This weeks class was about abstraction and experimental films. We covered two mean categories of abstraction: Formal abstraction and Conceptual abstraction. The former was more focused on form, space, light and texture, alongside the dynamics of movement, time, rhythm and sound of the film and less on the narrative side of it. Following this, we saw a few examples of Formal abstraction. Conceptual has a narrative but it doesn’t follow the film language and challenges perception. It exploits semiotics metaphor and symbolism. We also saw a few examples of Conceptual.
In this week’s blog entry, we had to choose a short film which we would consider to fit the definition of experimental.
I chose CIRCUIT by Delia Hess made in 2018.
This film is a conceptual abstraction that talks about a small planet where people are caught up in their own little private universe. The inhabitants perform their poetically surreal actions, which looped endlessly. They are unaware that they are all a part of a complex little ecosystem which can only function if each of them plays their role. The story tells about the complexity of dependences in our world. It’s a traditional hand-drawn animation. The film is entirely on paper and coloured with watercolour. It is a thought-provoking, existential piece, but the colours, tone and movement are what make it a real treat to watch. The soundtrack picks up the pace with this sense of time passing, the clever use of circles and objects rotating and turning helps to get this notion across to the audience.
Delia Hess(2018), CIRCUIT. Vimeo [Online Video]. Available from https://vimeo.com/245739367?login=true [1st November 2022].