I found this film to be very intellectually engaging. I know that in class I said "what was the point of delaying the audio and video portions of the film?" but it took very little thinking on the subject to determine a number of responses. Firstly, as you view the picture that had previously been talked about (as a story-memory of the narrator), the film forces you to consider the memory of the experience of listening to the narrator relate his memory of the story behind the picture, thus creating an experience that sort of jumps outside of the viewing and into the psyche of the viewer, in a somewhat interactive sense. So in that regard, the film engages the viewer through the past.
However, in my opinion, the film engages the viewer with the future as well, because as you listen to the recording describe the picture, you are left imagining what the scene will look like. So while the narrator is relating to the viewer directly an experience of his past, the viewer uses the language symbols of the narrator to form their own rendition of the experience for themselves. Then, we get to see the actual scene being discussed in a photo, which will inevitably be very different from the scene the viewer has conjured up in his or her mind. This excercise demonstrates the entirely subjective experience of an individual which is impossible to directly and accurately communicate to another individual in exactly the way in which the experience was perceived.
I enjoyed this film because of how personal it was. One could ascertain the feelings of personal and artistic frustration the narrator felt through various stages of his life. The burning of the photographs exemplifies the feelings of regret and sentimentality the narrator has as he discusses each one as they burn. Overall the film's multilayered and multifunctional concept impressed me very much.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Reading Response
Reading Response 6: Due February 17 (Wednesday)
Response to Fuses
1. I enjoyed Fuses. It creates a representation of the inner experience of intercourse and the ecstasy of it. The intercutting of floral patterns, windows, a beach, film scratching, and a couple doing it, create the feeling of what it is like to be shall we say "naturally high." I totally saw and believed it. Too bad the link to the interview didn't work, I would liked to have read it.
Sitney, “Structural Film”
2. How is structural film different from the tradition of Deren/Brakhage/Anger, and what are its four typical characteristics?
It aimed to be a cinema of the mind rather than the eye, so immediately the structural films throws out any techniques used to represent the perception of the eye. The films favor the structural shape of the films, using techniques like the fixed frame, film looping, rephotography off screen, and the flicker effect, to create its experience entirely inside in the mind of the viewer who thinks about the logic of the images he is seeing.
3. If Brakhage’s cinema emphasized metaphors of perception, vision, and body movement, what is the central metaphor of structural film? Hint: It fits into Sitney’s central argument about the American avant-garde that we have discussed previously in class.
The structural films emphasized metaphors of logic, recognition of shape, and general thinking about the film, all phenomenons which occur in the mind of the viewer. The structural film is an evolutionary synthesis of European graphic cinema, lyrical romanticism, and Andy Warhol (see: pg 349)
4. Why does Sitney argue that Andy Warhol is the major precursor to the structural film?
Warhol's art "exploded" the myths of temporal compression and the filmmaker himself. His methods ignored craftmanship in photography, direction, and saturation of meaning within the frame. He stepped outside the trance film's concern with dreams with the film "Sleep" where the camera films a man sleeping for 6 1/2 hours. Warhol did not actually expose 6 1/2 hours of film, he instead every 2 1/2 minutes of the film is repeated on a film loop, and the very last frame of the film holds for an extended duration of time. Thus the structural filmmakers used the structural techniques of Warhol to an entirely different effect.
Sitney says: "To the film-makers who first encountered these films in the mid-60s, these latent mechanisms must have suggested other conscious and deliberte extensions" that is, Warhol must have inspired, by opening up, and leaving unclaimed so much ontological territory, a cinema actively engaged in generating metaphors for the viewing or rather the perceiving, experience."
Warhol reversed the experience of the trance film by externalizing the state of dreaming with "Sleeping." The structural filmmakers parry and repost Warhol's attack on the conventions of the American Avant-Garde up to that point in history by using his newly developed techniques to advance the cinema of the psychodrama/mythopoeic/lyrical back in the arch of their evolutionary progression.
Sitney says it perfectly: "The great challenge, then, of the structural film became how to orchestrate duration; how to permit the wandering attention that triggered ontological awareness while watching Warhol films and at the same time guide that awareness to a goal."
5. The trickiest part of Sitney’s chapter is to understand the similarities and differences between Warhol and the structural filmmakers. He argues that Warhol in a sense is anti-Romantic and stands in opposition to the visionary tradition represented by psychodrama/mythopoeic/lyrical films. But for Sitney’s central argument to make sense, he needs to place structural film within the tradition of psychodrama/mythopoeic/lyrical films. Trace the steps in this argument by following the following questions:
a. Why does Sitney call Warhol anti-Romantic?
Sitney calls Warhol anti-Romantic because he disregards the notion of the artistic vision and the highly technical and conceptual techniques the romantic artist would employ. In a fashion similar to his career in painting, Warhol aimed to create sameness and quantity. His films add a temporal quality to his notions of pop art and thus challenges the viewer's patience to endure the longetivity of his works.
b. Why does Sitney argue that spiritually the distance between Warhol and structural filmmakers such as Michael Snow or Ernie Gehr cannot be reconciled?
The spiritual distance between the works of Snow + Gehr and Warhol cannot be reconciled because the structuralist filmmakers are basically a thesis/antithesis/synthesis amalgamation of the psychodrama, mythopoeic, and lyrical films (thesis), Warhol (antithesis), which leads to the synthesis of the structural film (to say the least about its romantic and graphic influences). The conceptual nature of Warhol's films are on the opposite end of the conceptual spectrum of the aims of the structural filmmakers. Their only commonality are the structural techniques pioneered by Warhol and reinvented through the structuralist.
c. What is meant by the phrase “conscious ontology of the viewing experience”? How does this relate to Warhol’s films? How does this relate to structural films? pg351
I think the phrase means the viewer has to be aware of the technical and conceptual design of the film, and the hierarchal relationship they have with each other to define the film's perceptual impact on the viewer.
d. Why does Sitney argue that structural film is related to the psychodrama/mythopoeic/lyrical tradition, and in fact responds to Warhol’s attack on that tradition by using Warhol’s own tactics?
Structural films explore the human mind, as does the psychodrama/mythopoeic/lyrical traditions, but does so in a way which uses Warhol's technical methods, which when used by himself were intended as oppositionary to his predecessors.
