Cameraless Filmmaking: My Experience So far

So far, I am quite impressed by what we have done with cameraless filmmaking. I honestly never would have thought that half of what we have done so far could have ever been accomplished without the use of a camera. Like many narrative filmmakers, I had a hard time wrapping my mind around experimental cinema when I first encountered it. I never realized (or maybe I just refused to believe) that a viable, tangible film could be made out of such extreme methods. I also never knew the extent to what could be accomplished through simply altering a film without going anywhere near a camera.

Originally, I thought the extent of what could be done with a strip of film was limited to merely scratching or grating the film (something that definitely interested me as I love the aged look of worn out prints). Then, I became a bit amazed by the possibilities when we began to do things like draw and paint on the film, utilize the magazine transfer, punch holes in the film, and flash exposing certain parts of the film. It makes the mind wander with possibilities as to what one may attempt to try next.

One thing that I really like about cameraless filmmaking so far is the fact that it is open to any and all attempts and, therefore, open to any and all interpretations. It is hard to make a mistake doing this. Within many other art forms, especially that of narrative filmmaking, a mistake is just that. Nothing more, nothing less, and it must be redone. With cameraless filmmaking, there really is no mistake. Anything that may not have been anticipated and at first appears to be a mistake may lead into something better than one might have imagined. In fact, some apparent mistakes may actually lead the creator to end up with something far better than first planned. So far, some things did not end up how I had first planned them, but I was able to finagle them into something that I actually liked so much more.

Which brings me to the notion that no planning goes into experimental filmmaking and, more specifically, cameraless filmmaking. Nothing could be further from the truth. Cameraless filmmaking can require intense amount of planning and developing before actually committing something to film. So many people seem to think that experimental filmmaking is just the culmination of careless attempts at random obscurity that people place special emphasis and meaning on. However, like any art form, the meaning is either there, or it is not.

I look forward to the many new things that are to come with the 6 x 1 class. Looking at the schedule, it seems that we have a lot more new things ahead for both experimental film as a whole, as well as cameraless filmmaking and our first of the six films that will complete this semester. At any rate, I can pretty much assume that it will be just as informative and unorthodox as everything in the class thus far.