Prior to this week’s cinema studies screening I had never watched an experimental film (to my knowledge), though I was aware of a few, such as Empire by Andy Warhol. I found the films to be very hit or miss. I was very fond of The Dante Quartet, but found Ballet Mecanique to be tedious and dull.

As it was my favourite of the screening, I will focus on The Dante Quartet. I found Stan Brakhage’s film to feature some incredibly beautifully painted frames. The colours and the apparent textures of the images were visually stunning.

It is a strong example of avant-garde cinema and it certainly challenges how film can be perceived. Instead of capturing moments from life or in another traditional sense, the film simply captures paint applied directly onto the film. I found unexpected enjoyment from this work.

Although the seemingly random images were shown in rapid succession, there did seem to be a structure to the film. The variation of colour and speed of the frames helped to differentiate aspects of the ‘narrative’, such as Hell and Purgatory. Though each individual frame is seen for too little time to individually form meaning, the blending of the frames helped to create themes throughout the film.

I suggest this film uses more of an abstract form, where it relies on the visual qualities to build a pattern and create the theme of the film, which was inspired by Dante’s The Divine Comedy.