Vidshow Discussion Post: A Brief History of Found Footage Film

[cosmic_llin]

Welcome to the discussion post for the A Brief History of Found Footage Film vidshow, curated by charloween!

Whether or not you attended or supported the 2019 con, join us in the comments to chat about this show.

Comments

[cosmic_llin]

My really strong memory of this show is of how genuinely threatening and upsetting Variations on a Cellophane Wrapper (1970) seemed by the end. Like, I had a way stronger visceral reaction to that than I would have expected. Not sure if that was just me or if other people in the room felt that too?

By contrast I remember being totally charmed by Swinging the Lambeth Walk - it was as full as personality as any character study vid, and it was interesting to see how much you can do just with shape, motion and music.

[charloween]

Oh no! But also, there's a reason Variations on a Cellophane Wrapper stuck with me from when I first saw it in an undergrad class. I don't remember the lesson (was it about found footage film?), but I was surprised how disturbing and apocalyptic it feels. On the one hand it's just a lady with some plastic, but on the other it's the end days. The sound does a lot of heavy lifting here, but the repetition of the clip might start off being boring but then becomes unrelenting. /o\

If you liked the Len Lye film, you might enjoy the chapter on his stuff in my friend's book Jazz as Visual Language (Nic also wrote some liner notes for a Lye DVD release, iirc). You're totally right about how the abstract forms have such personality. I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[cosmic_llin]

Yeah, I don't regret having seen it at all, although it was sort of horrible it was also fascinating to see how an effect like that can be created from something so mundane!

Oooh, that sounds interesting, I'll poke the library for it! :D