven’t already seen or heard in one form or another. Original narratives can make just as much profit and gain just as good of an applause as remakes and adaptations. 
3. Representations aren’t as diverse as they are presented to be. Media is stuck in it’s portrayals of stereotypes and stigmas. More voices need to be given platforms and other cultures need to be telling their sides.

Summary

I really enjoyed and appreciated this manifesto assignment, especially with the poetic, preformative and dramatic stance that our group took with our ideas. I loved the layering and depth of our subject, with subjectivity being so heavily involved in the art and cinema world, and how we brought that into our video. Not only was each character expressing their own or sometimes conflicted opinions over a subject, but how the sound, visuals and editing all worked  together in bringing our own individual tastes together to create a collage inspired aesthetic. 

I really value understanding in my daily life, with so many perspectives and approaches to our world perception. I loved how the topic of different attitudes being used in the appreciation of cinema and art, had built into my understanding of audiences, the canon and how each chose to celebrate both art and film.

Jacob Agius

POSITIONING STATEMENTS

1. If something feels true to you or it lingers within, then let it be so and take from it what you will.
2. If we consider the films we love as works of art then they should be treated as such.
   You may make lists,
   You may argue,
   SHOUT,
   And disagree,
   Laugh,
   Cry,
   And scream,
   At the beauty of it all!
   For cinema glimpses into the soul!!!!!
   And because of these truths you must not rank them, one cannot objectively be better than another,
   One can only be more subjectively appealing to one another.
3. THE NEW CINEPHILES OF OUR GENERATION DO NOT NEED TO ADHERE TO THESE CANONICAL LISTS. WE HAVE CREATED A NEW WAY TO CONSUME CINEMA ONE THAT WAS NOT SOLELY BY OUR DOING BUT ONE THAT WE HAVE STRIVED TO ADAPT AND USE TO OUR ADVANTAGE! IF THE OLD CANONS, CRITICS AND FILMMAKERS CANNOT ADAPT TO THIS NEW WAY TOWARDS A BRAND NEW CINEMA WHICH SHINES BRIGHT IN THE DARKEST OF NIGHTS, WHICH STRIVES TO TELL STORIES FROM A PLACE THAT IS TRUE, TO BE RID OF FILMS TOUTING FAKE AND INSIDIOUS STANDARDS AND IDEALS, OR THEY SHALL FACE THE BRUNT OF US NEW CINEPHILES WHO WILL SURELY AND PRECISELY PICK THEM APART FOR ALL TO SEE, LIKE REMNANTS OF A VULTURES FEAST. IF THE OLD CANONS, CRITICS AND FILMMAKERS CANNOT ADAPT THEY SHALL WILT AND DIE AND IN THEIR FINAL THROES WE SHALL TURN OUR BACKS ON THEIR CALLS AND I AM MORE THAN HAPPY TO STAND BY AND LISTEN!

SUMMARY

I feel like I’ve learnt so much about film, the cinema canon and manifesto’s from this assignment and studio! A lot of the work I’ve done in this studio has been heavily influenced by the idea that subjective opinions should be valued overall when approaching films, the cinema canon and manifesto’s. I’ve also been very interested in the idea of a manifesto being an exercise in conceptual and performance art, so for my manifesto work I tried to play with that through my writing, my manifesto format and my group project. My group and I have managed to bring these two major influences together in our manifesto by utilising collage techniques to compile subjective statements and images to create a whole new work that celebrates subjectivity.

Shiloh Cavallin

POSITIONING STATEMENTS

ONE

Art is not limited.

Art is a representation of – rot, pain, effort, disturbia, death, life, deranged emotion

It lies behind what we see.

Its our perception of – beauty

Our perception of – feeling

Perception of – experience

Of Life

TWO

DO NOT follow the canon.

DO NOT follow its interests.

DO NOT follow its guidelines.

DO NOT follow its criteria.

YOU say what is a canon.

YOU say what is an interest.

YOU say what is a guideline.

YOU say what is a criteria.

The canon doesn’t exist for you,

as you don’t exist for it.

It exists for historical purpose,

as you exist for yours.

It exists for values,

as you exist for yours.

It exists for beauty,

as you exist for yours.

THREE

I will not be told what is great.

