In the course HandMade Strategies: Re-Inventing the Wheel, Jodie Mack, assistant professor of film and media studies, strives to teach her students that cinema is not just a form of entertainment but also a fine art. The course focuses on both learning about and producing experimental and avant-garde film. Students presented their own experimental films on Tuesday night in the Loew Theater.
The students were exposed to a range of film production techniques, ranging from shooting their own film with Bolex cameras to animation with special effects such as stop motion. During the first week of class, students did not film their own footage, but instead worked on manipulating blank film, Tommy Ford '12 said. No matter the assignments, students in the class agree that this was a "do it yourself" class.
"It's been very hands-on," Ford said. "You can scratch on [the film], you can draw on it, you can paint on it. You can film over things, there's a billion different things you can do."
The eight short films screened on Tuesday showed the breadth of filmmaking techniques that the students were exposed to throughout the term. In some reels, the fingerprints and scratch marks were apparent, while in others, film strips seemed to be layered on top of each other with some parts blocked out by a die cut screen over the lens.
The handmade qualities are apparent in each film, as every aspect of the frame is meticulously planned out, from the color to lighting choices.
While students were free to experiment with different forms of filmmaking, several said that some sort of methodology is necessary when working with film because of the medium's physically sensitive nature. What is unwanted cannot simply be thrown or cut out, Erika Murillo '13 said.
"Digital cameras figure it out for you," Troup Wood '14 said. "With this, you have to take light readings to make sure you have the right exposure and focus it to your eye. It's all specific. You have to take measurements each time for each shot."
Mack said she designed the class with her own interests in mind, choosing to cover topics that she herself would have liked to learn about while in school. She described the course as a hybrid, with half of the course material focusing on the history of experimental film and the other half focusing on production.
"The class mixes the history of avant-garde filmmaking with the contemporary state of avant-garde filmmaking," Mack explained. "We're trying to learn about where it came from and the current scene and possibilities of exhibiting and studying this type of work."
As a part of the history component of the class, each student picked a contemporary filmmaker to research. For a two-page spread that used elements ranging from collage to handwritten sketches and notes. The research projects were then compiled into a magazine, which was published and will be sent to the featured filmmakers in addition to film cooperatives and microcinemas, Mack said.
The magazine was produced with the hopes of promoting independent experimental filmmakers who are not written about frequently, according to Mack.
"We're writing the history as we go along," she said. "These people just aren't necessarily in the canon."
While Mack had her students research these filmmakers with the intention of providing exposure for the independent filmmakers, the filmmakers ended up influencing her students' work as well.
"[Filmmaker Amy Lockhart] definitely made me feel like I shouldn't be afraid to get a little weird," Murillo said. "For the most part, I've approached filmmaking in a way that I want to get a job when I get out of here. [Her work has] helped me reflect on my own types of messages I want to give out."
After all of their hard work, students said they were most excited about exposing people to their work and spreading the word about experimental film.
"In this digital era, [film is] not really appreciated as much as it should be," Murillo said.
Murillo is a member of The Dartmouth Comics Staff.