6. What metaphor is crucial to Sitney’s and Annette Michelson’s interpretation of Michael Snow’s Wavelength?
They believe that the film is a metaphor for consciousness, in the arch from uncertainty to certainty; cognition to revelation. Every preceeding frame corresponds to a moment of memory and recollection on a journey where we can project where we are going but are uncertain of what it will look like.
Response to Fuses
1. I enjoyed Fuses. It creates a representation of the inner experience of intercourse and the ecstasy of it. The intercutting of floral patterns, windows, a beach, film scratching, and a couple doing it, create the feeling of what it is like to be shall we say "naturally high." I totally saw and believed it. Too bad the link to the interview didn't work, I would liked to have read it.
Sitney, “Structural Film”
2. How is structural film different from the tradition of Deren/Brakhage/Anger, and what are its four typical characteristics?
It aimed to be a cinema of the mind rather than the eye, so immediately the structural films throws out any techniques used to represent the perception of the eye. The films favor the structural shape of the films, using techniques like the fixed frame, film looping, rephotography off screen, and the flicker effect, to create its experience entirely inside in the mind of the viewer who thinks about the logic of the images he is seeing.
3. If Brakhage’s cinema emphasized metaphors of perception, vision, and body movement, what is the central metaphor of structural film? Hint: It fits into Sitney’s central argument about the American avant-garde that we have discussed previously in class.
The structural films emphasized metaphors of logic, recognition of shape, and general thinking about the film, all phenomenons which occur in the mind of the viewer. The structural film is an evolutionary synthesis of European graphic cinema, lyrical romanticism, and Andy Warhol (see: pg 349)
4. Why does Sitney argue that Andy Warhol is the major precursor to the structural film?
Warhol's art "exploded" the myths of temporal compression and the filmmaker himself. His methods ignored craftmanship in photography, direction, and saturation of meaning within the frame. He stepped outside the trance film's concern with dreams with the film "Sleep" where the camera films a man sleeping for 6 1/2 hours. Warhol did not actually expose 6 1/2 hours of film, he instead every 2 1/2 minutes of the film is repeated on a film loop, and the very last frame of the film holds for an extended duration of time. Thus the structural filmmakers used the structural techniques of Warhol to an entirely different effect.
Sitney says: "To the film-makers who first encountered these films in the mid-60s, these latent mechanisms must have suggested other conscious and deliberte extensions" that is, Warhol must have inspired, by opening up, and leaving unclaimed so much ontological territory, a cinema actively engaged in generating metaphors for the viewing or rather the perceiving, experience."
Warhol reversed the experience of the trance film by externalizing the state of dreaming with "Sleeping." The structural filmmakers parry and repost Warhol's attack on the conventions of the American Avant-Garde up to that point in history by using his newly developed techniques to advance the cinema of the psychodrama/mythopoeic/lyrical back in the arch of their evolutionary progression.
Sitney says it perfectly: "The great challenge, then, of the structural film became how to orchestrate duration; how to permit the wandering attention that triggered ontological awareness while watching Warhol films and at the same time guide that awareness to a goal."
5. The trickiest part of Sitney’s chapter is to understand the similarities and differences between Warhol and the structural filmmakers. He argues that Warhol in a sense is anti-Romantic and stands in opposition to the visionary tradition represented by psychodrama/mythopoeic/lyrical films. But for Sitney’s central argument to make sense, he needs to place structural film within the tradition of psychodrama/mythopoeic/lyrical films. Trace the steps in this argument by following the following questions:
a. Why does Sitney call Warhol anti-Romantic?
Sitney calls Warhol anti-Romantic because he disregards the notion of the artistic vision and the highly technical and conceptual techniques the romantic artist would employ. In a fashion similar to his career in painting, Warhol aimed to create sameness and quantity. His films add a temporal quality to his notions of pop art and thus challenges the viewer's patience to endure the longetivity of his works.
b. Why does Sitney argue that spiritually the distance between Warhol and structural filmmakers such as Michael Snow or Ernie Gehr cannot be reconciled?
The spiritual distance between the works of Snow + Gehr and Warhol cannot be reconciled because the structuralist filmmakers are basically a thesis/antithesis/synthesis amalgamation of the psychodrama, mythopoeic, and lyrical films (thesis), Warhol (antithesis), which leads to the synthesis of the structural film (to say the least about its romantic and graphic influences). The conceptual nature of Warhol's films are on the opposite end of the conceptual spectrum of the aims of the structural filmmakers. Their only commonality are the structural techniques pioneered by Warhol and reinvented through the structuralist.
c. What is meant by the phrase “conscious ontology of the viewing experience”? How does this relate to Warhol’s films? How does this relate to structural films? pg351
I think the phrase means the viewer has to be aware of the technical and conceptual design of the film, and the hierarchal relationship they have with each other to define the film's perceptual impact on the viewer.
d. Why does Sitney argue that structural film is related to the psychodrama/mythopoeic/lyrical tradition, and in fact responds to Warhol’s attack on that tradition by using Warhol’s own tactics?
Structural films explore the human mind, as does the psychodrama/mythopoeic/lyrical traditions, but does so in a way which uses Warhol's technical methods, which when used by himself were intended as oppositionary to his predecessors.
6. What metaphor is crucial to Sitney’s and Annette Michelson’s interpretation of Michael Snow’s Wavelength?
They believe that the film is a metaphor for consciousness, in the arch from uncertainty to certainty; cognition to revelation. Every preceeding frame corresponds to a moment of memory and recollection on a journey where we can project where we are going but are uncertain of what it will look like.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Response to Chealsea Girls
I actually enjoyed the Chelsea girls to some extent. The multiscreen projection was a cool idea, especially for the first guy in the section we saw, because he was talking candidly about how he perceived the world and how he perceived the world to perceive him, and we got to see him in the context of a social interaction. As he sat with the other socialites we could imagine what was running through his mind, in the context of his interview, at the time. And I could ONLY imagine what was running through his mind at the time of his interview. He was a pretty funny guy, like when he said "I'm not gay but sometimes I groove on having sex with guys." If not a cool film in itself, the Chelsea Girls is certainly a timepiece for their era.
It was an overall interesting concept to point a camera at someone for half an hour and see how they would react. It was as if Warhol transformed the camera into an entity in itself. There were parts near the end of the second act where the interviewee wanted to leave but stayed to finish the piece. I don't know how I would react if a camera were pointed at me. The first guy was on acid so he just spat out random thoughts from his racing mind. The second guy was on something...heroin? but whatever it was it wasn't psychadelic so it didn't help his performance at all. Instead of engaging the camera directly, he ignored it and interacted with the elements of his surroundings. I like the concept of the Chelsea girls.
