Experimental Film Theory and Nature

Experimental film has often been called 'film art' which when you are filming an aesthetically pleasing piece it is easy to see why it is called so. Nature in experimental film has been something that is widely explored, as it is the one constant thing around us on the Earth and makes for an easy subject. However, the meaning behind experimental films that focus on nature can vary immensely, from metaphors to being very literal with their content.

Stan Brakhage is an experimental film maker that took influences right from the beginning of land art such as Robert Smithson. Some of his main work married the innocence of nature, which is something that our group and myself looked at intently. His work at the time was a contrast to the urban experimental films that often prevailed. Pushing the boundaries of film making is often conventional of an experimental film.

Therefore in our experimental film, we wanted to create association in the viewers mind between man and the effects of it on nature. Also we wanted to show the innocence of nature just like Barkhage did in his works that challenged the urban perceptions of experimental film at the time.

Focusing on the human impact of the Earths ecosystem, humans are now classed as an invasive species and it is our influence on the environment that is causing the decline of the ecosystem and extinction of vegetation and some animal species. This means that we are directly having an effect on the rest of the planet and in a bad way. Our experimental film is meant to show this, and how we should be showing the children the way to conservation now as they are innocent to the ways that we are ruining the world.

We are planning to show the connection to ozone depletion with the footage of a power station, which in connection with the nature footage we will be filming at Grindleford will forge a strong connection in peoples minds. In my own individual film, I was trying to show the effects of acidic weather on vegetation with the use of coloured and black paint instead of water to show visually how we are ruining our ecosystem. If I have time to refilm this I will, but with expenses I'm not sure realistically whether I will be able to get to a power station as the nearest ones are all 45 minutes away since they tore down the Tinsley cooling towers. 

References.

Goudie, Andrew (2006). The human impact on the natural environment: past, present, and future. Wiley-Blackwell.

O’Pray, Michael, (2003), Avant-Garde Film: Forms, Themes and Passions, London, Wallflower Press