Pure cinema
Encyclopedia
Pure Cinema is the film
theory and practice whereby movie makers create a more emotionally intense experience using autonomous film techniques, as opposed to using stories, characters
, or actor
s.
Unlike nearly all other fare offered via celluloid
, pure cinema rejects the link and the character traits of artistic predecessors such as literature
or theatre
. It declares cinema to be its own independent art
form that should not borrow from any other. As such, "pure cinema" is made up of nonstory, noncharacter films that convey abstract emotional experiences through unique cinematic devices such as montage (the Kuleshov Effect
), camera movement and camera angles, sound-visual relationships, super-impositions and other optical effects, and visual composition.
For the French avant-garde
film movement of the 1920s and 30s, see Cinema pur
.
, Maya Deren
, Ron Fricke
, Arthur Lipsett
, Leni Riefenstahl
, Jordan Belson
, George Lucas
, Stan Brakhage
, Geoffrey Jones
, Bruce Conner
, and movie title designers Saul Bass
and Kyle Cooper
.
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
theory and practice whereby movie makers create a more emotionally intense experience using autonomous film techniques, as opposed to using stories, characters
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
, or actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
s.
Unlike nearly all other fare offered via celluloid
Celluloid
Celluloid is the name of a class of compounds created from nitrocellulose and camphor, plus dyes and other agents. Generally regarded to be the first thermoplastic, it was first created as Parkesine in 1862 and as Xylonite in 1869, before being registered as Celluloid in 1870. Celluloid is...
, pure cinema rejects the link and the character traits of artistic predecessors such as literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
or theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
. It declares cinema to be its own independent art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
form that should not borrow from any other. As such, "pure cinema" is made up of nonstory, noncharacter films that convey abstract emotional experiences through unique cinematic devices such as montage (the Kuleshov Effect
Kuleshov Effect
The Kuleshov Effect is a film editing effect demonstrated by Russian filmmaker Lev Kuleshov in the 1910s and 1920s.-Specifics of the Kuleshov effect:...
), camera movement and camera angles, sound-visual relationships, super-impositions and other optical effects, and visual composition.
For the French avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
film movement of the 1920s and 30s, see Cinema pur
Cinema pur
Cinéma Pur was an avant-garde film movement birthed in Paris in the 1920s and 30s. The term was first coined by Henri Chomette to define a cinema that focused on the pure elements of film like form, light, motion, visual composition, and rhythm, something he accomplished in his shorts Reflets de...
.
Modern Pure Cinema Filmmakers and Writings
In 2010, the American abstract 16mm filmmaker Douglas Graves unveiled his website http://www.purecinema-celluloid.webs.com/ which contains his Pure Cinema lecture and other film writings, along with articles on abstract and cinematic filmmakers such as Slavko Vorkapich, Dziga VertovDziga Vertov
David Abelevich Kaufman , better known by his pseudonym Dziga Vertov , was a Soviet pioneer documentary film, newsreel director and cinema theorist...
, Maya Deren
Maya Deren
Maya Deren , born Eleanora Derenkowsky, was an American avant-garde filmmaker and film theorist of the 1940s and 1950s...
, Ron Fricke
Ron Fricke
Ron Fricke is an American film director and cinematographer, considered to be a master of time-lapse photography and large format cinematography. He was the director of photography for Koyaanisqatsi and directed the purely cinematic non-verbal non-narrative feature Baraka . He designed and used...
, Arthur Lipsett
Arthur Lipsett
Arthur Lipsett was a Canadian avant-garde director of short experimental films.In the 1960s he was employed as an animator by the National Film Board of Canada . Lipsett's particular passion was sound. He collected pieces of sound from a variety of sources and fit them together to create an...
, Leni Riefenstahl
Leni Riefenstahl
Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl was a German film director, actress and dancer widely noted for her aesthetics and innovations as a filmmaker. Her most famous film was Triumph des Willens , a propaganda film made at the 1934 Nuremberg congress of the Nazi Party...
, Jordan Belson
Jordan Belson
Jordan Belson was an American artist and filmmaker who created nonobjective, often spiritually oriented, abstract films spanning six decades.-Biography:Belson was born in Chicago, Illinois....
, George Lucas
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
, Stan Brakhage
Stan Brakhage
James Stanley Brakhage , better known as Stan Brakhage, was an American non-narrative filmmaker who is considered to be one of the most important figures in 20th century experimental film....