It was an overall interesting concept to point a camera at someone for half an hour and see how they would react. It was as if Warhol transformed the camera into an entity in itself. There were parts near the end of the second act where the interviewee wanted to leave but stayed to finish the piece. I don't know how I would react if a camera were pointed at me. The first guy was on acid so he just spat out random thoughts from his racing mind. The second guy was on something...heroin? but whatever it was it wasn't psychadelic so it didn't help his performance at all. Instead of engaging the camera directly, he ignored it and interacted with the elements of his surroundings. I like the concept of the Chelsea girls.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Reading Response 5
J. Hoberman, Jonathan Rosenbaum, The Underground
1. What were some of the venues associated with the early underground film movement in New York City? What were some of the unique characteristics of the Charles Theater and its programming?
Amos Vogel's Cinema 16 was an organization that brought underground cineastes together. The beatnik manifesto Pull My Daisy was premiered at the Fashion Industries Auditorium in New York city; Walter Langstorn and Ed Stein acquired the Charles Theater for film exhibition; other theaters that played offbeat films included the Thalia, the New Yorker, and Bleeker Street Cinema. Mekas tried to present the Film Culture's annual Independant Filmmaker Award to Jack Smith at the Tivoli Theater, but the management canceled the show at the last minute.
2. Which filmmakers did Jonas Mekas associate with the “Baudelairean Cinema”? Why did Mekas use that term, and what were the distinguishing characteristics of the films?
The filmmakers Mekas associated with "Baudelairean Cinema" were Jack Smith, Ron Rice, and Ken Jacobs with the films "Flaming Creatures," "Queen of Sheba Meets the Atom Man," "Blonde Cobra," and "Little Stabs at Happiness." Mekas was trying to legitimize these new filmmakers by applying to them a quality only previously known in literature by the late French poet Baudilaire, whose critics cited him with many of the same sensibilities that modern, "uninformed" critics had called Mekas' proteges, like perverse, uninhibited, and daring. Mekas praised these filmmakers because they were exploring the art of cinema uninhibited by social convention and were thus saving the artistic filmmaker's soul or whatever.
3. Why did underground films run into legal trouble in New York City in 1964? What film encountered legal problems in Los Angeles almost on the same day as Mekas’s second arrest in New York City?
The first legan troubles Mekas ran into were during NYC's preparation for the 1964 World Fair where the city was trying to "clean" itself up. Mekas, Ken Jacobs, and two othes were arrested during a screening of Flaming Creatures, along with the rushes from Normal Love. Ten days later Mekas was arrested for screening Un Chant D'Amour. That same day, Mike Gets was arrested in LA for showing Scorpio Rising in the Cinema Theater. Mekas and Jacobs received suspended prison sentences.
4. What were some of the defining characteristics of Andy Warhol’s collaboration with Ronald Tavel? What were some of the unique characteristics of Vinyl? How does Edie Sedgewick end up "stealing" the scene in Vinyl?
Tavel adapted "A Clockwork Orange" in a matter of a few days, renamed the story as "Vinyl," and the script only followed the bare bones plot points of the novel. Many of Tavels screenplays were like this - bad on purpose. Some of his screenplays that were written for Warhol and were never produced made it to the stage as theater performances which usually chose tabboo subjects for farce. Until Warhol got Edie Sedgewick on camera, the film consisted of an all-male cast. Edie ended up stealing the show with her trance like film presence.
5. In what ways did the underground film begin to "crossover" into the mainstream in 1965-1966? What films and venues were associated with the crossover? How were the films received by the mainstream New York press?
The film that most successfully crossed over into the mainstream was "The Chelsea Girls." It showed all over Manhatten, not just in the undergound basement theaters. The film also played in many other cities like Cambridge, Buffalo, Houston, Atlanta, and St louis, and was banned in Chicago and Boston (how was it banned in Boston...the most liberal city in the US lol). Mike Getz played a crucial role in getting these films shown in conventional theaters due to his uncle owning a string of them. Films include Hold Me While Im Naked, Peyote Queen, and Breathdeath. One New York film critic, Bowsley Crowther, who hailed himself as America's most influential film critic, gave the underground films a wag of his finger, saying that it was okay for them to project their "naugty boy plays" onto basement walls, but bringing their films to "carpeted venues" was going too far. This publication stunted the growth of the underground movement but it survived nonetheless.
6. Why was John Getz an important figure in the crossover of the underground?
Because he (Mike Getz(?)) was able to distribute films through his business contact Louis Sher, who also happened to be his uncle, who owned a string of conventional movie houses.
7. How do Hoberman and Rosenbaum characterize Warhol’s post-1967 films?
Warhol and The Factory took the baser aspects of the successful elements of their previous works and ran with it. Their films became increasingly shocking with their sexual and drug content, with taglines such as "Underground!! ...So You Think You've Seen Everything!" Everything aside, Rosenmbaum and Hoberman mark Warhol as a catalytic firgure in on-screen sexuality. After his attempted assassination, Warhol's influence in the art world and the underground film movement slowly waned.
1. What were some of the venues associated with the early underground film movement in New York City? What were some of the unique characteristics of the Charles Theater and its programming?
Amos Vogel's Cinema 16 was an organization that brought underground cineastes together. The beatnik manifesto Pull My Daisy was premiered at the Fashion Industries Auditorium in New York city; Walter Langstorn and Ed Stein acquired the Charles Theater for film exhibition; other theaters that played offbeat films included the Thalia, the New Yorker, and Bleeker Street Cinema. Mekas tried to present the Film Culture's annual Independant Filmmaker Award to Jack Smith at the Tivoli Theater, but the management canceled the show at the last minute.
2. Which filmmakers did Jonas Mekas associate with the “Baudelairean Cinema”? Why did Mekas use that term, and what were the distinguishing characteristics of the films?
The filmmakers Mekas associated with "Baudelairean Cinema" were Jack Smith, Ron Rice, and Ken Jacobs with the films "Flaming Creatures," "Queen of Sheba Meets the Atom Man," "Blonde Cobra," and "Little Stabs at Happiness." Mekas was trying to legitimize these new filmmakers by applying to them a quality only previously known in literature by the late French poet Baudilaire, whose critics cited him with many of the same sensibilities that modern, "uninformed" critics had called Mekas' proteges, like perverse, uninhibited, and daring. Mekas praised these filmmakers because they were exploring the art of cinema uninhibited by social convention and were thus saving the artistic filmmaker's soul or whatever.
