Anyone here who's NOT telling stories?

stuckfootage

stuckfootage

Well-known member
I realize most dramatic, comedy, documentary, and news video is largely narrative. Characters and their actions are the core of the work. However, there are a few of us who don't work with narrative. Anybody else out there?
 
Nope. I'm afraid you're the only one. Seriously. As soon as anybody tries non-narrative filmmaking, everyone around them tries to educate them. It's like if you see someone speeding full on toward a cliff, aren't you gonna try to stop them?

So, no. You're the only one. And you'd be well advised to stop immediately and start on the narrative path right away before it's too late.
 
OldCorpse said:
Nope. I'm afraid you're the only one. Seriously. As soon as anybody tries non-narrative filmmaking, everyone around them tries to educate them. It's like if you see someone speeding full on toward a cliff, aren't you gonna try to stop them?

So, no. You're the only one. And you'd be well advised to stop immediately and start on the narrative path right away before it's too late.
Click to expand...

EXACTLY!!! You don't want that to go down on your permanent record!

Just kidding of course, but it is very hard to divorce narrative from filmmaking, unless you are pursuing pure experimental forms. Even then, the very essence of filmmaking, the presentation of moving images over time, carries with it almost a presumption of a narrative, whether intended or not. I think that this is a cultural convention, but may be rooted in an evolutionary hard wiring of our brains, which struggles very hard to make connections and see patterns in the world around us.

Also, on this board, there does not seem to be many practitioners of the "Film as abstract art" school of filmmaking. Now there are many examples of folks who do extreme sports type films and music videos that are not necessarily strictly narrative.

What types of films do you make? Can you show us some examples? That would be cool.
 
Even if a film does not have a planned narrative laid down by the filmmaker, as humans we ascribe a narrative and meaning to any film we see. So a film can become a narrative piece even if it was not the intention of the filmmaker to make it so. Even abstract art can contain a narrative once analysed. The only true exception is stock footage. Judging by your username 'Stuckfootage' I presume this is what you produce? If so I would be interested to hear about it. I've often wondered how one goes about selling stock footage. Almost all of the stock footage I see or use is of an extremely high quality technically and aesthetically, so the content is clearly created by pros.
 
Hey thanks for your replies! I had hoped it might be an interesting thread.

I think I was getting at abstract video art. Here's a really early example (1935) by Oskar Fischinger (who worked on Disney's "Fantasia"):
http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/kBpPBtQ48v0/
Sorry about the commercial at the top. This one reminds me of Michel Gondry's Daft Punk "Around the World" video.

There is certainly a semantic aspect to this discussion. We can anthropomorphize anything, so maybe those dancing shapes seem like characters to you. But I think that would be far-fetched. Most people would say it's just about abstract images changing with time.

Take most classical music. Sure there are ideas and symbolism, but only certain categories (program music, operas) actually have characters and a narrative. Most are about pure structure of pitch and rhythm. Dance history is also interesting in this regard. Up until George Balanchine, most ballets were stories. When he began making dances that were pure dance, it was a radical step that changed dance performance forever.

If you look on my website, www.stuckfootage.com, the top video ("bars+tone") is an example of what I'm trying to achieve.

Other examples? Here's a fun one, pure CGI: http://vimeo.com/12162328
Here's a website with lots of examples, some are pretty good: http://www.videoart.net/
Here's an amazing screening room for this type of work: http://rml-cinechamber.org/

So I hope that gives a clearer idea of what I'm getting at here. This type of work can have a concept, and we have to shoot and edit to make the concept clear, but there are no characters; there's no story. Anyone else out there doing this sort or thing?
 
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I majored in Video Art at University and have made the type of abstract work you are referring to once upon a time.

I doubt you will find many video artists on this website.

The only time I was ever blown away by a video art piece the way I have been by hundreds of narrative features was the time I saw one of Cremaster Cycle films by Mathew Barney. I had no idea who he was and just stumbled upon the film in a gallery in the late nineties. But he really is influenced by narrative film and in fact I would call his work narrative... so I guess I can say that no non narrative work has ever come close to affecting me the way a Fellini or David Lynch or Bunuel or Woody Allen or Michal Mann film has. I guess I love narrative films that have those amazing abstract moments that are almost like mini Video Art works in themselves. Films like Alien or The Shining come to mind.

Yes that is my kind of perfect artwork. One that mixes abstraction and narrative. I guess David Lynch is probably the king of that approach.
 
stuckfootage said:
Here's a well-known example:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085809/

There's a concept, an opinion, great cinematography, lots of awards, etc.
But no plot.
Click to expand...

I had the good fortunate to see that in the theater on a HUGE screen. The filmmaker, Godfrey Reggio, was there for a little reception and Q&A. The theater showed his other two films, "Powaqqatsi" and "Naqoyqatsi" latter that week and I was able to catch them. They are outstanding films.
 
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