Best & rarest books on experimental cinema...a survey
Talk Experimental Film and Video
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1abductee
So, being book AND off-kilter cinema lovers, I'm sure we all have untraditional gems when it comes to books that enlighten our enjoyment (and vocabulary) of visual works.
I'll just start w/three books that I return to again and again in my appreciation of experimental films; not necessarily the best, but good resources and always engaging:
An Introduction to the American Underground Film by Sheldon Renan
Film as a Subversive Art by Amos Vogel
and...
Stargazer: Andy Warhol's World and His Films by Stephen Koch
I'll just start w/three books that I return to again and again in my appreciation of experimental films; not necessarily the best, but good resources and always engaging:
An Introduction to the American Underground Film by Sheldon Renan
Film as a Subversive Art by Amos Vogel
and...
Stargazer: Andy Warhol's World and His Films by Stephen Koch
2thomas_and_ed First Message
Not hard to find but under-read:
Underground Film: A Critical History by Parker Tyler
Expanded Cinema by Gene Youngblood
Film Is by Stephen Dwoskin
Movie Journal by Jonas Mekas
Cinema 16 by Scott MacDonald
Harder to find but worth it:
Abstract Film and Beyond by Malcolm Le Grice
Experimental Animation by Cecile Starr
Circles of Confusion by Hollis Frampton
Structural Film Anthology by Peter Gidal
Indiscretions by Patricia Mellencamp
Underground Film: A Critical History by Parker Tyler
Expanded Cinema by Gene Youngblood
Film Is by Stephen Dwoskin
Movie Journal by Jonas Mekas
Cinema 16 by Scott MacDonald
Harder to find but worth it:
Abstract Film and Beyond by Malcolm Le Grice
Experimental Animation by Cecile Starr
Circles of Confusion by Hollis Frampton
Structural Film Anthology by Peter Gidal
Indiscretions by Patricia Mellencamp
3lilithdorsey
I would add to the list
Experimental Ethnography by Catherine Russell
Anagram by Maya Deren
neither are easy to find but I think they both artfully address theory and practice in these non-traditional media.
Experimental Ethnography by Catherine Russell
Anagram by Maya Deren
neither are easy to find but I think they both artfully address theory and practice in these non-traditional media.
4Nicole_VanK
I would recommend Light moving in time by William C. Wees
As for rare: "Experiment in the Film" edited by Roger Manvell (1949)
As for rare: "Experiment in the Film" edited by Roger Manvell (1949)
5UMYDE First Message
Here's a couple of other suggestions:
- THE FLUXUS PERFORMANCE WORKBOOK: great piece from the Fluxus people to start your ideas flowing.
- Brackhage, Stan, METAPHORS ON VISION: by one of America's great avant-gardists.
- Branigan, Edward, PROJECTING A CAMERA: LANGUAGE GAMES IN FILM-THEORY: film theory focusing on the play of camera and composition and how they convey meaning in film.
- Bresson, Robert, NOTES ON THE CINEMATOGRAPHER: written as series of aphorisms on directing, acting, the moving image and sound. Fundamental intuitive reading for any filmmaker.
- Deleuze, Gilles, CINEMA: seminal two-part book on the nature of film, film aesthetics and its relations to the concepts of people such as Henri Bergson.
- Eisner, Lotte, THE HAUNTED SCREEN: one of the major works on German Expressionism and films from the Weimar era.
- Elsaesser, Thomas, WEIMAR CINEMA AND AFTER: GERMANY'S HISTORICAL IMAGINARY: really dense reading.
- Higgins, Dick, STATEMENT ON INTERMEDIA: not really a book, but you can read it online. By another of America's leading avant-gardists.
- Kelly, Richard, THE NAME OF THIS BOOK IS DOGME95: the reference book on the Dogme95 movememnt started by Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg.
- Kracauer, Siegfried, FROM CALIGARI TO HITLER: the rise and fall of Weimar's cinema. The other seminal work on German Expressionism.
- Nuttall, Jeff, BOMB CULTURE: cinema is but one of the topics touched in this radical sociological essay on the influence of the visual arts on contemporary culture.