3. Why did underground films run into legal trouble in New York City in 1964? What film encountered legal problems in Los Angeles almost on the same day as Mekas’s second arrest in New York City?
The first legan troubles Mekas ran into were during NYC's preparation for the 1964 World Fair where the city was trying to "clean" itself up. Mekas, Ken Jacobs, and two othes were arrested during a screening of Flaming Creatures, along with the rushes from Normal Love. Ten days later Mekas was arrested for screening Un Chant D'Amour. That same day, Mike Gets was arrested in LA for showing Scorpio Rising in the Cinema Theater. Mekas and Jacobs received suspended prison sentences.
4. What were some of the defining characteristics of Andy Warhol’s collaboration with Ronald Tavel? What were some of the unique characteristics of Vinyl? How does Edie Sedgewick end up "stealing" the scene in Vinyl?
Tavel adapted "A Clockwork Orange" in a matter of a few days, renamed the story as "Vinyl," and the script only followed the bare bones plot points of the novel. Many of Tavels screenplays were like this - bad on purpose. Some of his screenplays that were written for Warhol and were never produced made it to the stage as theater performances which usually chose tabboo subjects for farce. Until Warhol got Edie Sedgewick on camera, the film consisted of an all-male cast. Edie ended up stealing the show with her trance like film presence.
5. In what ways did the underground film begin to "crossover" into the mainstream in 1965-1966? What films and venues were associated with the crossover? How were the films received by the mainstream New York press?
The film that most successfully crossed over into the mainstream was "The Chelsea Girls." It showed all over Manhatten, not just in the undergound basement theaters. The film also played in many other cities like Cambridge, Buffalo, Houston, Atlanta, and St louis, and was banned in Chicago and Boston (how was it banned in Boston...the most liberal city in the US lol). Mike Getz played a crucial role in getting these films shown in conventional theaters due to his uncle owning a string of them. Films include Hold Me While Im Naked, Peyote Queen, and Breathdeath. One New York film critic, Bowsley Crowther, who hailed himself as America's most influential film critic, gave the underground films a wag of his finger, saying that it was okay for them to project their "naugty boy plays" onto basement walls, but bringing their films to "carpeted venues" was going too far. This publication stunted the growth of the underground movement but it survived nonetheless.
6. Why was John Getz an important figure in the crossover of the underground?
Because he (Mike Getz(?)) was able to distribute films through his business contact Louis Sher, who also happened to be his uncle, who owned a string of conventional movie houses.
7. How do Hoberman and Rosenbaum characterize Warhol’s post-1967 films?
Warhol and The Factory took the baser aspects of the successful elements of their previous works and ran with it. Their films became increasingly shocking with their sexual and drug content, with taglines such as "Underground!! ...So You Think You've Seen Everything!" Everything aside, Rosenmbaum and Hoberman mark Warhol as a catalytic firgure in on-screen sexuality. After his attempted assassination, Warhol's influence in the art world and the underground film movement slowly waned.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Reading Response 4
1. Briefly respond to Joe Jones' "Smoking."
Smoking is another super slow motion film in the fluxfilms catalog. Like "Disappearing Music For Face," the frame doesnt quite get all of the image inside, and so the actual lighting of the match, which would be the most interesting aspect of it for me, is lost. The flame burning itself out looks pretty cool. I was a pyro as a child and I appreciated the slow motion flame as much as anyone can haha.
2. Look up “Fluxus” and any of the Fluxus artists in the index of Visionary Film. Why are they not there? Are the Fluxfilms compatible with Sitney’s central argument about the American avant-garde?
Perhaps Sitney doesn't consider the fluxus movement because they don't adhere to any of his six "types" of avant-garde films, and were actually created in opposition to them.
Mary Jordan, Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis
3. Chapter 4. What are some of the reasons suggested for Smith’s obsession with Maria Montez? What are some of your responses to the clips from the Montez films (especially Cobra Woman)?
Jack Smith was known to find people in the streets, bring them to his studio, and turn them into his "creations." Maria Montez was his favorite, perhaps because she was so "beautiful," and became a successful actoress.
4. Chapter 5. What were some attributes of the New York art community in the 1960s, and what was the relationship between the economics of the time and the materials that Smith incorporated in to his work and films? [How could Smith survive and make art if he was so poor in the city so big they named it twice?]
The artists in New york in the 60s were all about revolutionizing their ways of life, centered around the spiritual aspect of love and lovemaking. One commentor in the DVD said that the films Jack made weren't fictions but rather documentaries on their lives. They rebuilt their realities according to the ideal ways they wanted to live. This is why Jack Smith and some of his colleagues were so poor, they resented materialism, capitalism, and commodity-ism. Whatever Jack had was given to him by people who pitied him. This is part of the reason why he resented Andy Warhol, because he was so rich and benefitted from it.
5. Chapter 6. What problems emerged after the obscenity charges against Flaming Creatures in the relationship between Jack Smith and Jonas Mekas? What metaphor emerged from the conflict between Smith and Mekas?
People called the film pornographic. Jonas Mekas took the film and toured with it nationally and by doing so he inadvertently fanned the flames of its controversy. He also took most of the money the film made and didn't give it to Smith or the other people who helped make the film.
6. Chapter 7. What is John Zorn’s argument about Normal Love? How does his argument relate to some of the changes in the New York art world in the 1960s that we discussed in class? What are some arguments made about the influence of Jack Smith on other filmmakers (including Warhol)?
Zorn says that normal love is a documentary on the realities Jack Smith and his friends created for themselves, which discluded materialism and wealth, and involved forming every aspect of their lives into art. This relates to how artists of the 60s endeavored to make art as a way of life rather than as a means to make money or to produce commodities. Some say that almost every rock music video is influenced by Jack Smith, and Warhol took many of Smith's ideas.
7. Chapter 9 and 10: In what ways did Jack Smith become “uncommercial film personified”? What is meant by the slogan, “no more masterpieces” and how did Smith resist commodification (or the production of art products)?