But I will accept.

I accept it upholds a reason.

I accept it upholds a purpose.

I accept it upholds a perspective.

I accept it upholds a history.

But I will not accept.

I will not accept its limitations.

I will not accept its criteria.

I will not accept its judgemental’s.

I will not accept its prevailing outcome.

I will be told its reasoning for being great.

SUMMARY

‘I Believe’, is a manifesto that contests the canon for what it is, by providing an insight to a number of different individuals ideologies and belief systems, whilst taking an experimental approach. Providing an insight into a number of different audience members, the collaboration of our contesting manifestos and an archive of footage provides a further emphasis that art is creation of our own. The creation of our short film, was one that was challenging yet allowed us to learn a new way to express ourselves in a different form.

Exquisite Corpse Challenge from rmitmedia on Vimeo.

OUR DEMANDS

Positioning Statements

GRACE  

MANIFESTO 1

‘Stop Pitching Horrors’

Stop pitching horrors. Pitch stories about intergenerational trauma that explores grief  and tragedy. Stop pitching horrors. Pitch stories about  morals and the dangers of a Prometheus figure. Stop pitching horrors. Pitch stories about the motherland rotting from the inside out.Stop pitching horrors. Pitch stories about creation and consumption. Stop pitching horrors. Pitch stories about fate and hubris. Stop pitching horrors. Pitch stories about paranoia and conformists. But seriously stop pitching horrors.

MANIFESTO II

‘Manliest Man Movie Quotes’

‘I gagged on a silver spoon unlike my female counterparts of my time who remain uncredited’

‘I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse or ill offer it to a woman and pay her less’

‘Bond. James Bond and a bunch of one-dimensional female characters’

‘Houston, we have a problem, women of colour are still very much underrepresented on and off screen’

‘Here’s Johnny, and still in 2020 the need to have the best actor and actress award  while best director and cinematographer are gender free’

MANIFESTO III

‘Subverting Expectations’

Stop having expectations  for particularly genre films or films you think are genre films,  you’re ruining them for me and everyone else! There’s a reason people think their is no good horrors  anymore or when films are labelled as horrors and their isn’t a false jump scare or loud sound effect to guide you when something is scary. Theirs many things you can view if you want to mindlessly view something or have  background noise. I’m sick of reading reviews and seeing things like ‘don’t waste your time. The first 30 minutes of this movie really gets your hopes up that it is going to be something of a thriller’ and yes that is a real review. I’m not saying everyone should enjoy every single movie they watch but these comments reek to me of oh this isn’t what I expected! or it didn’t use every genre trop that I’m used to watching of this genre. Which is concerning to me, a movie should subvert what your brain is  predicting will happen, especially in an era like this when films are so readily available as well as that modern audiences have watched a  much wider variety of films in comparison to generations before. It also sends the message to Hollywood that they should keep feeding us more spin offs and sequels so we can comfortably know what to expect, Boring! Some honourable mentions that definitely subverted my expectations and I now regret not adding them on to my list are  ‘A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night’  a great Iranian American  vampire film and ‘Mother!’ a biblical poem fever dream. Audiences should expect more! But also expect less of your favourite genre tropes and the way you feel the movie should be.

SUMMARY:

Our Manifesto is a summary of demands that speak to filmmakers and creatives alike but also to  the industry more broadly to address the canon’s shortcomings by making films which deserve to be in it by being universal in their appeal. We thought the best way to address this would be in video essay form, For my particular part I took on the  representation of women of colour in cinema.  I thought the best way to highlight that in a tongue-in-cheek way would be to show all of Hitchcocks female stars and their likeness, and use Foxy Brown following other notable of women of colour to show the disparity in the canons. This process of finding clips was really enjoyable and had me desperately trying to find women of colour on the canon which really cemented my demand.

SAUD 

– Organizing canon films around great men who produce masterpieces exclude the marginalized groups like the women, non-western, and non-white directors. They fail to consider works from other people that make more significant contributions to the film industry. The canon films upraise some selected films at the expense of others, thus limiting diversity and growth. Therefore, canons should be overthrown and pave the way for the comprehensive films that uphold the work of marginalized groups.

