Joel Schlemowitz - Experimental Filmmaking and the Motion Picture Camera: An Introductory Guide for Artists and Filmmakers

Experimental Filmmaking and the Motion Picture Camera is an introductory guide to experimental filmmaking, surveying the practical methods of experimental film production as well as the history, theory, and aesthetics of experimental approaches.

Author Joel Schlemowitz explains the basic mechanism of the camera before going on to discuss slow and fast motion filming, single-frame time lapse, the long take, camera movement, workings of the lens, and the use of in-camera effects such as double exposure. A comprehensive guide to using the 16mm Bolex camera is provided. Strategies for making films edited in-camera are covered. A range of equipment beyond the basic non-sync camera is surveyed. The movie diary and film portrait are examined, along with the work of a range of experimental filmmakers including Stan Brakhage, Rudy Burckhardt, Paul Clipson, Christopher Harris, Peter Hutton, Takahiko Iimura, Marie Losier, Rose Lowder, Jonas Mekas, Marie Menken, Margaret Rorison, Guy Sherwin, and Tomonari Nishikawa.

This is the ideal book for students interested in experimental and alternative modes of filmmaking. It provides invaluable insight into the history, methods, and concepts inherent to experimental uses of the camera, while providing students with a solid foundation of techniques and practices to foster their development as filmmakers.

Supplemental material, including links to films cited in the book, can be found at www.experimentalfilmmaking.com.

Joel Schlemowitz is an experimental filmmaker who works with 16mm film, shadowplay, magic lanterns, and stereographic media. He teaches experimental filmmaking at The New School, New York. His first feature film, 78rpm, is an experimental documentary about the gramophone, and his short works have been shown at numerous film festivals, including the New York Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, and Ann Arbor Film Festival. For more information visit www.joelschlemowitz.com.

First published 2019
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2019 Joel Schlemowitz

The right of Joel Schlemowitz to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Schlemowitz, Joel, author.

Title: Experimental filmmaking and the motion picture camera : an introductory guide for artists and filmmakers / Joel Schlemowitz.

Description: London ; New York : Routledge, 2019.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018056683 | ISBN 9781138586581 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781138586598 (paperback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780429504488 (e-book)

Subjects: LCSH: Experimental filmsProduction and direction. | Experimental filmsHistory and criticism.

Classification: LCC PN1995.9.E96 S325 2019 | DDC 791.43/611dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018056683

ISBN: 978-1-138-58658-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-58659-8 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-50448-8 (ebk)

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by Apex CoVantage, LLC

Visit www.experimentalfilmmaking.com

I would like to thank the following people who played some role in helping to make this book possible: Dawn Elliott for her support and patience during the writing of this book. MM Serra and The Film-Makers Cooperative for the scholarly residency where I viewed many films cited herein, and for the scanning of still images from films in the collection. Mike Olshan for his invaluable assistance in copyediting the draft manuscript. The peer review readers for providing useful feedback. The readers who looked at smaller portions of the manuscript: Keith Sanborn, Kathryn Ramey, and Jeff Kreines. Bradley Eros and Jed Rapfogel, among others, with whom I bounced ideas around in the early stages of writing this book. Joanna Ebenstein for her encouragement at the outset of this project. Pip Chodorov for providing access to early material from the Frameworks Listerv. The many filmmakers who provided work for me to view, including Guy Sherwin, Christopher Harris, and others. The editors and staff at Focal Press.

For the images in this book, I greatly appreciate the help from Michael Stewart at The New School, Zach Poff at Cooper Union, and Steve Cossman at Mono No Aware for allowing me to photograph cameras and other equipment, as well as the filmmakers who provided images, including Albert Alcoz, Zoe Beloff, Norwood Cheek, the Paul Clipson Family, Peter Cramer, Mary Engel, Paolo Gioli, Christopher Harris, the Harvard Librarys Film Conservation Center, Curt Heiner, Jim Hubbard, Martina Kudlek, Jeanne Liotta, Marie Losier, LUX, Tomonari Nishikawa, Julie Orlik, Jenny Perlin, Margaret Rorison, Lynne Sachs, Jeff Scher, Jrme Schlomoff, MM Serra, Guy Sherwin, Brendan and Jeremy Smyth, and Mike Stoltz, among others. Thanks too to Antonella Bonfanti and Seth Mitter at Canyon Cinema for help in tracking down images.

The purpose of this book is to provide a text for an introductory experimental filmmaking course. It is designed to fill a void with its emphasis on experimental approaches. Books on production techniques for introductory filmmaking courses are of a more generalist nature. Existing literature on experimental cinema tends to be non-technical, focusing on film history and theory. The exception to this deficit is Kathryn Rameys Experimental Filmmaking: Break the Machine, a superb and comprehensive book on experimental film technique. However, its coverage of cameraless filmmaking, hand-processing, optical printing, and expanded cinema is premised on the assumption that the fundamentals of film production (how to load a camera, an understanding of exposure, lenses, and basic shooting techniques) are covered elsewhere in the filmmaking curriculum. This book covers these fundamentals from the experimenters vantage, drawing upon my experience teaching an introductory experimental production course at The New School: The Innovative Camera: Experiments in 16mm Filmmaking.

The organization of material for this book is tailored to this framework. Chapters have been arranged to track the progress during a 12 to 15-week semester in which students first learn how the equipment works and shoot their own short projects.

• : The first chapter introduces the fundamental functions of the camera and the range of experimental capacities associated with the mechanism itself.