After viewing the second Thad Povey and the Scratch Film Junkies piece, “St. Louise,” I was not all that surprised to find that my initial reaction and viewing experiences were incredibly different from my reaction and viewing experience with the first piece, “To the Beat.” In “To the Beat,” the music almost took me out of the experience of seeing the film, and I had an overall feeling of just being bombarded with color and images that really did not make any sense whatsoever. It just felt like a bunch of images had been put together to music and put on a reel to be viewed. However, with “St. Louise,” which I looked up online and watched for a second time, it was a completely new experience.
Overall, I appreciated this film a lot more. The experience of going through the various processes we had done in class and experimented with on our own, such as bleaching, scratching, painting, and magazine transfers, really added a new layer of appreciation. The narrative structure of the film was no longer the most important to me. I could recognize the various techniques, such as the very controlled scratching used to create not only animations but actual figures such as arrows, faces, and other objects. The flow of the film seemed much more evident to me, as well.
The way Thad Povey and the Scratch Film Junkies incorporate all of the different mediums and techniques of experimental filmmaking was fascinating to me. I mean, with the film that I made with my partner, we combined certain techniques that we thought would work together, and it turned out okay in the end, but the movement of colors, the animations incorporated within the film, and the shift from one segment of the film to the other was really smooth. Everything looked as though it had been methodically put into place with every part having its own intent and purpose.
One part of the film that really stood out to me was the inking, painting, and scratching over the already developed footage. That has quickly become one of my favorite techniques to view in a film such as this. I just enjoy the aesthetic of the different layers and the effect that the scratching can portray over the image to cause various emotions to be experienced.
Another element of the film that I, personally, really appreciated and was almost in awe of was how much control they seem to have over the medium, not just with pacing and all of that, but with the actual aesthetics of the film. The inks did not become all muddy and blend together in the parts where two inks were present on the film. In one section, there is black ink, purple ink, and blue ink in vertical strips side by side, and the boundaries between the colors were very sharp and not muddled at all. I am not sure if they just used different kind of inks that would not mix together or what, but I would think that even allowing the different areas to dry before applying the next color would have some overlap. I’m not sure how much taping areas off would help, since some of the lines looked very organic and as if the inks were just kind of co-existing, but it was just really something that stuck out to me and that I would like to look into further.
The only complaint that I had with this film was the final frames, with the figure with the mask buried up to his knees in sand at the beach. I just felt like it was more of a distraction than part of the film itself. Even the credits and the opening sequence in the beginning flowed with the rest of the film, but this one instance of just standard black and white filming with the figure just moving to the music really did not add anything to the film for me. If anything, it took me out of the film and kind of left me confused. I just wasn’t sure if it really served a purpose story wise or aesthetically. I feel as though it was rather unnecessary.
However, I am looking forward to looking into more of the Scratch Film Junkies videos after looking at some of the clips on their website.
Overall, I appreciated this film a lot more. The experience of going through the various processes we had done in class and experimented with on our own, such as bleaching, scratching, painting, and magazine transfers, really added a new layer of appreciation. The narrative structure of the film was no longer the most important to me. I could recognize the various techniques, such as the very controlled scratching used to create not only animations but actual figures such as arrows, faces, and other objects. The flow of the film seemed much more evident to me, as well.
The way Thad Povey and the Scratch Film Junkies incorporate all of the different mediums and techniques of experimental filmmaking was fascinating to me. I mean, with the film that I made with my partner, we combined certain techniques that we thought would work together, and it turned out okay in the end, but the movement of colors, the animations incorporated within the film, and the shift from one segment of the film to the other was really smooth. Everything looked as though it had been methodically put into place with every part having its own intent and purpose.
One part of the film that really stood out to me was the inking, painting, and scratching over the already developed footage. That has quickly become one of my favorite techniques to view in a film such as this. I just enjoy the aesthetic of the different layers and the effect that the scratching can portray over the image to cause various emotions to be experienced.
Another element of the film that I, personally, really appreciated and was almost in awe of was how much control they seem to have over the medium, not just with pacing and all of that, but with the actual aesthetics of the film. The inks did not become all muddy and blend together in the parts where two inks were present on the film. In one section, there is black ink, purple ink, and blue ink in vertical strips side by side, and the boundaries between the colors were very sharp and not muddled at all. I am not sure if they just used different kind of inks that would not mix together or what, but I would think that even allowing the different areas to dry before applying the next color would have some overlap. I’m not sure how much taping areas off would help, since some of the lines looked very organic and as if the inks were just kind of co-existing, but it was just really something that stuck out to me and that I would like to look into further.
The only complaint that I had with this film was the final frames, with the figure with the mask buried up to his knees in sand at the beach. I just felt like it was more of a distraction than part of the film itself. Even the credits and the opening sequence in the beginning flowed with the rest of the film, but this one instance of just standard black and white filming with the figure just moving to the music really did not add anything to the film for me. If anything, it took me out of the film and kind of left me confused. I just wasn’t sure if it really served a purpose story wise or aesthetically. I feel as though it was rather unnecessary.
However, I am looking forward to looking into more of the Scratch Film Junkies videos after looking at some of the clips on their website.
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