Exquisite Corpse Task

https://vimeo.com/mediafactoryrmit/review/469968293/a6ff3d246f

Link to canon2.0

https://s3839845.wixsite.com/thecanon2

Vivian

Positioning Statements

The old guard is dead. The critical darlings of the past have ascended to canonical heaven to live out in eternity. Their time in the sun is finished. We are done with celebrating films from the past millennium. Anything before 2000 is no longer canon in the new millennium.

A new canon is born. The Millennium Cannon. A canon that is representative of society’s technological advancements. For film has upgraded. YouTube. Virtual Reality. TikTok. Vine. Video Games. Whatever new technology that unfolds over this millennium. It is all film if it stirs emotion. It can all be canonised if decreed.

The Millennium Canon calls for modern values. This is a new millennium that favours representation and inclusivity. This is not past canon. A past canon that canonised particular voices over others. The Millennium Canon cannot fall into the traps of old. This canon calls for all voices to the table. To bring unique film to the table. The Millennium Canon embraces you for canonisation. The old canon’s gatekeeping is done. The sins of the father have perished with it.

Summary

The manifesto we created as a group took the form of a website. It was a process of designing the theme, creating video content and a bit of coding to generate canons and create the final vision for our manifesto in web form. Overall, our mission was to break down pre-existing canons and reorder, recategorize and redefine them into something entirely new. This was an extremely enjoyable project to work on during the semester because it involved a lot of discussion and creating to bring our vision to life. The work involved in figuring out how to have variety and representation through a redefinition of film was challenging but always fun to debate and talk about. I’m looking forward to people exploring our work and interacting with it.

Erin

Reflection
In creating our manifesto, we discussed the issues with the canon, and how to address them. We all agreed that the canon was outdated and out of touch, with classic films of the 1930s to the 1970s overshadowing recent films in most canonical polls. We also thought that the canon should be shaped by the audience, not the critics, so we came up with the idea of canon 2.0 – A film poll that is voted for by the audience. I focused mainly on the issues with the canon, and made a short video that highlighted the three main aspects of the canon that we wished to address; the underrepresentation of recent films, the lack of diversity in film forms and the strong influence of critics and award shows. We chose to create a website to present our ideas in both written and visual formats. The process of creating canon 2.0 made me reflect on the films that I chose as my five favourite films for assignment 1. I realised that they were all feature length, well known American films, and it made me wonder whether the canon had influenced these choices.

Positioning Statements:

Films listed in polls should not be individually ranked, but rather a part of a collection of celebrated films.

Once a film has been listed in canonical polls several times, they should move to a another category, to make way for new films to be recognised.

Canonical lists should have different categories for different forms of film, to ensure that short films, documentaries and other forms are represented.

Emily

Positioning Statements

1. “Length of brewing” for a film before considering it as part of a canonical list is important, but also should not be limiting works of art from deserving recognition. Therefore, there should seperate lists for films released within the decade, and films released before. 
2. Historical relevance is of major importance when analysing and ranking past films, so for modern times, considering the progressiveness of the 21st century, the involvement of a team from varying cultures, ethnicities, and genders should be a major contributing factor in considering whether a film is worthy of being on  canonical list. 
3. Each piece of art is made with a specific purpose, for example to bring light to important issues, to explore history, to entertain, or to just express one’s creative mind. Therefore, they should be ranked together with those of similar purposes, rather than putting all different types of a particular art form into the same category and ranking them together.

Reflection

I felt this project was one of the most rewarding, impactful, and enjoyable to work on and produce. Personally, I felt the process of trying to determine the overall ideas and image for our manifesto to be quite insightful as each member had something to contribute that opened my mind and even challenged my original thoughts and perspectives on the canon. I actually enjoyed creating the website, and developing a manifesto that was so driven and well established. We went through multiple stages before creating our final product, including discussions, producing documents detailing our ideas, sending out a survey, and creating drafts and mockup designs of our website. We were very thorough, and wanted to ensure that we all had a clear vision for our manifesto, and I hope that comes across in our final product.

A Manifesto For the Individual 

A manifesto championing the preferences of the individual, not out of opposition, but out of heart. It is time that individuals rejoice solely in the beauty of their own cinematic experience. 