Jack Smith refused to take money for his films or plays. His plays didn't start until 2 or 3 in the morning, which to him weeded out all the people who weren't hardcore for the art. Smith also wanted to abolish masterpieces and art museums because he felt that they only served to influence other artists and therefore limit the range of artistic expression across the board that could be possible if the museums didn't exist.
Here are some helpful links for those interested in the debate about the Jack Smith estate. This is not required, but this is fascinating, frustrating, and crazy (and it will put the documentary in a new light):
http://www.hi-beam.net/fw/fw25/0459.html
http://www.hi-beam.net/fw/fw25/0050.html
http://www.hi-beam.net/fw/fw25/0459.html
And a summary of the debate and legal proceedings. http://www.villagevoice.com/2004-03-02/news/flaming-intrigue/
Callie Angell, “Andy Warhol, Filmmaker”
[I have emailed part one of this article to the class, it is not on reserve.]
8. How does Angell characterize the first major period of Warhol’s filmmaking career? What are some of the films from this period, and what formal qualities did they share? What are some significant differences between Sleep and Empire?
Warhol's early films were linked to the avant-garde, while his later films were more commercial. They often were a single roll of unedited material composed with a tripod-mounted unmoving camera. They sought to reveal personality.
9. What role did the Screen Tests play in the routines at the Factory and in Warhol’s filmmaking?
The 500 or so Screen Tests served as a guestbook of sorts for the various artists who came to see Warhol throughout 66-68. Warhol also learned how to compose, frame, and light his subjects.
10. How does Angell characterize the first period of sound films in Warhol’s filmmaking career? Who was Warhol’s key collaborator for the early sound films? What are some of the films from this period and what formal properties did they share?
Warhol realized that with the introduction of sound recording technologies, he would "need a lot of dialogue." His primary first collaborator was Eddie Sedgewick, a "poor little rich girl." She was found in one of his Screen Tests. One interesting experiment Warhol conducted with his films was in Vinyl, when he purposefully prevented his actors from learning their lines in favor of hold cue cards for them at the time of filming in order to lend to the piece a certain awkward, stilted feeling.
Smoking is another super slow motion film in the fluxfilms catalog. Like "Disappearing Music For Face," the frame doesnt quite get all of the image inside, and so the actual lighting of the match, which would be the most interesting aspect of it for me, is lost. The flame burning itself out looks pretty cool. I was a pyro as a child and I appreciated the slow motion flame as much as anyone can haha.
2. Look up “Fluxus” and any of the Fluxus artists in the index of Visionary Film. Why are they not there? Are the Fluxfilms compatible with Sitney’s central argument about the American avant-garde?
Perhaps Sitney doesn't consider the fluxus movement because they don't adhere to any of his six "types" of avant-garde films, and were actually created in opposition to them.
Mary Jordan, Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis
3. Chapter 4. What are some of the reasons suggested for Smith’s obsession with Maria Montez? What are some of your responses to the clips from the Montez films (especially Cobra Woman)?
Jack Smith was known to find people in the streets, bring them to his studio, and turn them into his "creations." Maria Montez was his favorite, perhaps because she was so "beautiful," and became a successful actoress.
4. Chapter 5. What were some attributes of the New York art community in the 1960s, and what was the relationship between the economics of the time and the materials that Smith incorporated in to his work and films? [How could Smith survive and make art if he was so poor in the city so big they named it twice?]
The artists in New york in the 60s were all about revolutionizing their ways of life, centered around the spiritual aspect of love and lovemaking. One commentor in the DVD said that the films Jack made weren't fictions but rather documentaries on their lives. They rebuilt their realities according to the ideal ways they wanted to live. This is why Jack Smith and some of his colleagues were so poor, they resented materialism, capitalism, and commodity-ism. Whatever Jack had was given to him by people who pitied him. This is part of the reason why he resented Andy Warhol, because he was so rich and benefitted from it.
5. Chapter 6. What problems emerged after the obscenity charges against Flaming Creatures in the relationship between Jack Smith and Jonas Mekas? What metaphor emerged from the conflict between Smith and Mekas?
People called the film pornographic. Jonas Mekas took the film and toured with it nationally and by doing so he inadvertently fanned the flames of its controversy. He also took most of the money the film made and didn't give it to Smith or the other people who helped make the film.
6. Chapter 7. What is John Zorn’s argument about Normal Love? How does his argument relate to some of the changes in the New York art world in the 1960s that we discussed in class? What are some arguments made about the influence of Jack Smith on other filmmakers (including Warhol)?
Zorn says that normal love is a documentary on the realities Jack Smith and his friends created for themselves, which discluded materialism and wealth, and involved forming every aspect of their lives into art. This relates to how artists of the 60s endeavored to make art as a way of life rather than as a means to make money or to produce commodities. Some say that almost every rock music video is influenced by Jack Smith, and Warhol took many of Smith's ideas.
7. Chapter 9 and 10: In what ways did Jack Smith become “uncommercial film personified”? What is meant by the slogan, “no more masterpieces” and how did Smith resist commodification (or the production of art products)?
Jack Smith refused to take money for his films or plays. His plays didn't start until 2 or 3 in the morning, which to him weeded out all the people who weren't hardcore for the art. Smith also wanted to abolish masterpieces and art museums because he felt that they only served to influence other artists and therefore limit the range of artistic expression across the board that could be possible if the museums didn't exist.
Here are some helpful links for those interested in the debate about the Jack Smith estate. This is not required, but this is fascinating, frustrating, and crazy (and it will put the documentary in a new light):
http://www.hi-beam.net/fw/fw25/0459.html
http://www.hi-beam.net/fw/fw25/0050.html
http://www.hi-beam.net/fw/fw25/0459.html
And a summary of the debate and legal proceedings. http://www.villagevoice.com/2004-03-02/news/flaming-intrigue/
Callie Angell, “Andy Warhol, Filmmaker”
[I have emailed part one of this article to the class, it is not on reserve.]
8. How does Angell characterize the first major period of Warhol’s filmmaking career? What are some of the films from this period, and what formal qualities did they share? What are some significant differences between Sleep and Empire?
Warhol's early films were linked to the avant-garde, while his later films were more commercial. They often were a single roll of unedited material composed with a tripod-mounted unmoving camera. They sought to reveal personality.
9. What role did the Screen Tests play in the routines at the Factory and in Warhol’s filmmaking?
The 500 or so Screen Tests served as a guestbook of sorts for the various artists who came to see Warhol throughout 66-68. Warhol also learned how to compose, frame, and light his subjects.