, Geoffrey Jones
Geoffrey Jones
Geoffrey Jones was a British documentary film director and editor, noted for his contributions to the genre of the industrial film, and in particular British Transport Films.-British Transport Films:...
, Bruce Conner
Bruce Conner
Bruce Conner was an American artist renowned for his work in assemblage, film, drawing, sculpture, painting, collage, and photography, among other disciplines.-Early life:...
, and movie title designers Saul Bass
Saul Bass
Saul Bass was a Jewish-American graphic designer and filmmaker, best known for his design of motion picture title sequences....
and Kyle Cooper
Kyle Cooper
Kyle Cooper is a modern designer of motion picture title sequences.Cooper studied graphic design under Paul Rand at Yale University. Early in his professional career, Cooper worked as a creative director at R/GA - an advertising agency with offices in New York and Los Angeles...
.
Examples
- Dziga VertovDziga VertovDavid Abelevich Kaufman , better known by his pseudonym Dziga Vertov , was a Soviet pioneer documentary film, newsreel director and cinema theorist...
's The Man with the Movie Camera - Ron FrickeRon FrickeRon Fricke is an American film director and cinematographer, considered to be a master of time-lapse photography and large format cinematography. He was the director of photography for Koyaanisqatsi and directed the purely cinematic non-verbal non-narrative feature Baraka . He designed and used...
's BarakaBaraka (film)Baraka is a 1992 non-narrative film directed by Ron Fricke. The title Baraka is a word that means blessing in a multitude of languages.... - Arthur LipsettArthur LipsettArthur Lipsett was a Canadian avant-garde director of short experimental films.In the 1960s he was employed as an animator by the National Film Board of Canada . Lipsett's particular passion was sound. He collected pieces of sound from a variety of sources and fit them together to create an...
's short 21-8721-8721-87 is a 1963 Canadian abstract film created by Arthur Lipsett that lasts 9 minutes and 33 seconds.The short film, produced by the National Film Board of Canada, is a collage of snippets from discarded footage found by Lipsett in the editing room of the National Film Board , combined with his own... - Will HindleWill HindleWill "William Mayo" Hindle was an American 16 mm filmmaker of personal non-narrative visual films.From 1958 to 1976, he made ten 16 mm films. He employed complex rear-projection rephotography, slow motion, and subtle tinting techniques in his work...
's Chinese Firedrill, Watersmith, FFFTCM, Billabong - Jean-Claude LabrecqueJean-Claude LabrecqueJean-Claude Labrecque, is a director and cinematographer who learned the basics of filmmaking at the Quebec Film Office and the National Film Board of Canada.-Career:...
's cinema veriteCinéma véritéCinéma vérité is a style of documentary filmmaking, combining naturalistic techniques with stylized cinematic devices of editing and camerawork, staged set-ups, and the use of the camera to provoke subjects. It is also known for taking a provocative stance toward its topics.There are subtle yet...
60 Cycles - Scott BartlettScott BartlettScott Bartlett was one of the premiere abstract experimental filmmakers of the late 1960s and the 1970s. His acclaimed work, such as his intense abstract 16mm movie Moon 1969, is greatly admired by many filmmakers, including Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas...
's Moon 1969, Medina, Serpent, Lovemaking, Heavy Metal - Bruce ConnerBruce ConnerBruce Conner was an American artist renowned for his work in assemblage, film, drawing, sculpture, painting, collage, and photography, among other disciplines.-Early life:...
's A MOVIEA MovieA Movie is a 1958 experimental film in which Bruce Conner put together snippets of found footage, taken from B-movies, newsreels, soft-core pornography, novelty short films, and other sources, to a musical score featuring Respighi's The Pines of Rome.... - Norman McLarenNorman McLarenNorman McLaren, CC, CQ was a Scottish-born Canadian animator and film director known for his work for the National Film Board of Canada...
's Pas de DeuxPas de Deux (film)Pas de deux is a 1968 short dance film by Norman McLaren, produced by the National Film Board of Canada.The film was photographed on high contrast stock, with optical, step-and-repeat printing, for a sensuous and almost stroboscopic appearance... - Stan BrakhageStan BrakhageJames Stanley Brakhage , better known as Stan Brakhage, was an American non-narrative filmmaker who is considered to be one of the most important figures in 20th century experimental film....