Exquisite Corpse Exercise 

An exquisite corpse threading together our manifesto positioning statements on the high/low art dichotomy, ‘guilty pleasures’ and the canon’s waiting game.

Group 5 – Exquisite Corpse from Media Factory on Vimeo.

Jasmine

Positioning Statements:

1. In 2020, we must champion the narratives, films and creations of marginalised people – with even more vigour than that which has been afforded to straight white men for the course of cinema history.
2. It is time to get rid of the canon’s waiting game. No more reluctance around declaring the greatness of new films. Shout that they are masterpieces the second they end if you truly believe so.
3. We must never be shamed into the ‘guilty pleasure’ again. Enjoy things for the sake of it. Enjoy things because they speak to your heart, soul, brain and everything in between.

Summary:

Our final manifesto takes a video format to champion the preferences of the individual, as opposed to collective cinema notions. We approached this through reciting our manifesto’s in character from various ‘guilty pleasure’ or ‘low art’ films. I largely spoke to our overall manifesto essence (in a questionable attempt at a Carrie Bradshaw get-up). Creating this manifesto was a highly engaging and unique experience, that allowed me to dive deep into our chosen issue with the canon. Not only that, but it was certainly a fun time.

Maddy

POsitioning STatments:

1. Canonical lists are simply a cover up for the cis, white male lens – there is no excuse in the 21st century for it to remain so close minded and exclusive in its enrolment form for films.
2. The idea of ‘guilty pleasures’ are in their basic form a gate keeping ideal that should be excluded from our cinephile vernacular – why be shamed for what you love?!
3. Ye old film does not need to held over our heads as we claim recent films to be wonderful. Just because a film was revolutionary or the first of its kind does not make it the best, and that must be recognised when compiling lists of the greats.

summary:

We approached this manifesto in the format of a video essay, where we tackled the distinction between high and low art. In dividing up our segments, I decided to do the ‘guilty pleasures’ section of our piece, which resulted in me dressing as John Mcclaine from Die Hard and Divine from Pink Flamingos – wildly different films that still come under the umbrella of guilty pleasures. This project was tremendously fun and extremely interesting, as the topic itself is something I’m interested in and would love to explore more. On top of that, I got to dress up as a drag queen for a uni project which is always a good time. 

Henry

Positioning Statments:

1. As an individual you are completely unique, so are your sensibilities, morals, and tastes. This means that not every piece of work that is produced will connect with you as an individual, so to allow a canon that can be recognised as defining a ‘greatest film of all time’ is simply unjust to the importance of the work and the individual it relates to. A canon is only significant to the individual who produces it, for a number of cultural and personal factors. In thinking this, it must mean that a canon should be a personal project that effectively works to spark a dialogue within the art form as way of perpetuating significant spread of personal and cultural beliefs that effect the landscape of film.
2. As a canon is produced there can not be a set criteria that dictates what an individual must choose as a film that belongs within it. The removal of this criteria allows for all forms of film to become legitimate and significant works of art that are not easily recognised by the broad public. These criteria act to disparage the understanding of what film is and what it can be, inevitably reducing the amount of great works that could not effectively be translated in to the current understanding of film.
3. The idea of a ‘high art’ is a classist ideal that only acts to gate keep both the film industry and critical one, such respects are antagonistic to the formation of a canon as its criteria surrounding it effectively diminish film as a whole. This is due to placing certain elements surrounding film above another allowing for a stale and fruitless art form that slowly rots away from the inside. A film should be judged upon its own merits and not by the nature of its production or targeted audience.

Summary:

In approaching the creation of our manifesto we broke down the major points the individual may face when expressing their opinion on film. I worked upon the discussion of High and Low art and how people utilise these titles to put down other works of art and to elevate films they specifically enjoy. In the video essay I use two films, The Shining and The Evil Dead as both could be considered examples of “High and Low Art” but are very similar in different ways, such as both being works of horror. I hope this project for others is a thought provoking work but also an enjoyable viewing experience.

EXQUISITE CORPSE >>> EXQUISITE CORPSE >>> EXQUISITE CORPSE.

