Cameraless Filmmaking

The cameraless film making was a lot of fun.  I was not expecting to have as much fun on the assignment as I ended up having.  Through the process of painting, bleaching, scratching, etc... I found a new appreciation for that style of film making.  I remember when I first watched Stan Brakage films, I always thought it looked like a kid playing with film, but I could have never been more wrong.  After doing this assignment, I realized the level of patience, skill, and thought that goes into films such as his and Norman Mclaren.  Their films are so well designed that luck and random beauty from using different mediums was not the driver for their success.  It was creativity, precision, and planning along with experimentation that truly was the heart behind their films.  I personally can say that I now have a profound appreciation for what cameraless film makers do.  Although I did end up having more fun than I expected doing the assignments, I can honestly say that I could not do that style of film making.  I love narrative film making, but I at least have a better understanding for what it takes to make a good cameraless experimental film.  I also found the different techniques to be very interesting in that, you become a true artist of emulsion, and a chemist of creativity through scratching/drawing on the emulsion, and mixing and separating inks and chemicals to create amazing effects.  I think every film maker at some point should try these techniques to say they did it and have a better understanding as to what some of their fellow film makers have to offer.