's Murder Psalm, Co-mingled Containers, and most of his other work - George LucasGeorge LucasGeorge Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
's 6-18-676-18-676-18-67 is a short quasi-documentary film by George Lucas regarding the making of the 1969 Columbia film, Mackenna's Gold. This nonstory noncharacter visual tone poem is made up of nature imagery, time-lapse photography, and the subtle sounds of the Arizona desert. Shooting was completed on June...
, Look At LifeLook at LifeLook At Life is a short student film by George Lucas, produced for a course in animation while Lucas was a film student at USC Film School. The film's running time of exactly one minute was required by the course...
, 1:42:081:42:081:42.08 is George Lucas's senior project at the University of Southern California in 1966. It was named for the lap time of the Lotus 23 race car that was the subject of the film...
, and Herbie - Jordan BelsonJordan BelsonJordan Belson was an American artist and filmmaker who created nonobjective, often spiritually oriented, abstract films spanning six decades.-Biography:Belson was born in Chicago, Illinois....
's Allures, Phenomena, and Fountain of Dreams - Maya DerenMaya DerenMaya Deren , born Eleanora Derenkowsky, was an American avant-garde filmmaker and film theorist of the 1940s and 1950s...
's At LandAt LandAt Land is a 15-minute silent experimental film written, directed by, and starring Maya Deren. It has a dream-like narrative in which a woman, played by Deren, is washed up on a beach and goes on a strange journey encountering other people and other versions of herself...
, Ritual In Transfigured Time, The Very Eye Of Night - Germaine DulacGermaine DulacGermaine Dulac was a French filmmaker, film theorist, journalist and critic. She was born in Amiens and moved to Paris in early childhood. A few years after her marriage she embarked on a journalistic career in a feminist magazine, and later became interested in film...
's Thème et variationsThème et variationsThème et variations is a composition by Olivier Messiaen for solo violin and piano, and lasts around ten minutes. It is considered as equally characteristic as his Quatuor pour la fin du temps and is as immediately accessible as that work...
, Disque 957, Cinegraphic Study of an Arabesque - Godfrey ReggioGodfrey ReggioGodfrey Reggio is an American director of experimental documentary films.-Life:Born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. Reggio co-founded La Clinica de la Gente, a facility that provided medical care to 12,000 community members in Santa Fe, and La Gente, a community-organizing project in...
's Qatsi TrilogyQatsi trilogyThe Qatsi trilogy is the informal name given to a series of three films produced by Godfrey Reggio and scored by Philip Glass:* Koyaanisqatsi: Life out of balance * Powaqqatsi: Life in transformation * Naqoyqatsi: Life as war... - Geoffrey JonesGeoffrey JonesGeoffrey Jones was a British documentary film director and editor, noted for his contributions to the genre of the industrial film, and in particular British Transport Films.-British Transport Films:...
' Locomotion, RailRail (1967 short film)Rail is a short 13.5 minute documentary film made by Geoffrey Jones for British Transport Films between 1963 and 1967, prompted by the success of Snow...
, SnowSnow (1963 short film)Snow is a short documentary film made by Geoffrey Jones for British Transport Films in 1962-1963. The 8-minute long film shows the efforts of British Railways staff in coping with the 1963 United Kingdom cold wave.... - Leni RiefenstahlLeni RiefenstahlHelene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl was a German film director, actress and dancer widely noted for her aesthetics and innovations as a filmmaker. Her most famous film was Triumph des Willens , a propaganda film made at the 1934 Nuremberg congress of the Nazi Party...
's OlympiaOlympia (1938 film)Olympia is a 1938 Nazi propaganda film by Leni Riefenstahl documenting the 1936 Summer Olympics, held in the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany. The film was released in two parts: Olympia 1. Teil — Fest der Völker and Olympia 2. Teil — Fest der Schönheit . It was the first documentary feature...
and Triumph of the WillTriumph of the WillTriumph of the Will is a propaganda film made by Leni Riefenstahl. It chronicles the 1934 Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg, which was attended by more than 700,000 Nazi supporters. The film contains excerpts from speeches given by various Nazi leaders at the Congress, including portions of... - Ed EmshwillerEd EmshwillerEd Emshwiller was a visual artist notable for illustrations of many science fiction magazine covers and for his pioneering experimental films...
's ThanatopsisThanatopsis"Thanatopsis" is a poem by the American poet William Cullen Bryant.-Overview:The title is from the Greek thanatos and -opsis ; it has often been translated as "Meditation upon Death"...