______________________________________________________    SARA

1. “AUDIENCES WILL NO LONGER STAND FOR A LACK OF DIVERSITY! IN ITS LISTS AND ITS POLLS, IN ITS CASTING AND ITS TOKENISM. IN ITS POWERFUL STUDIOS AND BIG BUDGET PRODUCTIONS. ITS AWARD CEREMONIES AND STAR POWER ORIENTATION, ITS BLINDING LACK OF VIRTUE. IS CINEMA A DYING ART, OR IS IT MERELY FOLLOWING A DYING MODEL?“

2. ______________________”THE BIRTH OF CINEMA AND ITS NARRATIVE IS A LIE. ITS TRUTH MUST BE SHARED, ITS HISTORY REWRITTEN, BUT LET ITS FIRST “TRUTH” REMAIN IN ORDER TO REFLECT ON THE PAST. WE MUST BAND TOGETHER TO FORM ITS NEW NARRATIVE! ONE THAT NO LONGER OMITS THE CRAFT OF THE OPPRESSED, AND CHALLENGES THE VERY FOUNDATION UPON WHICH THE INSTITUTION OF CINEMA HAS BEEN BUILT ON, BEFORE IT REACHES ITS OWN SELF-MADE DEMISE.”

3. ________________________________________________”WHERE ARE THE RADICALS, THE REVOLUTIONARIES, THE EXPERIMENTAL THINKERS AND AVANT-GARDE CREATORS? WHERE ARE THOSE WHO ARE NOT HYPNOTISED AND CONSUMED BY THE STRUCTURES OF POWER, status, WEALTH AND class OF WHICH DOMINATE CINEMA? THIS IS A CALL TO THOSE WHO WISH TO SEE CINEMA’S FIRST NARRATIVE KNOCKED OFF ITS PEDESTAL! WHERE WILL YOU BE WHEN IT COMES TIME TO DENOUNCE THE CANON IN ITS CURRENT STATE?”

A manifesto which represents an eclipse of today’s cinema and its dichotomy, for a new moon of cinephilia and its culture has arrived. Presented in the form of a written manifesto, with an audio-visual essay to accompany it, both calling for truth to be spoken to the canon and a reformation of its ways. 

A manifesto produced after many hours spent diving deep into the archives of the canon, seeking to unveil the canon’s truth away from the cult of the auteur. The process involved experimental distortion and the “menial” task of cutting and weaving together found-footage from films of the Sight & Sound poll; a singular edit featuring a multitude of hidden truths. A multi-layered aural collage consisting of scores from the canon, spoken word, dialogue, and local sounds of Melbourne’s electronic avant-garde, mixed by me, soundtrack the visual piece. 

A manifesto that celebrates the art of appropriation and multidisciplinary means of creation, away from the confines of tradition and employing all that has been learned of the imperial, archival silencing of the Western canon.

REFORMATION OF THE CANON >>> REFORMATION OF THE CANON >>>

MANIFESTO >>

Kaushal’s positioning statements

The truth must be told to future audiences as to what was beloved and what was not, the hiding of this fact does not seem to serve anyone. The words of a few influential people stating what is or isn’t cinema , whilst disregarding present day popularity, will be problematic for the future.

The passing of the label of greatness amongst film should not be reserved to the elite few. The love of films across a large population, across many nations and continents is a more accurate depiction of what is regarded as canon with its broadness.

A film’s popularity should not be gained solely from the opinions of critics, scholars or directors, the taste of a film is the hands of the average viewer and should not be dictated upon. An art form as subjective as cinema should not be suppressed to a few films as being great, diversity exists within our populations, as such should be reflected on the validation of the film range.

Canon Headquarters Mockumentary video:

Canon Headquarters Mockumentary from Media Factory on Vimeo.

I created a mockumentary that goes inside the inner workings of the fictional Canon Headquarters. Where a cast of characters are comedically shown as being corrupt and the stance of reforming the canon is seen as ideal and other stances are exaggerated to appear to have a negative light. I was inspired by Youtubers who act as multiple characters and Chris Lilley’s style of comedy (but less offensive). I directed, acted and edited by myself during lockdown. I usually opt for horror style pieces so comedy was a challenge. I hope to explore the canon and comedically depict the industry side of film as a negative place that is not for the people. Thus the canon should be reformed to suit the needs of the majority and not on the opinions of industry professionals.

Video Essay: There Is No Such Thing As Notability