Continuing the themes, experimental cinema what is it?
Image from A Field in England website,
To continue from my last blog on exp cinema. I said I would look at A Field in England. I have decided to pause on that until I have reread some of the books that continue to inspire me and also teach me.
Those books are: A History of Experimental Film and Video, 2nd Edition. by A.L.Rees. http://filmstore.bfi.org.uk/acatalog/info_21098.html
and also Experimental Film and Video by Jackie Hatfield.
These are books that I have hired out of libraries and adored the writing in plain english about the work.
Back to my pause about A Field in England. I watched and was left feeling odd about the film, first thought was I didn't like it. But I did like the trippy hallucinations that stuck with me, I also liked the cinematography and what Ben Wheatly the director is trying to do in his films.
The film had been part of an interesting project where they have released the film across all platforms at the same time, including a broadcast on free to air tv in the UK. I'm unsure if this has been replicated in other countries. I'm Interested to hear what other countries know about this film.
Which leads me onto the future of cinema, a few months back Hollywood legends Spielberg and others stated that cinema was going down some different routes, with this mostly being in distribution.
I believe that alot more interesting films will also come from the financing of films that people want to see. So many good films never happen because of the way so called big films are financed. The money takes control, the money starts to control who is in a film and who directs it etc. So my thoughts are that the way funding is now being allowed to exist via the internet, will change what gets made and where we can see it.
'A Field in England' was funded by the UK film company Film4 and there strand of films that innovate. It had funding from one place of about £300,000 Film4 is also funded itself by the BFI the British Film Institute.
Now to my students that amount of money may seem alot, but if you start adding up the daily crew on a feature. That is a very small amount for this type of film.
Im now interested to see where a director like Wheatley goes next. As with alot directors at his level they now hit a glass ceiling. Will he turn to other forms of funding? Is this possible? Answers, questions please!?