, Relativity, Image, Flesh, and Voice, and Life Lines - Jean MitryJean MitryJean Mitry was a French film theorist, critic and filmmaker, co-founder of France's first film society and later of the Cinémathèque Française in 1938....
's Pacific 231Pacific 231Pacific 231 is an orchestral work by Arthur Honegger, written in 1923. It is one of his most frequently performed works today.The popular interpretation of the piece is that it depicts a steam locomotive, an interpretation that is supported by the title of the piece. Honegger, however, insisted... - Andrew Noren's The Adventures of the Exquisite Corpse
- Ralph SteinerRalph SteinerRalph Steiner was an American photographer, pioneer documentarian and a key figure among avant-garde filmmakers in the 1930s.-Biography:...
's H2OH2O (1929 film)H2O is a short silent film by photographer Ralph Steiner. It is a cinematic tone poem showing water in its many forms.In 2005, H2O was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically...
and Mechanical Principles - Phil SolomonPhil SolomonPhil Solomon is an American experimental filmmaker noted for his work with both film and video. Recently, Solomon has earned acclaim for a series of films that incorporate machinima made using games from the Grand Theft Auto series...
's Remains To Be Seen - Jim Davis' Light Reflections, Figure and Shadows, and most of his other work
- John WhitneyJohn Whitney (animator)John Whitney, Sr. was an American animator, composer and inventor, widely considered to be one of the fathers of computer animation.-Life:...
's Arabesque and Catalog - José Antonio Sistiaga's ... era erera baleibu izik subua aruaren ...José Antonio SistiagaJosé Antonio Sistiaga isa Basque artist and experimental filmmaker best knownfor his feature-length hand-painted "direct" film, ... era erera baleibu izik subua aruaren ... .- Early films :...
- Bruce BaillieBruce BaillieBruce Baillie is an American experimental filmmaker and founding member of Canyon Cinema in San Francisco...
's Mass for the Dakota Sioux, Castro StreetCastro Street (film)Castro Street is a visual nonstory documentary film which uses the sounds and sights of a city street -- in this case, Castro Street near the Standard Oil Refinery in Richmond, California -- to convey the street's own mood and feel. There is no dialogue in this non-narrative experimental film... - James WhitneyJames Whitney (filmmaker)For other people named James Whitney, see James Whitney James Whitney , younger brother of John, was a filmmaker regarded as one of the great masters of abstract cinema...
's Lapis and Yantra - Ian Hugo's Jazz of Lights
- Pat O'Neill's Water and Power, 7362, Saugus Series, Trouble In The Image, Sidewinder's Delta, Bump CityBump CityBump City is the second album by the soul/funk group Tower of Power. The album cover is derived from a sketch by David Garibaldi. It's also their first album for Warner Bros. Records...
- Slavko Vorkapich and John HoffmanJohn Hoffman (filmmaker)John Hoffman , was a masterful editor of montage sequences for several Hollywood studio features....
's Moods of the SeaMoods of the SeaMoods of the Sea is a non-narrative experimental film by Slavko Vorkapich and John Hoffman, set to the music of Felix Mendelssohn known as the Hebrides Overture....
and Forest Murmurs
See also
- Abstract filmAbstract filmAbstract film is a subgenre of experimental film. Its history often overlaps with the concerns and history of visual music. Some of the earliest abstract motion pictures known to survive are those produced by a group of German artists working in the early 1920s, a movement referred to as Absolute...
- Absolute FilmAbsolute filmAbsolute film is a film movement begun by a group of visionary painters in Germany in the 1920s: Hans Richter, Walter Ruttmann, Oskar Fischinger and the Swede Viking Eggeling....
- Visual musicVisual musicVisual music, sometimes called "colour music," refers to the use of musical structures in visual imagery, which can also include silent films or silent Lumia work. It also refers to methods or devices which can translate sounds or music into a related visual presentation...
- Experimental filmExperimental filmExperimental film or experimental cinema is a type of cinema. Experimental film is an artistic practice relieving both of visual arts and cinema. Its origins can be found in European avant-garde movements of the twenties. Experimental cinema has built its history through the texts of theoreticians...
- Cinematic techniquesCinematic techniques- Basic Definitions of Terms :Aerial Shot:A shot taken from a crane, plane, or helicopter. Not necessarily a moving shot.Backlighting:The main source of light is behind the subject, silhouetting it, and directed toward the camera....