D'est

I thought that the film D'est that we watched this Monday was possibly the worst of all the films we've watched in class. I can't believe how incredibly long this thing was, and how insanely boring it was. I still don't understand the point making something like this at all. I couldn't pay attention at all, and didn't even find the things that they were showing to be visually interesting in any way. I'm still having a really hard time understanding what makes an experimental film "good" because all of the ones we've watched have either made me fall asleep or made no sense to me. Hopefully I'll eventually understand why these are "good", but I probably won't. I can't understand any reason for anybody actually wanting to watch D'est because I found it so horribly boring.

I thought the thing we did in class on Wednesday was helpful in teaching the group how to have a conversation about the films we watch in class. I think this will help us out in later class periods when we need to talk about the films and compare them to eachother and so forth. Probably next time we have the discussion class we will have a thoughtful discussion about the films.

February 13

Of all the films we viewed in class on Monday, my least favorite would have to be Gently Down the Stream by Su Friedrich. I found this film to be slow, boring and unentertaining. This was due to the fact that it was black and white, and silent, and 14 minutes long that seemed to drag on at least half an hour. As of now, I'm starting to think that I won't enjoy any film that is silent, because they just cant hold my attention. Add to the fact that they're black and white and it becomes even harder. Although, I'll obviuosly keep an open mind throughout this class and not jump to any conclusion of how exciting or boring a film will be just based on its length, color and sound.

February 6th

For the oustide viewings needed for class i went to the screen dump v-log festival's website. Some of the videos on this website are similar to ones that we watched in class. Especially the one called SadEyedAnimeGirl, it was al ot like Theme Song by Vito Acconci because she was just sitting there talking to the camera and it was also incredibly boring. I didnt watch all the videos on that site but the only ones i liked was the real life frogger one and the stone skipping one just because they were cool. I dont even understand how those classify as experimental films, or even if they are supposed to classify as them because i just think theyre more of just interesting clips found on the internet instead of intended films. Some of Acconci's strategies apply for some of thevideos, such as the face to face thing works for the SadEyedGirl and i guess the silence part would relate to the real life frogger video, but other than that i dont really see any relations. None of the other videos on the website really relate to the ones we've seen in class. As for the videos we did see in class, i didnt like any of them. After the first few weeks of class i'm coming to the conclusion that i really dont like experimental films. They all seem to be incredibly boring, like Theme Song or Birthday Suit with scars and defects, and they all just seem to drag on and not hold my attention at all. Hopefully though throughout the semester the films will get more interesting.