10. How does Angell characterize the first period of sound films in Warhol’s filmmaking career? Who was Warhol’s key collaborator for the early sound films? What are some of the films from this period and what formal properties did they share?
Warhol realized that with the introduction of sound recording technologies, he would "need a lot of dialogue." His primary first collaborator was Eddie Sedgewick, a "poor little rich girl." She was found in one of his Screen Tests. One interesting experiment Warhol conducted with his films was in Vinyl, when he purposefully prevented his actors from learning their lines in favor of hold cue cards for them at the time of filming in order to lend to the piece a certain awkward, stilted feeling.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Reading Response 3
Post your response to Brakhage's Prelude: Dog Star Man.
I was first introduced to Brakhage in FST 200 with his film "Mothlight," along with a very brief synopsis of his work. In my opinion, Mothlight is a poor example to start young impressionable students unfamiliar with the avantgarde on Brakhage. Brakhage's style and philosophical motivations were not explained to us in that class, so inevitably I and some of my classmates formed negative impressions on Brakhage. Thankfully I have since come to know Brakhage better and have immense respect for him. Dogstar's prelude, like most of his other work, is starkly beautiful, strangely curious, and immediately weird, and undeniably creepy. His obsession with vision comes through in all his work. I don't quite make all the connections Brakhage and his critics make between his work and its mythical inspirations, but I can definitely take the work as it is and enjoy it.
Sitney, “Apocalypses and Picaresques”
2. Why does Sitney argue that synechdoche plays a major role in Christopher Maclaine’s The End, and how does the film anticipate later achievements by Brakhage and the mythopoeic form?
Synechdoche, which means when a part stands for a whole or a whole stands for a part, plays a major role in the film in that the destruction of each character in the beginning of the film resembles the destruction of humankind and the world. The pessimism of this film and its foretelling of the destruction of mankind in mythopoeic fashion arguably influenced Brakhage's Dog Star Man and other works.
3. What are some similarities and differences between the apocalyptic visions of Christopher Maclaine and Bruce Conner?
Maclaine's film is made of both found footage and original material whereas Conner's film is purely collage. Conner's film is slightly comical, with the frame containing his name prolonging its duration onscreen in the beginning of the fim to relating the imagery of military guns to human sexuality.
4. Why are the films of Ron Rice (The Flower Thief) and Robert Nelson (The Great Blondino) examples of Beat sensibility and what Sitney calls the picaresque form?
These films involve a misfit protagonist dwelling about in a strange environment. Comparisons betwen these films and The Cage run amuck even though Rice and Nelson were most likely unaware of the parallels. Beat sensibility and picaresque form go hand in hand since both reject mainstream values and vie to explore alternative modes of lifestyle and expression.
Bruce Jenkins, “Fluxfilms in Three False Starts.”
5. How and why were the “anti-art” Fluxfilms reactions against the avant-garde films of Stan Brakhage and Kenneth Anger. [Hint: Think about Fluxus in relation to earlier anti-art such as Dada, and Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain."]
One such example of anti-art as opposed to Brakhage is Dick Higgins' "Invocations of Canyons and Boulders for Stan Brakhage," which parodies Brakhage's obsession with the sense of vision by showing a man chew on something from various angles and played at a loop for hours on end. This film postulates "the act of chewing with one's own mouth." (as opposed to "the act of seeing with one's own eyes). The presumed slight against Kenneth Anger is the play on words in the title of the film, with it beginning with the word invocaton.
6. What does Jenkins mean by the democratization of production in the Fluxfilms?
In the beginning film was heralded solely by those who sought to create from it personal and poetic high art, and was made by trained technicians. By Maciunas' time, filmmaking was more affordable and accessible. By filming a stationary tree with a nonmoving camera for hours, Maciunas dumbed down the medium in an attempt to parody the preseumptuous works of such self-important filmmakers of his time and perhaps tell his viewers what the avantgard filmmakers really were making according to him - meaningless shots of random everyday objects and elevating it to art-status.
7. Why does Jenkins argue that Nam June Paik’s Zen for Film “fixed the material and aesthetic terms for the production of subsequent Fluxfilms”? How does it use the materials of the cinema? What kind of aesthetic experience does it offer?
Zen for Film consisted of thirty minutes of clear leader, adopting a very "zen" approach in which the film literally consisted of blank nothingness. This film fixed the material and aesthetic terms for the production of subsequent Fluxfilms because it embodied the ideological goal of the fluxfilmmakers: it is still technically a film even though it involves none of traditional filmmaking procedures, is very cheap, and is tremendously meaningful in its stance as an alternative to alternative and commercial filmmaking. By its very nature, the film could "invite intense scrutiny and elicit absolute boredom." Despite what it is (and what it isn't), the film embodies the ideals of the fluxfilm as being the ultimate lynchpin for the anti-art of the 50s and 60s.
I was first introduced to Brakhage in FST 200 with his film "Mothlight," along with a very brief synopsis of his work. In my opinion, Mothlight is a poor example to start young impressionable students unfamiliar with the avantgarde on Brakhage. Brakhage's style and philosophical motivations were not explained to us in that class, so inevitably I and some of my classmates formed negative impressions on Brakhage. Thankfully I have since come to know Brakhage better and have immense respect for him. Dogstar's prelude, like most of his other work, is starkly beautiful, strangely curious, and immediately weird, and undeniably creepy. His obsession with vision comes through in all his work. I don't quite make all the connections Brakhage and his critics make between his work and its mythical inspirations, but I can definitely take the work as it is and enjoy it.
Sitney, “Apocalypses and Picaresques”
2. Why does Sitney argue that synechdoche plays a major role in Christopher Maclaine’s The End, and how does the film anticipate later achievements by Brakhage and the mythopoeic form?
Synechdoche, which means when a part stands for a whole or a whole stands for a part, plays a major role in the film in that the destruction of each character in the beginning of the film resembles the destruction of humankind and the world. The pessimism of this film and its foretelling of the destruction of mankind in mythopoeic fashion arguably influenced Brakhage's Dog Star Man and other works.
3. What are some similarities and differences between the apocalyptic visions of Christopher Maclaine and Bruce Conner?
Maclaine's film is made of both found footage and original material whereas Conner's film is purely collage. Conner's film is slightly comical, with the frame containing his name prolonging its duration onscreen in the beginning of the fim to relating the imagery of military guns to human sexuality.