- Pudovkin, Vsevolod: FILM TECHNIQUE AND FILM ACTING: fundamental reading for both directors and editors by one the historical members of the 20's Russian vanguard. Really hard to track down a printed copy, but available online.
- Seitz, William C., THE ART OF ASSEMBLAGE: for those interested in collage, montage and all other forms of remixing and intermedia.
- Sitney, P. Adams, MODERNIST MONTAGE: THE OBSCURITY OF VISION IN CINEMA AND LITERATURE: the title says it all, doesn't it?
- Tarkovsky, Andrei, SCULPTING TIME: seminal book by one of Russia's most cherished directors, focusing on film poetics and the manipulation of time.
- Zedd, Nick, CINEMA OF TRANSGRESSION MANIFESTO: a little known manifesto from a little known film movement, available to read online.
- THE FLUXUS PERFORMANCE WORKBOOK: great piece from the Fluxus people to start your ideas flowing.
- Brackhage, Stan, METAPHORS ON VISION: by one of America's great avant-gardists.
- Branigan, Edward, PROJECTING A CAMERA: LANGUAGE GAMES IN FILM-THEORY: film theory focusing on the play of camera and composition and how they convey meaning in film.
- Bresson, Robert, NOTES ON THE CINEMATOGRAPHER: written as series of aphorisms on directing, acting, the moving image and sound. Fundamental intuitive reading for any filmmaker.
- Deleuze, Gilles, CINEMA: seminal two-part book on the nature of film, film aesthetics and its relations to the concepts of people such as Henri Bergson.
- Eisner, Lotte, THE HAUNTED SCREEN: one of the major works on German Expressionism and films from the Weimar era.
- Elsaesser, Thomas, WEIMAR CINEMA AND AFTER: GERMANY'S HISTORICAL IMAGINARY: really dense reading.
- Higgins, Dick, STATEMENT ON INTERMEDIA: not really a book, but you can read it online. By another of America's leading avant-gardists.
- Kelly, Richard, THE NAME OF THIS BOOK IS DOGME95: the reference book on the Dogme95 movememnt started by Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg.
- Kracauer, Siegfried, FROM CALIGARI TO HITLER: the rise and fall of Weimar's cinema. The other seminal work on German Expressionism.
- Nuttall, Jeff, BOMB CULTURE: cinema is but one of the topics touched in this radical sociological essay on the influence of the visual arts on contemporary culture.
- Pudovkin, Vsevolod: FILM TECHNIQUE AND FILM ACTING: fundamental reading for both directors and editors by one the historical members of the 20's Russian vanguard. Really hard to track down a printed copy, but available online.
- Seitz, William C., THE ART OF ASSEMBLAGE: for those interested in collage, montage and all other forms of remixing and intermedia.
- Sitney, P. Adams, MODERNIST MONTAGE: THE OBSCURITY OF VISION IN CINEMA AND LITERATURE: the title says it all, doesn't it?
- Tarkovsky, Andrei, SCULPTING TIME: seminal book by one of Russia's most cherished directors, focusing on film poetics and the manipulation of time.
- Zedd, Nick, CINEMA OF TRANSGRESSION MANIFESTO: a little known manifesto from a little known film movement, available to read online.
7Ravenspine
I have, on my bookshelf:
Filmmaking on the Fringe: the Good, the Bad, and the Deviant Directors. Only nine other members on this site own that title.
Also, midnight movies seems to fit the 'rare' title as only myself and fifteen members on LT own copies, one of whom may not even know they own it (as it exists on Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream. The Shocking Story of How Six Cult Films Re-invented Cinema! as an ebook file).
Filmmaking on the Fringe: the Good, the Bad, and the Deviant Directors. Only nine other members on this site own that title.
Also, midnight movies seems to fit the 'rare' title as only myself and fifteen members on LT own copies, one of whom may not even know they own it (as it exists on Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream. The Shocking Story of How Six Cult Films Re-invented Cinema! as an ebook file).
