Introduction

What is experimental film ?  

Subverting /stretching/ breaking/  conventions of narrative, genre and film form elements  such as invisible editing, single-image, reliable narration,  linear time , cause and effect , realistic or consistent mis-en-scene, character motivation , equilibrium and disruption, consistency of genre or setting, relationship with audience and "fourth wall" and many others....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experimental_film


This clearly alters audience responses  as traditional pleasures such as narrative closure and suspension of disbelief are absent or subverted. Other pleasures such as disorientation , active spectatorship, and sensual experience may be foregrounded.


Experimental filmmakers are often connected to or directly influenced by other art forms such as avant-grade art movements such as surrealism or abstract expressionism , or experimental and improvisational music.

There are entirely  'experimental ' films ( short and feature length )  but more traditional  films may include experimental elements to challenge the limits of their genre, drive the narrative, subvert conventions and create active spectatorship.


We will be examining a range of experimental methods in film and then focusing on how the key text ( Pulp Fiction) uses some of these experimental  and 'postmodern' techniques alongside  more traditional cinematic conventions.


You will be focusing on the following key elements :  film form, contexts, narrative and auteur. 


POSSIBLE EXAM QUESTIONS :


To what extent does your film experiment with conventions of narrative and genre?


To what extent does your film study demonstrate a bold experiment in narrative? [20]


 ‘Unfamiliar approaches to narrative can be both difficult and exciting for the spectator’.
Discuss this comment in relation to your film study. [20]

FRENCH NEW WAVE

 FRENCH NEW WAVE

New Wave (French: La Nouvelle Vague) is a French art film movement^[3] which emerged in the 1950s and 1960s. New Wave filmmakers were linked by a spirit of iconoclasm and their rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions. Common features of the New Wave included experimentation with editing, visual style, and narrative, as well as engagement with the social and political upheavals of the era.^[3] The New Wave is often referred to as one of the most influential movements in the history of cinema.

Key director : Jean-Luc Godard 

Godard focused on subverting genre and narrative and experimented with many elements of film form such as long unbroken takes...

Weekend ( Godard 1967)

Godard also used highly unconventional and experimental editing techniques such as jump cuts , which filmmakers normally avoid as it breaks the rules of invisible editing ...

A bout de souffle ( Godard 1960) 

Bande a part ( Godard 1964)

Godard is a huge influence on many postmodernist , experimental and mainstream  filmmakers such as  Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino

TARANTINO AS (POSTMODERN ) AUTEUR

 Short essay about Tarantino as postmodern auteur