4. Why are the films of Ron Rice (The Flower Thief) and Robert Nelson (The Great Blondino) examples of Beat sensibility and what Sitney calls the picaresque form?
These films involve a misfit protagonist dwelling about in a strange environment. Comparisons betwen these films and The Cage run amuck even though Rice and Nelson were most likely unaware of the parallels. Beat sensibility and picaresque form go hand in hand since both reject mainstream values and vie to explore alternative modes of lifestyle and expression.
Bruce Jenkins, “Fluxfilms in Three False Starts.”
5. How and why were the “anti-art” Fluxfilms reactions against the avant-garde films of Stan Brakhage and Kenneth Anger. [Hint: Think about Fluxus in relation to earlier anti-art such as Dada, and Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain."]
One such example of anti-art as opposed to Brakhage is Dick Higgins' "Invocations of Canyons and Boulders for Stan Brakhage," which parodies Brakhage's obsession with the sense of vision by showing a man chew on something from various angles and played at a loop for hours on end. This film postulates "the act of chewing with one's own mouth." (as opposed to "the act of seeing with one's own eyes). The presumed slight against Kenneth Anger is the play on words in the title of the film, with it beginning with the word invocaton.
6. What does Jenkins mean by the democratization of production in the Fluxfilms?
In the beginning film was heralded solely by those who sought to create from it personal and poetic high art, and was made by trained technicians. By Maciunas' time, filmmaking was more affordable and accessible. By filming a stationary tree with a nonmoving camera for hours, Maciunas dumbed down the medium in an attempt to parody the preseumptuous works of such self-important filmmakers of his time and perhaps tell his viewers what the avantgard filmmakers really were making according to him - meaningless shots of random everyday objects and elevating it to art-status.
7. Why does Jenkins argue that Nam June Paik’s Zen for Film “fixed the material and aesthetic terms for the production of subsequent Fluxfilms”? How does it use the materials of the cinema? What kind of aesthetic experience does it offer?
Zen for Film consisted of thirty minutes of clear leader, adopting a very "zen" approach in which the film literally consisted of blank nothingness. This film fixed the material and aesthetic terms for the production of subsequent Fluxfilms because it embodied the ideological goal of the fluxfilmmakers: it is still technically a film even though it involves none of traditional filmmaking procedures, is very cheap, and is tremendously meaningful in its stance as an alternative to alternative and commercial filmmaking. By its very nature, the film could "invite intense scrutiny and elicit absolute boredom." Despite what it is (and what it isn't), the film embodies the ideals of the fluxfilm as being the ultimate lynchpin for the anti-art of the 50s and 60s.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Reading Response 2
Sitney, “The Lyrical Film”
1. While Brakhage’s Reflections on Black is a trance film, why does Sitney argue that it anticipates the lyrical film?
Sitney says that technically Reflections on Black is a trance film but extends into structural territory that had not previously been explored. Sitney says that with this film, "Brakhage had begun to transcend the distinction between fantasy and actuality, moving into the cinema of triumphant imagination." The film has the lookings of a trance film: a single protagonist walks through an environment with no apparant antagonist, however the environment is not portrayed in a dreamlike fashion but rather this blind protagonist walks in reality but "sees" visions in an imaginative way, hence the foundations for the lyrical film.
2. What are the key characteristics of the lyrical film (the first example of which was Anticipation of the Night).
The film takes the first person perspective so that we experience the world through the protagonist's eyes. The primary focus of the lyrical film is the intensity of the protagonist's vision. It also recognizes the flatness and whiteness of the film screen and rejects its use as an window into illusion.
3. Which filmmaker was highly influential on Brakhage’s move to lyrical film in terms of film style, and why?
Joseph Cornell and Marie Menken were two lyrical filmmakers that influenced Brakhage's move to the lyrical form. Menken made Visual Variations on Noguchi and Notebook, both filmed in the lyrical mode. Visual Variations on Noguchi examined an artist's sculptures and was filmed in a lyrical fashion, using the perspective of the filmmaker with the camera gliding gracefully around various sculptures. Notebook employed rhythm in camera movement, a stylistic trait undoubtedly picked up by Brakhage.
4. What does Sitney mean by "hard" and "soft" montage? What examples of each does he give from Anticipation of the Night? {Tricky question; read the entire passage very carefully.]
A soft montage gives the viewer a subtle preview of what is to come, in the form of colors, thematic unity, and rhythm in editing. A hard montage involves a clash of images, such as day and night. The hard montage is sudden and apparent, perhaps calling attention to itself and the images it produces.
5. What are the characteristics of vision according to Brakhage’s revival of the Romantic dialectics of sight and imagination? [I’m not asking here about film style, I’m asking about Brakhage’s views about vision.]
Brakhage became consumed by the sense of sight. He believes that most people have become so familiar with their sight that they no longer use it for spiritual means, like the "untutored eye" of an infant as he crawls across a field of grass. BRakhage also favored noticing the "mundane" in life, attributing to it the meaningful existence of everyday life. Brakhage says there are multiple types of vision: open eye vision, hypnagogic (closed eye) vision, and peripheral vision (out of focus, dreamlike). In much of Brakhage's later films he explores his philosophy on vision.
Sitney, “Major Mythopoeia”
6. Why does Sitney argue, “It was Brakhage, of all the major American avant-garde filmmakers, who first embraced the formal directives and verbal aesthetics of Abstract Expressionism.”
Brakhage pioneered abstract expressionism in film as a means to express his obsession with vision and to convey a sense of spiritual connectedness between man and nature. In Dog Star Man, Brakhage uses images of a man climbing a mountain and images of the seasons to show man and nature, and uses sexual imagery to convey the notion of connectedness. Not to be left unmentioned are Brakhage's later fingerpainted works which very closely resemble abstract expressionism.
7. What archetypes are significant motifs in Dog Star Man, and which writers in what movement are associated with these four states of existence?
Sitney, "The Potted Psalm"
[This is an addition to the syllabus. After reading the introductory paragraphs, focus on the discussions of The Cage and Entr'acte (p. 47-54 and The Lead Shoes (p. 68-70).]
8. According to Sitney, what stylistic techniques are used to mark perspective and subjectivity in The Cage, and why is this an important development in the American avant-garde film?
