Film 135 Midterm Fall 2025 - SAQ

What are the basic elements of cinema that combine in “Osher Film”?

Basic elements of cinema include images (frames of film), movement (the illusion of motion created by those images), sound (music, dialogue, effects), editing (the way shots are arranged), and narrative or non-narrative structure. In "Osher Film," these elements combine to create an experimental work that challenges conventional storytelling through innovative use of image and editing.

When Tzara writes “Dada ne signifie rien” (Dada means nothing), what is he pushing against?

Tzara is pushing against traditional artistic meaning, logic, and coherence. He rejects fixed meaning and embraces absurdity, chance, and anti-art as a rebellion against the rationalism and conventions of bourgeois culture.

What is a cadavre exquis (exquisite corpse) and what movement is that art form a part of? What is it, and automatic writing, supposed to tap into or achieve?

Cadavre exquis is a collaborative, surrealist game where multiple participants sequentially add to a composition without seeing the whole. It is part of the Surrealist movement. Along with automatic writing, it aims to tap into the unconscious mind and reveal hidden or unexpected creative associations by bypassing conscious control.

What is André Breton’s definition of surrealism in the first Surrealist Manifesto? How could that concept be relevant also to cinema?

Breton defines surrealism as "pure psychic automatism," aiming to express the unconscious mind through liberated imagination, free from rational control. In cinema, this translates to creating films that reveal unconscious desires or dream-like logic, breaking narrative conventions to explore deeper psychological reality.

Describe the Surrealist concept of the "image" as defined by Pierre Reverdy and quoted by André Breton.

The image is seen as a powerful poetic creation that calls forth multiple layers of meaning, often beyond rational explanation, evoking unconscious feelings and associations—a revelation rather than a literal depiction.

Why is the opening of Buñuel and Dalí’s Un Chien Andalou shocking to watch? What other films that we have seen use close-ups of eyes and what is their significance?

The opening shocks with a graphic close-up of an eye being sliced, confronting viewers with visceral, unsettling imagery. Close-ups of eyes also appear in films like "Entr’acte" and "Blow Job," symbolizing perception, consciousness, and often unsettling the viewer's sense of reality.

How does Dulac define Avant-Garde cinema in “The Avant-Garde Cinema”?

Dulac defines Avant-Garde cinema as film that emphasizes visual rhythm, symbolic imagery, and emotional expression, detached from traditional storytelling or theatrical conventions, focusing on cinema’s unique artistic possibilities.

What does Linda Williams mean when she writes that “Surrealist film exposes the fundamental illusion of the film image itself”?

She means Surrealist films reveal that the cinematic image is a constructed illusion, disrupting continuity and coherence to make viewers aware of the medium’s artifice, thereby questioning reality and perception.

How does Dulac show the interiority of the wife in “The Smiling Madame Beaudet”? How does cinema make this possible?

Dulac uses close-ups, lighting, and montage to reveal the wife’s psychological state and emotions, showing internal experience visually. Cinema's ability to manipulate time, perspective, and imagery allows this subjective depth.

How do you interpret the quotation at the start of “Seashell and the Clergyman”?

It suggests the film will explore the irrational, unconscious desires and conflicts beyond logical narrative, setting the tone for a dreamlike and symbolic cinematic experience.

According to Linda Williams (drawing on Christian Metz and Jacques Lacan), what is the "Imaginary Signifier," and how does Surrealist film relate to it differently than conventional fiction film?

The Imaginary Signifier is an image that evokes an illusory sense of self or identity. Surrealist film disrupts this by fragmenting and distorting these images, challenging the spectator’s identification and the mechanics of cinematic subjectivity more radically than conventional film.

According to Linda Williams's analysis, what is the significance of the "mirror stage" (from Lacan) for understanding how spectators engage with Surrealist film?

The mirror stage refers to the formation of the self through identification with one's mirror image, a moment of misrecognition. Surrealist film unsettles this by presenting fragmented or uncanny images that challenge stable identity, forcing viewers to confront fractured selfhood.

How does the famous slaughterhouse scene in Strike demonstrate the difficulties in controlling the audience’s interpretation/reaction?

The scene’s raw violence and montage provoke conflicting feelings—sympathy, horror, anger—showing that filmmakers cannot fully control how viewers emotionally or intellectually respond.

How does Sergei Eisenstein distinguish his concept of montage from the work of older filmmakers like Lev Kuleshov?

