When making a video or film, the artist has to consider whether the piece needs a narrative structure. If a film doesn't have a clear-cut storyline structure (beginning, middle and end) then this often makes for a non-narrative piece of work.
In 'The Girl Chewing Gum' by John Smith, the audience is required to watch the film from beginning to end to fully understand it. This is because at the beginning of the film the audience is quick to assume that the voiceover is that of a director controlling the scene that is being filmed. However, around the middle part of the film it becomes apparent that things are not what we assumed - while the man continues to tell the audience what's going to happen next, his description of the scene doesn't quite fit with what we are actually seeing. This forms the middle of the story and keeps the audiences' attention towards the end as the viewer. To the end of the film, the narrator reveals where he is and that he is not really controlling or predicting the happenings on the street like we thought he was. Therefore there is a clear ending to the piece and a reaction from the audience.
In comparison, MUTO by Blu does not have a clear storyline to the piece and is more 'abstract'. This makes it a non-narrative in structure. I found it quite confusing at first as I didn't really understand it's meaning - there didn't seem to be much point to it and the grafitti animation itself was quite wierd. Because of this, the audience is likely to interpret the piece and it's meaning in different ways. Even though there is not an obvious storyline to it, I still think there is a concept behind the piece. It seems to have been inspired by the circle of life and evolution and this suggests there is a kind of narration to the film.
Experimental Videos don't need a clear structure or storyline in order to work and be seen as a whole piece. A non-narrative film could be made the way it is because the artist has the intention of it's audience looking deeper into the film to find the meaning. They might want the audience to use their imaginations, or take away their own interpretion of the piece, instead of using an obvious storyline or overal meaning that requires little guess work from the audience.
In 'The Girl Chewing Gum' by John Smith, the audience is required to watch the film from beginning to end to fully understand it. This is because at the beginning of the film the audience is quick to assume that the voiceover is that of a director controlling the scene that is being filmed. However, around the middle part of the film it becomes apparent that things are not what we assumed - while the man continues to tell the audience what's going to happen next, his description of the scene doesn't quite fit with what we are actually seeing. This forms the middle of the story and keeps the audiences' attention towards the end as the viewer. To the end of the film, the narrator reveals where he is and that he is not really controlling or predicting the happenings on the street like we thought he was. Therefore there is a clear ending to the piece and a reaction from the audience.
In comparison, MUTO by Blu does not have a clear storyline to the piece and is more 'abstract'. This makes it a non-narrative in structure. I found it quite confusing at first as I didn't really understand it's meaning - there didn't seem to be much point to it and the grafitti animation itself was quite wierd. Because of this, the audience is likely to interpret the piece and it's meaning in different ways. Even though there is not an obvious storyline to it, I still think there is a concept behind the piece. It seems to have been inspired by the circle of life and evolution and this suggests there is a kind of narration to the film.
Experimental Videos don't need a clear structure or storyline in order to work and be seen as a whole piece. A non-narrative film could be made the way it is because the artist has the intention of it's audience looking deeper into the film to find the meaning. They might want the audience to use their imaginations, or take away their own interpretion of the piece, instead of using an obvious storyline or overal meaning that requires little guess work from the audience.
Great, this is really good analysis well done.
ReplyDelete