Firstly, Peterson employed "every camera trick in the book, and some that aren't." He used slow motion, normal motion, fast motion, superimpositions, etc. Also, Peterson put weirdly textured transparent objects in front of the lens to lend the viewer subjectivity and perspective. Peterson also used lens tricks and mirrors to achieve this effect.
9. For Sitney, what are the key similarities and differences between Entr'acte and The Cage?
For one, both films exhibit an abstract slapstick humor. Additionally, both films are fragmentary with no links between the many scenes. Their humors differ in that Entr'act is a satirically funny film, meant to comically misrepresent the theater and its patrons, wheres the other films are simply abstract.
10. How does Peterson synthesize the seemingly incongruent suggestions of his Workshop 20 students into The Lead Shoes?
Peterson employed the ballad suggestion, I believe, by having the soundtrack to the film be one continuous blues ballad. The diving suit was incorporated completely, and was used in conjunction with the hamster suggestion, when the lady pulls three rats out of the diving suit helmet in the film.
11. Compare your response to The Lead Shoes with the descriptions by Sitney and Parker Tyler.
My response was based completely on my distaste for the film. Sitney spends a lot of time recounting the images of the film in an attempt to actually try to understand it. I think that I should pay more attention to the images of the films this semester and try to form associations between them. If I can't I should at least remember exactly what happens in each film in order to give me some sort of foundation on which to (if not understand) appreciate the technical complexity of each piece.
1. While Brakhage’s Reflections on Black is a trance film, why does Sitney argue that it anticipates the lyrical film?
Sitney says that technically Reflections on Black is a trance film but extends into structural territory that had not previously been explored. Sitney says that with this film, "Brakhage had begun to transcend the distinction between fantasy and actuality, moving into the cinema of triumphant imagination." The film has the lookings of a trance film: a single protagonist walks through an environment with no apparant antagonist, however the environment is not portrayed in a dreamlike fashion but rather this blind protagonist walks in reality but "sees" visions in an imaginative way, hence the foundations for the lyrical film.
2. What are the key characteristics of the lyrical film (the first example of which was Anticipation of the Night).
The film takes the first person perspective so that we experience the world through the protagonist's eyes. The primary focus of the lyrical film is the intensity of the protagonist's vision. It also recognizes the flatness and whiteness of the film screen and rejects its use as an window into illusion.
3. Which filmmaker was highly influential on Brakhage’s move to lyrical film in terms of film style, and why?
Joseph Cornell and Marie Menken were two lyrical filmmakers that influenced Brakhage's move to the lyrical form. Menken made Visual Variations on Noguchi and Notebook, both filmed in the lyrical mode. Visual Variations on Noguchi examined an artist's sculptures and was filmed in a lyrical fashion, using the perspective of the filmmaker with the camera gliding gracefully around various sculptures. Notebook employed rhythm in camera movement, a stylistic trait undoubtedly picked up by Brakhage.
4. What does Sitney mean by "hard" and "soft" montage? What examples of each does he give from Anticipation of the Night? {Tricky question; read the entire passage very carefully.]
A soft montage gives the viewer a subtle preview of what is to come, in the form of colors, thematic unity, and rhythm in editing. A hard montage involves a clash of images, such as day and night. The hard montage is sudden and apparent, perhaps calling attention to itself and the images it produces.
5. What are the characteristics of vision according to Brakhage’s revival of the Romantic dialectics of sight and imagination? [I’m not asking here about film style, I’m asking about Brakhage’s views about vision.]
Brakhage became consumed by the sense of sight. He believes that most people have become so familiar with their sight that they no longer use it for spiritual means, like the "untutored eye" of an infant as he crawls across a field of grass. BRakhage also favored noticing the "mundane" in life, attributing to it the meaningful existence of everyday life. Brakhage says there are multiple types of vision: open eye vision, hypnagogic (closed eye) vision, and peripheral vision (out of focus, dreamlike). In much of Brakhage's later films he explores his philosophy on vision.
Sitney, “Major Mythopoeia”
6. Why does Sitney argue, “It was Brakhage, of all the major American avant-garde filmmakers, who first embraced the formal directives and verbal aesthetics of Abstract Expressionism.”
Brakhage pioneered abstract expressionism in film as a means to express his obsession with vision and to convey a sense of spiritual connectedness between man and nature. In Dog Star Man, Brakhage uses images of a man climbing a mountain and images of the seasons to show man and nature, and uses sexual imagery to convey the notion of connectedness. Not to be left unmentioned are Brakhage's later fingerpainted works which very closely resemble abstract expressionism.
7. What archetypes are significant motifs in Dog Star Man, and which writers in what movement are associated with these four states of existence?
Sitney, "The Potted Psalm"
[This is an addition to the syllabus. After reading the introductory paragraphs, focus on the discussions of The Cage and Entr'acte (p. 47-54 and The Lead Shoes (p. 68-70).]
8. According to Sitney, what stylistic techniques are used to mark perspective and subjectivity in The Cage, and why is this an important development in the American avant-garde film?
Firstly, Peterson employed "every camera trick in the book, and some that aren't." He used slow motion, normal motion, fast motion, superimpositions, etc. Also, Peterson put weirdly textured transparent objects in front of the lens to lend the viewer subjectivity and perspective. Peterson also used lens tricks and mirrors to achieve this effect.
9. For Sitney, what are the key similarities and differences between Entr'acte and The Cage?
For one, both films exhibit an abstract slapstick humor. Additionally, both films are fragmentary with no links between the many scenes. Their humors differ in that Entr'act is a satirically funny film, meant to comically misrepresent the theater and its patrons, wheres the other films are simply abstract.
10. How does Peterson synthesize the seemingly incongruent suggestions of his Workshop 20 students into The Lead Shoes?
Peterson employed the ballad suggestion, I believe, by having the soundtrack to the film be one continuous blues ballad. The diving suit was incorporated completely, and was used in conjunction with the hamster suggestion, when the lady pulls three rats out of the diving suit helmet in the film.
11. Compare your response to The Lead Shoes with the descriptions by Sitney and Parker Tyler.
My response was based completely on my distaste for the film. Sitney spends a lot of time recounting the images of the film in an attempt to actually try to understand it. I think that I should pay more attention to the images of the films this semester and try to form associations between them. If I can't I should at least remember exactly what happens in each film in order to give me some sort of foundation on which to (if not understand) appreciate the technical complexity of each piece.
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