Event 1 || Metaphors on Vision

Metaphors on Vision: Films by Stan Brakhage is a compilation of films by the non-narrative filmmaker, Stan Brakhage. Stan used a handheld camera to explore and play with exposure and in-camera editing to create a different and avant garde art style of filmmaking. In this presentation, Brakhage’s “Songs 1-5” and “Song 23” were featured and shown. “Songs 1-5” were filmed with an 8mm lense camera after his high quality 16mm camera was stolen. However, this simplest and lowest type of camera explored minimalism in the film arts. Although ridiculed for his use of a “kid’s toy,” Brakhage was able to break through barriers by creating simplistic masterpieces that used artistic expression to bring intimacy and a delicate nature to the realms of private everyday life. He mastered the film art of superimposition which consisted

of rewinding and re-exposing the camera as well as layering different films on top of each other such as in “Song 1” of his wife. This portrayal of his wife through this medium painted a picture of what was happening in her mind through the mind of another - through the mind of the camera holder. Meanwhile, contrasting greatly from the intimacy of “Song 1,” “Song 23” was the longest song that Brakhage composed, lasting for an hour. It was made as a cry against violence and war. Made during the height of the Vietnam War, this song commented on the tragic and savage nature of warfare, using close-up of open mouths and the contrast of red and brown to black and white to reveal the depth of the ill-humane confusion that wartime brings along with death and violence. Halfway through the film, Brakhage writes “I can’t go on” with images of the earth covered in red blood, demonstrating a horrific yet accurate representation of the impact that war has on some people.