Eisenstein views montage as a dialectical synthesis creating new meaning from conflict between shots, whereas Kuleshov focuses on simple juxtapositions and associations without intended conflict.

What is the "montage of attractions" as described by Sergei Eisenstein?

A sequence of vivid, shocking, or striking images arranged to elicit strong emotional or intellectual response from the audience.

What does Eisenstein mean by “graphic conflict”? Give an example from one of his films.

Graphic conflict is the visual clash of contrasting shapes, lines, or compositions in adjacent shots to create tension or meaning. For example, in "Strike," the contrast between the geometrical shapes of machines and human bodies.

What is the “full scene” exemplified by Evgenii Bauer’s Daydreams, and how did Eisenstein react against this style of filmmaking?

The “full scene” is a continuous, uninterrupted long take that preserves spatial and temporal unity. Eisenstein opposed this, favoring montage to generate meaning through conflict and collision of shots.

What does Deren say about her use of the cut on action across disjunctive spaces? Briefly describe a sequence in one of her films where this happens.

Deren uses cuts that carry the motion from one location to an unrelated location creating poetic discontinuity. In “Meshes of the Afternoon,” a hand reaching out is cut to a similar hand in a different room, linking them metaphorically.

What does 1940s–50s U.S. experimental film share with Surrealist film from the 1920s?

Both emphasize subjective experience, dream logic, subconscious imagery, and a break from mainstream narrative continuity.

According to Maya Deren, what is the central paradox of the motion-picture camera, and how has this affected its development as a mass medium?

The paradox is that the camera captures reality but simultaneously abstracts and manipulates it, creating both objective record and artistic interpretation. This duality shapes cinema’s tension between documentation and entertainment.

Explain the concept of the "controlled accident" as articulated by Maya Deren and its importance for retaining the "authority of reality."

“Controlled accident” refers to planned spontaneity—allowing chance events during filming within an overall artistic framework, preserving authenticity while shaping meaning.

How does Puce Moment (its later re-edit) combine nostalgia for silent film stars with 1970s psychedelic rock?

It blends archival footage of silent film icons with vibrant, rhythmically edited psychedelic music and imagery to create a dialogue between past and present aesthetics.

How does Melissa Ragona argue against interpreting Marie Menken’s Notebook as a straightforward film diary in the way Jonas Mekas’s work is often categorized?

Ragona suggests Menken's film is more poetic and formalist rather than purely diaristic, emphasizing mood and atmosphere over chronological documentation.

How did Marie Menken’s use of the camera challenge dominant cinematic conventions?

She embraced handheld, improvisational camera work and focused on texture and movement rather than traditional narrative framing.

What are the capacities of the Bolex that Menken and Mekas exploit for their 16mm films?

The Bolex allows for portability, precise manual control, and creative shooting techniques like variable frame rates and stop motion, enabling spontaneous and experimental filmmaking.

How should a spectator approach avant-garde film, according to Mekas in “The Other Cinema”?

Viewers should engage with it openly, embracing ambiguity, exploring subconscious associations, and appreciating the unique visual language beyond narrative.

In his "Anti-100 Years Of Cinema Manifesto," what creation myth does Jonas Mekas invent to explain the origin and purpose of avant-garde filmmakers?

Mekas mythologizes avant-garde filmmakers as visionaries who disrupt and renew cinema by constantly challenging its rules, ensuring its evolution and vitality.

What are the qualities that Happenings share with underground film from the 1960s?

Both emphasize spontaneity, audience participation, blurring boundaries between art and life, and an anti-commercial, countercultural ethos.

What was Jonas Mekas's strategy in screening Jean Genet's Un Chant d'amour, and how did the police respond?

Mekas used private screenings in underground venues. Police often raided these events, exemplifying censorship and repression of avant-garde works.

Where can we see anxieties about nuclear war in the underground art of the 1960s?

Such anxieties appear in explicit themes or abstract expressions of destruction, fragility, and paranoia in films and performance art.

What is the relationship between sound and image in Pull My Daisy? How does Pull My Daisy anticipate later developments in experimental cinema in the 1960s?

The film uses pre-recorded voiceover over loosely connected visuals, breaking traditional synchronization. This anticipates practices of asynchronous sound and improvisation in later experimental cinema.

Mekas borrows some of Andy Warhol’s own filmmaking strategies in his homage Award Presentation to Andy Warhol. What Warhol-like techniques does Mekas use?

Mekas uses long takes, minimalist compositions, and a focus on everyday moments, echoing Warhol’s emphasis on duration and observing the ordinary.